2024 Florida at Tennessee: The Best Bad Vols Win I’ve Seen in Person

Written By Tucker Harlin

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

By Tucker Harlin

The night of October 12, 2024 isn’t one I’ll soon forget.

As I settled into my seat in section Z14, a checkered Neyland began to take shape.

But so did the strange, chaotic, nervous energy that’s always present for this game. It probably didn’t help that a significant portion of the section I’m in was populated by Florida fans.

If you think the Gator chomp is bad, try being around them when they’re doing this:

Very classy.

Disjointed is the best word I have to describe the first two and a half quarters in Neyland Stadium. Nico Iamaleava’s fumble on the opening drive definitely hurt the energy in the stadium.

If I wasn’t hearing the phrase “Move back, you suck!” from Florida fans, the Tennessee fans in my vicinity kept saying something along the lines of “I’ve seen this movie before.” It seriously felt like the Neon Treon 10-9 game from 2014 had unearthed itself and crawled out of the darkness uninvited to repeat history.

If you had told me some kid on a jumbotron dance cam was going to save the energy in Neyland Stadium, I’d never believe you. But his rhythm must have found its way to the Tennessee sideline because the Vols were looking sleepy until he appeared.

I’m sure Morgan Wallen also did the Vols more favors than Garth ever could in his five-year run as the singer of Tennessee’s official fourth quarter song.

The Vols mounted a 17-point run between the middle of the third quarter and later into the fourth. They needed OT, but they still got the job done in a fashion in which they haven’t been able to beat the Gators in over the last 20 years.

Anyway, here’s my phase by phase breakdown of Tennessee’s win over Florida Saturday.

OFFENSE

I had a laundry list of complaints and criticisms about Tennessee’s offense after its loss at Arkansas last week.

Everything I mentioned that went wrong last week was still there in some facet against Florida. Some of those areas were dialed back this week, but one of them was amplified.

I’ll start with the amplified: Tennessee has a tackle problem.

If PFF grades are your metric of choice for offensive line play, then Lance Heard actually had a worse week against Florida than at Arkansas.

I don’t need to watch all of the clips floating around from the fan base on social media because the missed assignments were painfully obvious and right in front of my face Saturday.

We’ll see what direction the coaching staff does to address the issue, but offensive line struggles can be the difference in a great season and 6-6.

This may ripple over to the play calling and Nico Iamaleava.

Play calling was still less imaginative than it needed to be, but it definitely felt like the Vols read the room as the game went on and became more aggressive with the game script.

But this rekindled aggression didn’t exactly lead to more positive results.

At no point did Nico and his receivers appear on the same page over the course of the game. From drops to misses low and high to an interception in the midst of four Gator defenders, the pass game wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders.

There is one constant to this offense: Dylan Sampson.

Sampson finished the night with 112 rush yards and all three of Tennessee’s touchdowns. He only needs four more to break the single-season record of 18 rush touchdowns in program history.

DEFENSE

Tennessee’s defense continued its run as the best unit on the team last week.

I’ll get the negatives out of the way first because this wasn’t a flawless performance.

The run defense surrendered a few big plays on the ground to both Montrell Johnson and Graham Mertz along with some of the other running backs. There were several instances in which Mertz rolled right and there were no Vol defenders within eight yards of the tight end standing just a yard from him.

Of course, there was a huge bust on Florida’s final touchdown of the game. But overall, the defense is what gave Tennessee a pulse while the offense was sputtering in the opening half.

The defense was doing the same bending and breaking it did against Arkansas in Fayetteville, the difference being the lack of a long establishing drive and James Pearce turning the Gators over on his own goal line.

What really changed Tennessee’s momentum on defense for the better was Graham Mertz’s departure due to an ACL tear in the third quarter.

Mertz was playing two of every three possessions while true freshman D.J. Lagway played the third. Lagway now had all the pressure swing his direction in the most hostile environment he’d ever played in.

The very first offensive play after Mertz left, Lagway threw an interception on a pass that wasn’t high enough to escape Arion Carter’s reach.

The other problem Florida had when Mertz exited the game was an inability to stay ahead of the chains.

If you count overtime, four of Florida’s last six possessions featured a distance greater than 10 yards. A small portion of this is related to penalties, but 12 Vols combined for the 12 tackles for loss.

Pearce and Boo Carter got the conference accolades, but the impacts of Omarr Norman-Lott and Bryson Eason up front were greater in some instances.

Norman-Lott had half of Tennessee’s three sacks on Saturday. The second tackle for loss Eason recorded put Florida in a 3rd and 20 in overtime after it had already committed a false start on a 2nd and 10. Trey Smack wound up trying a 47-yard field goal and missing as a result.

Then there’s the secondary.

I already mentioned Boo Carter receiving a conference accolade this week, but the Vols have found themselves a lockdown corner out of the transfer portal in Jermod McCoy. The PBU he picked up on a 4th and 3 slant is something we haven’t seen from a defensive back under Josh Heupel until now.

I came into the season with the idea new blood was best for the secondary after three years of criticism from fans. I think it’s safe to say that was the right mindset.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Tennessee’s special teams units weren’t without their letdowns against Florida, especially when it came to punts.

I’ll confess I didn’t have the best angle to see Jackson Ross’ punts, so I’m not sure if they were low or high the way some are complaining about.

But I know this: the punt coverage is a big reason why this game went to overtime.

Chimere Dike ran both of his last two punt returns in the neighborhood of 30 yards and across the 50-yard line, something Tennessee’s defense was bailed the special teams out of once but not the second time.

I’m giving Jermod McCoy a little bit of a pass in his first official game as a punt returner.

The fair catch at the 10 wasn’t the best decision, but the guy that was returning the punts last week let it roll 20 yards closer to the end zone. I’ll let you decide which was worse.

At the end of the day, Tennessee won this game against a team it has played far better games against in the past and lost.

Josh Heupel successfully quelled discontent from fans over the Arkansas performance as a result.

Tucker Harlin
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