Tennessee moved to 7-1 on Saturday night with a 28-18 win over Kentucky at home.

The Vols won their third straight as Dylan Sampson rumbled, Nico Iamaleava played clean, and the defense played fierce. The win kept Tennessee right in the thick of the SEC title race and kept Tennessee very much in play for the College Football Playoff.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Tennessee flips the game in the third

The Vols dominated the third quarter, outgaining Kentucky 101-52, creating 2 takeaways, coming up with 2 sacks, and scoring 14 points. The damage could have been worse, too, if not for a missed 34-yard field goal on the opening drive of the quarter.

Tennessee went into the halftime break trailing Kentucky 10-7. It went into the fourth up 21-10.

Kentucky’s 3 third-quarter possessions:

  • 3 plays, 8 yards, fumble
  • 3 plays, 0 yards, punt
  • 8 plays, 28 yards, interception

The Vols forced a strip sack, getting to Brock Vandagriff on Kentucky’s first drive of the quarter. That takeaway eventually set up a 7-yard touchdown run for Dylan Sampson that gave Tennessee the lead.

Vandagriff was sacked again on the next drive and knocked out of the game. When Gavin Wimsatt replaced him on the following drive, his first pass was picked off and returned 67 yards to set up another Tennessee touchdown.

Vandagriff would not return to the game. Wimsatt led a 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that stretched from the third into the fourth and brought the Wildcats within 3 points, but they couldn’t get closer.

Vols’ pass rush goes off

On a third-and-25 with 3 minutes to play, Wimsatt had to evade pressure and just flip a pass to his checkdown man for 5 yards. Tennessee had sacked Wimsatt a few plays prior on a fourth down that would have ended the game if not for a facemask penalty. With another fourth down coming up, Wimsatt needed 20 yards.

The pocket collapsed again around him and he had to dump it down 10 yards short of the line to gain. Tennessee took over possession and ran out the rest of the clock.

Tennessee finished with just 3 sacks in the game, but it harrassed Kentucky’s quarterbacks all night long. UT defenders were credited with 7 quarterback hurries. James Pearce Jr., Omari Thomas, and Joshua Josephs all got to the quarterback.

Nico and the offense find some rhythm

Tennessee scored 28 points for the first time since Sept. 14. It wasn’t a perfect day — Tennessee needs to figure out its kicking game — but it sure felt like a step back in the right direction after weeks of struggling to break it open on offense.

Dylan Sampson ran for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 carries. Nico Iamaleava completed 28 of his 38 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown. The Vols fumbled twice but lost only 1 of them. They won the turnover battle, went 6-for-13 on third downs, averaged 7.6 yards per play on first downs, and created 12 explosive plays.

Iamaleava had a 21% explosive play rate on his passes. Those chunk plays were finally there and Iamaleava posted his first 200-yard day through the air since Sept. 7.