Vols beat Gators
Tennessee has often snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Florida.
But this was a reversal of fortune.
Florida squandered multiple scoring opportunities in the first half, failed on several fourth downs, fumbled on the 1-yard line, and lost its starting quarterback.
Yet, it still took overtime for Tennessee to gig the Gators. Dylan Sampson’s third touchdown of the night capped a 10-point second-half rally as the Vols beat Florida 23-17 – the first time since 1990 and 1992 that UT won back-to-back home games against the hated Gators.
It wasn’t a work of art, but it at least kept Tennessee (5-1) in the running for a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff and displayed the resiliency needed to win a game when you aren’t at your best.
Sampson was again the star of Tennessee’s offensive show. He rushed for a game-high 112 yards on 27 carries. His regulation scores on runs of 6 and 23 yards give him 15 touchdowns for the season – three off the school record set by Gene McEver in 1929.
“He’s always had great vision and he runs with great power,” Vols coach Josh Heupel said of Sampson. “Obviously he has good long speed and he’s good between the tackles. He runs physical. And he finished the game out the right way, man.”
Sampson scored twice in Tennessee’s jumbo package, which included tight end Miles Kitselman and defensive end Jaxon Moi lined up in the backup and another defensive lineman at tight end.
“It puts a little fear in the defense,” Sampson said. “I know I’m getting positive yards. So I like it. … And they (defense) can’t see me (behind those blockers), for real.”
In overtime, Tennessee won the toss and deferred.
After Bryson Eason blew up a flare pass for a 5-yard loss, Florida’s Trey Smack missed a 47-yard field goal.
“At that point,” Sampson said, “I knew the game was over. Once we got the ball back, I was real confident we’d get a touchdown and not kick a field goal.”
It might have been one of the few times the offense was confident.
The Vols opened the game with a nice drive inside Florida’s 30-yard line, but Nico Iamaleava fumbled. A holding penalty stopped the next drive. Three straight sacks stopped another. And a couple of bad throws by Iamaleava halted another.
Heupel was so frustrated with the offense, he actually went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 10-yard line with about 2 minutes left in the first half.
Iamaleava didn’t even remember that when asked postgame.
“Did we get it?” he inquired.
The answer: Yes.
But three plays later, Iamaleava threw into coverage and was intercepted – his seventh turnover of the season.
Florida set up shop at the UT 11-yard line but a field goal was wiped off the board when the Gators had too many men on the field, and the penalty caused a 10-second runoff that ended the half with Florida nursing a 3-0 lead when it easily could have been 20-0.
Tennessee was shutout in the first half for the second game in a row. Against Arkansas last week, UT had 76 total yards. They had 130 the first 30 minutes against Florida.
Florida grabbed a 10-0 lead in the third quarter, but the Vols roared back with a Sampson touchdown and a Max Gilbert field goal set up when Arion Carter intercepted a DJ Lagway pass and returned it 15 yards to the Gators’ 20.
Lagway played all but one series in the second half after Martz was injured following his touchdown pass. Lagway was only 9-of-17 passes but did throw a game-tying dart to Chimere Dike with 29 seconds left, forcing overtime.
Heupel praised his team’s “resiliency” and call his defense “elite” but he is clearly worried about his offense, especially the passing game.
It’s had an impact on Heupel’s play calling, leading to some conservative runs on third-and-long situations and relying on the defense.
“It’s different probably than it has been since I’ve been here,” Heupel said.
But that doesn’t matter. Tennessee found a way to beat Florida when the Vols weren’t at their best.
Florida has been able to do that to the Vols many times over the past two decades.
This time, Tennessee turned the tables. And kept their playoff hopes alive
