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Tennessee QB struggles, but Vols outscore Florida in OT

Posted on by Kennedy
Tennessee QB struggles, but Vols outscore Florida in OT

Nico Iamaleava had a terrible start but a better finish in Tennessee's 23-17 overtime win over Florida on Saturday.

Iamaleava committed two turnovers. He struggled under pressure. And for most of the game, he looked lost in the face of the Gators' defense.

Additionally, Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC) went scoreless in the first half for the second straight game. This had never happened before in coach Josh Heupel's four-year tenure before the last two games against Arkansas and Florida (3-3, 1-2).

But the Vols still got a tough home win. Here's a quick overview of Iamaleava's performance against the Gators.

Nico Iamaleava's stats

Iamaleava had 16 of 26 passes for 169 yards, no touchdowns and one interception against Florida. He was fired three times.

Through six games of the 2024 season, Iamaleava has completed 65% of his passes for 1,217 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

Nico's best: A series of completions on the TD drive

It was a brief highlight during an otherwise poor performance.

But on UT's touchdown push in the third quarter, Iamaleava connected with mid-range passes to keep the chains moving and allow the Vols' rushing attack to find its rhythm.

Iamaleava was 4 of 4 for 49 yards on that 11-play, 75-yard drive. Dylan Sampson's TD run cut Florida's lead to 10-7. Sampson later scored to give the Vols a 17-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

Nico's worst: Fumble, interception, misfire

Iamaleava made a number of mistakes, especially in the first half. He was lucky that UT's strong defense prevented Florida from converting those mistakes into points.

UT successfully completed its first games under Heupel. And it looked like the Vols were going to march into the end zone to start this game.

With a rushing attack, they quickly gained 49 yards in seven plays. But then Iamaleava failed in a routine handoff exchange with Sampson. Florida recovered at its own 26-yard line to prevent a quick UT scoring drive.

In the second quarter, Iamaleava failed two deep passes on the same drive that would have gone for touchdowns. His throw to Squirrel White was too long and his pass to Chas Nimrod was too far.

Just before halftime, Iamaleava threw an interception into double coverage.

Grade: D-

The scoreboard didn't do much to make up for Iamaleava's bad night.

Without UT's lockdown defense and Sampson's rushing, the redshirt freshman quarterback would have taken the blame for a devastating loss.

However, give Iamaleava a little credit for not making a bad night worse. After the two early ball losses, he defended the ball.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee 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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