By Riley Haltom
Knoxville, TENN – The #11 Tennessee Volunteers upset the #7 Alabama Crimson Tide, 24-17, in Neyland Stadium for a Third Saturday in October classic. In a masterful second-half performance from the Vols and the most raucous orange-clad crowd since 2022, Tennessee and Josh Heupel welcomed Kalen DeBoer to one of the premier SEC rivalries with a loss. The importance of this win is not lost on Heupel.
“Third Saturday in October, college football, as good as it goods. The Neyland effect, our fans, elite performance from them… Another great night on Rocky Top.”
Here are my takeaways from the wild win.
A tale of two halves
Yet again, the Vols were held scoreless in the first half, the third game in a row. Once again, they held their opponent to one score in the first half, for the third game in a row. The offense will have to be more consistent to start the game going forward, and the defense must continue that type of dominance to start games. Things looked wildly different in the second half, mainly for the offense.
The second half saw Tennessee establish the run, and that directly led to points. The Vols had plenty of offensive miscues in the first half, including two passes that QB Nico Iamaleava overthrew that would have likely been touchdowns if thrown well, an interception while trying to avoid a sack, a Gaston Moore interception after Iamaleava left for one play following an injury, a fumble lost by Dylan Sampson on the first drive, and two missed field goals. The suffocating defense kept Alabama uncomfortable for the entire game, especially in the first half.
A couple of big plays for the secondary
If you were to look at the box score, you’d assume the secondary got picked apart by Jalen Milroe for most of the game. Milroe threw 25 completions on 45 attempts for 239 yards, a touchdown, and two picks. Those two picks came from Will Brooks, who iced the game with his first play of the drive interception with 1:30 remaining in the game, and Jermod McCoy, who locked down freshman phenom Ryan Williams when they were matched up and even came away with a pick in a one-on-one goalline fade targeted at Ryan Williams returning it 54 yards out of the endzone. McCoy also had a pass breakup and a tackle-for-loss.
Nico Iamaleava finding his groove
Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava had 7 completions on 14 attempts for 96 yards and a pick in the first half. He would go on to finish with 14 completions on 27 attempts for 196 yards and a touchdown. What changed? The offense got the run game going, and that includes Iamaleava. Rollouts, designed runs, play-action, RPOs, all of it fed into Iamaleava starting to find a tempo in the second half. If the Tennessee offense can start like that, Tennessee becomes infinitely more likely to make the playoff and avoid any disappointing upsets. Coach Heupel thought his quarterback handled himself well.
“Young QB, gonna continue to get better. For QBs, it’s toughness, mental toughness, when it matters most, how do you control the game. Lot of things I liked tonight.”
Dylan Sampson, Heisman candidate
I better see Dylan Sampson’s name in Heisman conversations. I’ve been preaching it for weeks now, this guy is one of the best in the country. Sampson had 26 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Sampson is now two scores away from setting a new single-season record for rushing touchdowns. He’s one yard shy of 700 on the season. He’s second in the country with 15 rushing touchdowns, behind only Heisman frontrunner Ashton Jeanty’s 17. Sampson’s teammates had high praise for the running back.
“DSamp a dawg, man. He’ll continue to be a dawg,” Iamaleava said. “Whenever I hand the ball off, I feel like he’ll score.”
What’s Next?
The Vols are on a bye week next week, much needed following an Alabama win. Time to get healthy and tweak the first-half offense could go a long way as Tennessee hosts Kentucky and Mississippi State in Neyland Stadium the two weeks following their bye.