Dan Fleser
Aside from the outcome, the most pressing concern for Tennessee football fans on Saturday night involved the prognosis.
The health of Nico Iamaleava likely was foremost in their thoughts long before the Vols’ 33-14 victory over Mississippi State was secure. UT’s quarterback missed the entire second half with an upper body injury, per the ESPN telecast. Afterward, Coach Josh Heupel, who typically says next to nothing about injuries, said Iamaleava should be available for next Saturday’s showdown at Georgia.
“We anticipate having him ready for next week,” Heupel said during his media session. “Precautionary measure at halftime.”
The nature of Iamaleava’s injury wasn’t clear. There was a video of him walking on the field after the game with his family. He had a towel draped over his head. Speculation regarding when he was hurt centered on consecutive plays of Tennessee’s penultimate drive of the first half. By appearance, the most plausible option seemed to be the second play, a third-down pass in which Iamaleava rolled out to his right and absorbed a hard hit from State safety Isaac Smith. Iamaleava landed on his right shoulder.
The injury worries began the play before this two-play sequence and they involved not the QB but running back Dylan Sampson. He went down after a 1-yard loss with an apparent ankle injury and was prone long enough for a hush to fall over the crowd of 101,915 at Neyland Stadium. Sampson eventually walked off the field and returned in the second half to top off a yeomanly performance: career single-game highs of 30 carries and 149 yards. He also scored his 20th rushing touchdown of the season in the third quarter.
When asked about Sampson, wide receiver Squirrel White said, “He’s a soldier. Give him the Heisman.”
“I second that,” said center Cooper Mays
“I third(ed) that,” said safety Boo Carter.
That made it a clean sweep of the interviewees on the postgame rostrum.
Here’s some other observations:
-UT’s defense played its part, holding an opponent under 20 points for a 10th consecutive game. But State exposed some holes in the run defense, amassing 179 rushing yards, two touchdowns and an average of nearly five yards per carry. A replay of Johnnie Daniels’ 18-yard scoring run in the third quarter showed linebacker Arion Carter shifting to his left just before the snap and Daniels running where he wasn’t to score untouched.
“It’s us filling our gaps and being gap-sound,” defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins said. “As a defense, we’re going to have to watch the film to see where we may have slipped up on some plays.”
-In relief of Iamaleava, back-up Gaston Moore’s most impactful passes were two throws he didn’t complete that drew pass interference penalties. Both calls assisted a scoring drive. Later, a State holding call away from the play negated a holding penalty against Tennessee on a drive that ended with Sampson’s 33-yard TD run.
-Placekicker Max Gilbert rediscovered his groove in a big way, hitting all four of his field-goal attempts, including a career-best 51-yarder.
“Wasn’t that awesome for him?” Heupel asked rhetorically. “Outside noise, you can try to ignore it, but it’s pretty hard to do in today’s world. You talk about a competitor. Resilient.”
-Freshman Boo Carter had an interception but left his biggest mark on the victory as a punt returner, with returns of 28 and 23 yards. The latter came in the final 30 seconds of the first half and helped set up a Gilbert field goal.
“I was trying to return every one of them,” the former Bradley Central standout said. “It’s better for me to catch it and try to get some yards.”
-In his Vol Network interview, Heupel lauded Bob Kesling for his work as the voice of Vols football and basketball for 26 years. Kesling announced last week that he will be retiring at the end of basketball season. They closed the interview with an amusing exchange that referenced Kesling’s predecessor, John Ward.
“I told you the other day when we were talking that John Ward was sent out with a national championship,” Kesling said. “I expect nothing less from you.”
“Well, our fan base doesn’t either,” Heupel countered.
Bob put in a full day on Saturday, calling UT basketball’s impressive 77-55 victory at Louisville before finishing with the call of football’s win.
Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.