Tennessee football knocked off Mississippi State 33-14 in its final home SEC game of the season on Saturday night. The story of the game was the injury to Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava ahead of a critical three-game stretch to end the season.
We’ll have plenty of coverage on that later, but first let’s look at four quick takeaways for how the Vols got it done against the Bulldogs.
Tennessee’s Offense Creates Chunk Plays
Facing the SEC’s worst defense a week before heading to Athens, the Mississippi State game presented Tennessee’s offense the opportunity for a big game. The Vols continued to struggle in some areas but also found a way to hit the big plays in the passing game that they’ve been missing.
The first came in the first quarter on fourth-and-six when Mississippi State busted coverage and Nico Iamaleava dropped a perfect pass to Squirrel White for a 36-yard touchdown.
Four drives later, Iamaleava found Dont’e Thornton over top for a 73-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive. Thornton had plenty of separation and Iamaleava just under threw it but it did not end up mattering.
With Iamaleava out in the second half, Tennessee leaned on its run game and got one huge play when Dylan Sampson broke a 33 yard touchdown run.
Running Game Picks Up Tennessee After Injury Changes The Dynamic Of The Game
Tennessee wasn’t playing great but was easily in control of the game with a 20-7 lead at halftime. But the feel of the game completely changed to open the second half when Gaston Moore trotted out at quarterback instead of Nico Iamaleava.
The ESPN broadcast reported that Iamaleava was out shortly afterwards. It’s unclear when or what Iamaleava’s injury was but we dive into more details on it here. Things momentarily looked even worse for Tennessee as Dylan Sampson was also injured late in the first half but he returned early in the second half.
After scoring on four of seven first half drives and moving the ball pretty consistently in the first half, Tennessee scored 13 points in the second half including scoring on three of six drives.
The Vols had a simple offensive strategy, chuck it deep and run the ball. Tennessee got some pass interference calls but mostly moved the ball on the ground. Sampson led the way with 73 second half rushing yards as Tennessee ran for 129 yards in the second half.
More From RTI: Nico Iamaleava Exits Tennessee Football Matchup Against Mississippi State With Injury
Tennessee’s Run Defense Struggles Again, Pass Defense Great
The Vols’ run defense was dominant in their first seven games this season but started to show some cracks in a poor performance against a bad Kentucky offense a week ago.
Those concerns were exposed even worse against Mississippi State when the Bulldogs gashed Tennessee for 179 rushing yards on 38 carries. The Bulldogs did something that few Tennessee opponents had this season, spreading the field and then running the ball downfield.
The Bulldogs had seven rushing plays of over 10 yards including a big 43-yard run on a touchdown drive. They also moved the sticks on a pair of fourth down, short yardage runs. Lastly, Michael Van Buren made some critical plays with his feet especially on third downs though sacks kept him from having a big output.
Keenan Pili’s absence seems to be a big part of it but Tennessee’s run defense has taken a real step back over the last few weeks. They need to change that moving forward.
While its run defense struggled, Tennessee’s pass defense was stellar. They allowed just 96 passing yards as Van Buren completed only 10-of-26 attempts. The Vols kept forcing turnovers including a Boo Carter interception and a Jayson Jenkins strip sack.
Despite Van Buren making some plays with his legs, Tennessee’s pass rush still gave him issues totaling four sacks in the win.
Max Gilbert Bounces Back
Gilbert struggled in Tennessee’s wins over Alabama and Kentucky. He bounced back in a big way against Mississippi State.
The redshirt freshman kicker bounced back in a big way going four-of-four on his field goal attempts. He hit a chip sot from 24 yards, a pair of 38-yard field goals and a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. It was his first made field goal of over 50 yards in his career.
Those field goals were particularly important against Mississippi State because of the Vols’ continued red zone offensive struggles and Iamaleava suffering the injury which took away the main element of their big play offense. It helped Tennessee push its lead to two scores and later three scores in the fourth quarter.
