NASHVILLE, Tenn (AP) — Josh Heupel made clear his No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers couldn’t have started their regular season finale any worse giving up 14 points within the first five minutes.
The Vols showed they can finish, which has them on the verge of hosting a College Football Playoff game.
Nico Iamaleava threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns rallying Tennessee to routing in-state rival Vanderbilt 36-23 Saturday.
“Finishing the way that we needed to and that we wanted to always is sweet, and these guys earned the right for this to be a big game,” Heupel said. “They went out, they took it.”
The Volunteers (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference; No. 8 CFP) needed a big victory to impress the College Football Playoff committee.
They beat Vanderbilt (6-6, 3-5) for a sixth straight season leaving the Commodores needing to win their bowl game to post their first winning record since 2013.
Better yet, the Vols rebounded from a nightmare start giving up the first 14 points by scoring 29 straight points. They led 24-17 at halftime on Iamaleava’s first three TD passes.
“Once they took the momentum, we kind of allowed them to have it for the rest of the game,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “And you got to credit Tennessee. I mean, obviously, they were playing for the playoffs and credit coach Heupel and his team for their winning performance.”
Junior Sherrill returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown for Vanderbilt to stun a mostly orange crowd. Dylan Sampson fumbled on the Vols’ second play from scrimmage, and Sedrick Alexanader’s 4-yard TD run on a 26-yard drive put Vandy up 14-0 quickly.
Then Iamaleava got Tennessee going with a 28-yard TD pass to Dont’e Thornton Jr.
Tennessee got a break when Max Gilbert’s 50-yard field goal bounced off the crossbar and over. Iamaleava found Thornton again on an 86-yard catch-and-run TD, then he tossed an 18-yard TD pass to Miles Kitselman.
“Nico I just thought played really well throughout the course of the football game …,” Heupel said.
An early interception remained on Iamaleava’s mind postgame. He also scrambled six times for 42 yards and wasn’t sacked once.
“I still feel like I can do better,” Iamaleava said.
Iamaleava capped the opening drive of the third quartewith a 14-yard TD pass to Mike Matthews. The Vols added a safety by Tyre West and another Gilbert field goal.
Diego Pavia threw a 31-yard TD pass to Richie Hoskins late with Vandy’s 2-point conversion failing for the final margin.
Poll implications
Tennessee shook off yet another slow start. The Vols may move up a spot or two. The biggest question is whether the Vols get to host a playoff game at Neyland Stadium where they went undefeated.
The takeaways
Tennessee put together TD drives of 91 and 96 yards in the first half. The Vols then beat Vandy at its own game of keepaway after not even managing 10 minutes of possession in the first half. They finished with the edge in that stat outgaining Vandy 538-212.
Vanderbilt had some of the best offensive success against Tennessee in the first half of any opponent this season. The Commodores had 114 yards rushing and 17 points by halftime against a defense that came in ranked sixth nationally allowing just 98.8 yards a game. The Vols also held 10 opponents under 20 points this season.
Lea said the Commodores ran just 11 plays to Tennessee’s 44 after halftime.
Sampson’s latest record
The Tennessee running back, who set the program record with 22 rushing TDs this season, didn’t reach the end zone for the first time this season. Sampson finished with 178 yards rushing to reach 1,485 yards for the season, topping the school mark of 1,464 set by Travis Stephens in 2001.
“I don’t know if anybody’s played the position better than he has this year,” Heupel said of a running back who wasn’t among the Doak Walker finalists. “He’s special. He’s dynamic.”
Up next
Tennessee waits to hear its spot in the CFP field, while Vanderbilt learns its bowl destination Dec. 8.
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