Tennessee football has cracked 6 wins on the season following a 33-27 win over Kentucky in Lexington.

It wasn’t the one-sided, semi-low scoring game that Kentucky-Tennessee has been in the past. The Wildcats were determined to snap Tennessee’s 2-game win streak, but ultimately wouldn’t take the win despite a struggling Tennessee secondary and some inconsistency in the 2nd and 3rd quarter on offense.

All in all, it was not a bad game for Tennessee and their best road performance of the season, though the bar is not set very high.

Here are 3 takeaways from Tennessee’s win at Kroger Field.

Jaylen Wright starts, Dylan Sampson finishes

Jaylen Wright is the best running back on a Vols roster featuring 3 NFL-caliber rushers.

Wright was unreal to start things out for the Vols. He set the tone early and scored the Vols’ first touchdown with this beauty of a rush less than 5 minutes in.

The Vols’ top back finished with 11 rushes for 120 yards and the above touchdown.

And if Wright started things off for Tennessee, Dylan Sampson closed the door. The sophomore running back commanded perhaps Tennessee’s best drive of the night following a truly abysmal Kentucky field goal attempt.

Sampson totaled 34 yards and a touchdown in the following drive, finishing in the end zone with this rush:

That wasn’t it, either. Kentucky still had a chance late if it could just find one stop. Sampson refused to let them back into it and, alongside a few key plays from Joe Milton, put any rumors of a comeback to bed.

Sampson finished with 15 rushes for 75 yards and 1 touchdown. The Vols finished with 254 rushing yards on the day against one of the SEC’s top run defenses.

Life without Kamal Hadden… not ideal!

Tennessee lost perhaps its top defensive back for the season this past week when Kamal Hadden announced on Instagram that he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery. The Vols DB injured his shoulder during the Vols’ loss to Alabama.

That’s 2 great defensive players the Vols are missing. LB Keenan Pili has not played since the early weeks of the season.

And Tennessee’s secondary struggled without Hadden on the turf. Devin Leary had a field day, throwing for 373 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. It was probably his best performance of the season.

Now, Tennessee’s pass rush was not doing the Vols secondary any favors. Leary had all day in the pocket behind a strong Kentucky offensive line.

It worked out in the end because of Tennessee’s effectiveness running the ball. But can that level of play beat teams like Mizzou and Georgia?

Joe Milton does all he’s asked to do. No change coming there, Vols fans

Joe Milton had a good game against Kentucky on Saturday.

The Vols QB has seen his share of criticism this year, and rightfully so. But he had one of his better performances in Lexington. He threw for 227 yards, completing 17 of his 20 attempts for 1 touchdown.

Was it perfect? No. Once again, Milton was only sparingly able to show any ability to push the ball downfield. He missed a few open receivers, but nothing as crucial as he has in other games this season.

What has been most interesting about Milton in recent weeks is his increased tendency to run the ball. He picked up a key first down for the Vols on the final drive of the game, one that likely put the Cats to bed for good.

Many Vols fans have said Milton should sit against UConn in favor of Nico Iamaleava. But the reality is that as long as he and the Vols keep winning games, it’s going to be the No. 7 show in Knoxville.