Tennessee celebrated Homecoming with a 33-14 defeat of Mississippi State, but suffered an injury to quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who did not come out of the locker room for the second half.
Backup Gaston Moore was thrust into duty and he led the Vols to a 13-point second half and an 8-1 season record.
Iamaleava suffered an upper body injury, and his status was unknown for the clash next Saturday in Athens against Georgia.
Iamaleava hit Squirrel White on a 34-yard play and also connected with Don'te Thornton on a 73-yard strike. Thornton also suffered an upper body injury later in the game.
The Vols were boosted by Max Gilbert's return to confidence. He nailed field goals of 24, 38, 51 and 38 yards.
Tennessee led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, then got the Thornton score to move to 14-0. Mississippi State got into the end zone to trail by a touchdown, but Gilbert added six points before the intermission to put the Vols up 20-7.
Another Bulldog TD made it a 23-14 game, then Dylan Sampson had a 33-yard touchdown run to help cement the victory.
The final Gilbert field goal was the only scoring of the fourth quarter.
Iamaleava hit on eight of 13 passes for 174 yards in the air, while Moore was five of eight for 38 yards.