FINAL: No. 8 Tennessee 23, Florida 17 (OT)

WHAT HAPPENED: Backlog Dylan Sampson crashed into the end zone from a yard out on Tennessee’s first possession of overtime, giving the eighth-ranked Volunteers a 23-17 victory over rival Florida in their Southeastern Conference game Saturday night at sold-out Neyland Stadium. Sampson scored his third score of the game for the league leader, coming after his 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth period gave the Vols their first lead with just under 10 minutes to play. The Gators, 15 1/2-point underdogs, rallied to tie the score behind the freshman quarterback DJ Lagway after the beginning of the sixth year Graham Mertz Left the game in the third quarter after suffering what appeared to be a knee injury. Lagway fired a 23-yard touchdown pass Chimere Dike on a third-and-19 with just 29 seconds remaining in regulation time to make the score 17-16 and stun the crowd of over 102,000. UF coach Billy Napierinitially kept his offense on the field and threatened a two-point conversion attempt – and a chance to win – but after Tennessee called a timeout and reset out of desperation, Napier opted to leave Trey Smack out to kick the point-after and play for overtime. UT won the coin toss and elected to play defense first. The Gators ran three plays, lost four yards, and turned to Smack, who had previously kicked a 42-yard field goal. However, his 47 OT attempt was pushed to the right, leaving Tennessee to play for the win. The Vols needed five plays to go 25 yards, with Sampson crossing from 1st to second-and-goal, giving the Volunteers just their third win in the last 20 games of this series. Sampson, who entered the game with 589 rushing yards and 12 TDs, finished the game with 112 on 27 attempts and the three scores. Defensively, UF largely did an excellent job of containing a UT offense that entered the day ranked fifth in the nation with 519.0 yards per game, while the Vols finished with a season-low 312 yards and nearly one in as many games Lost second game weeks as a top 10 team. UT sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed 16 of 26 passes for 169 yards, scored no scores, was intercepted and was sacked three times. Lagway finished nine of 17 games for 98 yards, one score, one interception and three sacks as the Gators actually outscored the Vols with 361 yards of total offense. Mertz was 11 of 15 for 125 yards and a touchdown, with his 13-yard scoring throw reaching the tight end Arlis Boardingham This gave the Gators a 10-0 lead in the third quarter, but also resulted in UF’s starting quarterback suffering a non-contact-related injury at the end of the game. Mertz joined the starting traffic jam Montreal Johnson Jr. (12 carries, 85 yards before going down with a lower-body injury early in the third quarter) on the sideline as the two watched the Vols recover from a 10-0 deficit. The UF lead could have been much larger, but the Gators destroyed themselves on three drives that penetrated the UT 20 in the first half and yielded no points. First: wideout Eugene Wilson III was tackled for a loss of yardage on a jet sweep on fourth-and-1. Next, Mertz failed a first-down sneak attempt at the Vols’ 1. And finally, after a Florida interception on the final play of the first half against the Gators, Smack had a converted 43-yard field goal taken off the board for 12 men on the field. Since there were no timeouts and a 10-second run-off could not be accepted, the half ended with a penalty and no replay. UF finally found the end zone on its second possession of the second half when Mertz moved the Gators 92 yards in nine plays and then threw his score to Boardingham. It took UT less than five minutes to find the end zone for the first time, with Iamaleava driving the Vols 75 yards in 11 plays and Sampson leading the game with a six-yard scoring run on a fourth-and-1. On the very next play from scrimmage, Lagway threw an interception in minus territory that led to a 35-yard play Max Gilbert Field goal that tied the game at 10 with 1:37 left in the third quarter. Sampson’s second TD about five minutes later made it 17:10 and set the stage for the hectic conclusion.

WHAT IT MEANS: Only the third loss to Tennessee since 2005, but it could have turned out very differently – giving Napier perhaps the biggest win of his three UF seasons as well as some promising opportunities for the program – if the Gators hadn’t blown those three excellent scoring opportunities in the first Halftime.

IN FOCUS: Florida’s defense has made some impressive strides since two debacles at home to Miami and Texas A&M earlier in the season. The guys on that side of the ball put the Gators in position to get them a win that virtually no one expected.

AMAZING STATISTICS: Florida was 3 of 6 in the red zone, with those three come-up empty-killers all occurring in the second quarter. Tennessee was 3-for-3 in the red zone. There is the game.

NEXT: Florida (3-3, 1-2) will be back in “The Swamp” for a home game against Kentucky (3-3, 1-3), which has beaten the Gators three straight and four of the last five straight in after 31 losses the series from 1987-2017. The Wildcats had a two-game winning streak snapped late Saturday night when they lost at home to 2024 college football giant Vanderbilt. After last week’s stunning upset of No. 1 Alabama, they went to Lexingtone and handed the favored Wildcats a 20-13 loss.