Vols overcome terrible start, overwhelm Vandy
Key developments: Tennessee beat up Vanderbilt poise prevailed over panic … defense drained Commodore enthusiasm … season achievement exceeded expectations … surely Vols earned a place in the playoff.
Numbers, one spelled out: The warrior, Dylan Sampson, ran for 178 yards and broke another record … Nico threw four touchdown passes …Vols are now No. 6 in the AP and coaches’ polls … UT record is 10-2.
Worth repeating: “The better you play, the more you win, the bigger the games get,” Josh Heupel said. “For us, this is the next step in our journey.”
He knows. He’s been there.
In the shock of the season, Vanderbilt’s Junior Sherrill returned the opening kickoff 100 yards untouched. Forty seconds later, Sampson lost a fumble at the UT 26. The Commodores turned the turnover into another touchdown. It was a terrible beginning for Tennessee, the worst start imaginable, a developing disaster.
Thousands of fans in orange were stunned. Most of the home half of the “crowd” (28,934) were undoubtedly amazed at Vanderbilt 14, Tennessee 0. Looks like a typographical error.
Nico Iamaleava cut the deficit in half with a TD pass to Dont’e Thornton but the Vols continued to stagger. Vandy drove for a routine field goal and a 17-7 lead.
The beginning of the end of that foolishness was Max Gilbert’s 50-yard answer, a kick that hit the crossbar and fell across. Nico and Thornton linked up on an 86-yard catch-and-run to tie the score. Dont’e looked much faster than the Vandy secondary.
Next came the dramatic turning point, a convincing 10-play, 96-yard relentless march. Nico threw a perfect TD pass to Miles Kitselman just 22 seconds before halftime.
“Huge,” said Heupel.
Even before that, Tennessee’s defense had started knocking the fire from the cocky Commodores.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was a witness but seemed uncertain about the cause. He thought he saw “a disappointing effort through the middle to the finish for us.”
He mentioned a clear shift in energy, 29 unanswered points, and the second-half domination when Tennessee ran 44 plays and Vandy had 11.
“I didn’t recognize our team that was on the field, and that’s disappointing.”
That’s one way of saying the Vols indeed overwhelmed Vandy. There was a spectacular interception by Jermod McCoy. A Jackson Ross punt and a hustle play by snapper Matthew Salansky to down the ball at the 4 set up a safety. Tyre West made the two-point end zone tackle. Arion Carter led with seven tackles. Josiah Josephs applied the heat and may have made Diego Pavia just a little bit nervous.