For the fourth straight game, Tennessee Football went into halftime trailing. The Vols pulled off a second half comeback for the third straight time, as they beat the Kentucky Wildcats in an ugly game wearing their dark mode uniforms at Neyland Stadium off a bye week.
Both offenses failed on red zone trips in their first drive, Kentucky being stopped on a fourth down and UT suffering a missed field goal. The Wildcats then scored a touchdown on the next drive, and the score remained 7-0 until late in the second quarter, when the Vols tied it up with a 14-play, 64-yard drive capped off by a Peyton Lewis touchdown run.
Kentucky responded with a field goal drive to take it into halftime up 10-7. In the second half, Tennessee Football scored touchdowns off a forced fumble by Joshua Josephs and an interception by Will Brooks to go up 21-10. A Dylan Sampson touchdown run and Nico Iamaleava touchdown pass to Miles Kitselman followed those turnovers respectively.
UK then benched Brock Vandagriff and brought in Gavin Wimsatt, who led a 75-yard touchdown drive. After that, though, the defense held firm, and the offense closed it out with a 13-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that ended with Sampson’s second touchdown run of the day.
With that touchdown run, Sampson set the all-time school record for Tennessee Football single-season rushing touchdowns with 19, surpassing the record set by Gene McEver, UT’s first All-American, back in 1929. He finished the game with 28 carries for 141 yards and two touchdowns despite having one fumble.
Iamaleava, meanwhile, had his best performance in over a month, finishing 28-of-38 for 292 yards and a touchdown while carrying the ball seven times for another 14 yards. Kitselman led the team in receiving with six catches for 97 yards and that score. Bru McCoy added five catches for 56 yards.
On defense, in addition to the Brooks pick and the Josephs strip-sack, Jeremiah Telander recovered a fumble, and Andre Turrentine had an interception. Also, James Pearce Jr. and Omari Thomas each came away with a sack on the night. Josh Heupel’s team as a whole registered seven quarterback hurries.
Because of this win, Tennessee Football, ranked No. 7 in both polls, improves to 7-1 and 4-1 in the SEC. They will next host the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Kentucky, meanwhile, falls to 3-6 and 1-6 in the SEC with a bye week coming up before they welcome the Murray State Racers to town next.
