For the third straight week, Tennessee Football was locked in a second-half battle after being shut out in the first half. Once again, Dylan Sampson got them going running the ball in the third quarter, but at some point, Nico Iamaleava was going to have to make a play.
Sampson tied things up with the Alabama Crimson Tide on the Vols’ second offensive possession of the second half with a touchdown run. Bama then went down and got a field goal to take a 10-7 lead. By this time, there were barely three minutes left in the third quarter, and the Vols’ offense had seemingly stalled on the next drive, bringing up a 3rd and 6.
That’s when Iamalaeva, after slumping all game and ever since the bye, came to life. Kalen DeBoer inexplicably went one-on-one with press coverage on all the receivers, and Iamaleava threw a simple pass down the sideline to Dont’e Thornton Jr., who came down with it for a 55-yard gain.
Shortly after that, Sampson had his second touchdown run, giving Tennessee Football its first lead of the game. This was the play that gave Iamaleava his confidence back after a horrendous two and a half games. It helped him carry the Vols to victory late.
Iamaleava had been getting wrecked by poor offensive tackle play dating back to the Arkansas Razorbacks game, and he was officially rattled. While the tackles struggled early in this one, they settled down. Iamaleava didn’t missing a wide-open touchdown pass, getting hurt for a play and throwing an interception.
Before that pass to Thornton, he was 9-of-20 for 109 yards. However, Starting with that pass, Iamaleava finished the game 5-of-7 for 85 yards. Alabama did score on the ensuing possession to go up 17-14, but after the teams traded punts, Iamaleava capped off a 54-yard drive with a beautiful 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brazzell II, again on third down.
Thanks to that one pass to Thornton, Iamaleava showed he can be clutch, and Tennessee Football showed it does have a passing attack. The defense held on and did what it needed to do to deliver the victory for the Vols, but Iamaleava turning a corner with that pass could be bigger than even this game.
