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    • Tennessee beats Alabama through Nico Iamaleava TD pass, defensive stop
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    Tennessee beats Alabama through Nico Iamaleava TD pass, defensive stop

    Kathleen William Posted on

    No. 10 Tennessee rebounded from a scoreless first half to beat No. 7 Alabama 24-17 on Saturday at Neyland Stadium in the final chapter of their rivalry on the third Saturday in October.

    This significantly increases the Vols' chances of making the 12-team College Football Playoff.

    Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) took a 21-17 lead with 5:52 left when Nico Iamaleava fired a 16-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Chris Brazzell.

    Alabama (5-2, 2-2) failed on a fourth down play with 1:48 left. And UT added a 41-yard field goal from Max Gilbert to extend its lead to 24-17 with 1:30 left.

    Then UT safety Will Brooks, a walk-on, intercepted Alabama's Jalen Milroe to seal the win.

    The Vols defeated Nick Saban's Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium in 2022. This time, they defeated Kalen DeBoer's squad in front of a deafening, sellout crowd.

    The Vols now begin their second open week of the season. They play Kentucky on November 2nd at Neyland Stadium.

    But let's wrap up this win over Alabama with these five takeaways.

    Dylan Sampson's TDs brought Tennessee back

    After a scoreless first half, UT scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 14-10 lead.

    Dylan Sampson, the SEC's rushing and scoring leader, scored both touchdowns. He rushed for 53 yards on four carries on a 91-yard drive, including the 2-yard score.

    And Sampson scored a 2-yard TD one play after Nico Iamaleava completed a 55-yard pass to Dont'e Thornton.

    The lead didn't last long. Alabama responded with a 75-yard TD drive to take a 17-14 lead, leading to a back-and-forth fourth quarter.

    Sampson finished the game with 139 yards rushing on 26 carries and two touchdowns. He has 17 rushing TDs, one less than Gene McEver's UT single-season record set in 1929.

    Nico Iamaleava started slowly but recovered

    Iamaleava experienced ups and downs. He struggled badly in the first half and recovered in the second half.

    He completed 14 of 27 passes for 194 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for 44 yards.

    Iamaleava missed four of his first seven passes. Two overturned deep tosses were the most costly because they would have resulted in touchdowns. And he threw an interception near the goal line to squander a scoring opportunity in the second quarter.

    Iamaleava also had a 27-yard run and the long pass to Thornton that set up Sampson's two touchdowns. Then he hit Brazzell for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.

    The Vols offense again went scoreless in the first half

    For the first time in coach Josh Heupel's four-year tenure, UT committed three turnovers in the first half. And four drives that ended in Alabama territory remained scoreless.

    The result was UT's third straight scoreless first half for the first time since 1963. That had never happened before in Heupel's tenure up to that point.

    UT drove to the Alabama 18-yard line on its first drive, but Sampson fumbled for the first time in his career.

    UT cornerback Jermod McCoy intercepted a Milroe pass in the end zone and returned it 54 yards. But Iamaleava intercepted a wide-open Squirrel White pass and Max Gilbert missed a 53-yard field goal.

    Iamaleava missed a play due to injury and backup quarterback Gaston Moore threw an interception. After Iamaleava returned, he threw an interception near the goal line, wasting another scoring opportunity. And UT also missed a 50-yard field goal late in the second quarter.

    The stingy defense kept Tennessee in the game

    As bad as UT's offense was in the first half, its defense was just as good.

    The Vols pressured Milroe, making stops on third down and dropping a pass in the end zone.

    Alabama had three possessions in the first half. The rally took place in the end zone. And it missed a 54-yard field goal just before halftime.

    Alabama didn't reach paydirt until the first quarter with an eight-play, 64-yard drive. Milroe threw a 5-yard TD pass to Ryan Williams for a 7-0 lead.

    UT's defensive stops gave the offense time to finally take a 14-10 lead late in the third quarter. Alabama regained the lead at 17-14 early in the fourth quarter.

    Adam Sparks is Tennessee's football beat reporter. e-mail [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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    Kathleen William
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