{"id":426478,"date":"2024-12-01T19:19:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=426478"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Down-14-early-No-8-Tennessee-rallies-past-Vanderbilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Down-14-early-No-8-Tennessee-rallies-past-Vanderbilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Down 14 early, No. 8 Tennessee rallies past Vanderbilt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nico Iamaleava threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns as No. 8 Tennessee stormed back from an early deficit to beat host Vanderbilt 36-23 in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday. Two of those scoring strikes went to Dont&#8217;e Thornton (three catches, 118 yards) while Dylan Sampson added 178 rushing yards on 25 carries. Tennessee (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) held Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to 8-of-17 passing for 104 yards and outsnapped (73-49) and outgained (538-232) the Commodores (6-6, 3-5). The Vols won&#8217;t play in the SEC title game, but likely clinched a College Football Playoff berth and possibly a first-round home game. Vanderbilt got 17 first-quarter points against the Vols, who&#8217;d given up just over 13 points a game. Tennessee scored 29 straight points starting with the second quarter until Pavia found Richie Hoskins with a 31-yard touchdown with 5:53 to play. The Vols finally found some breathing room halfway through the third quarter as Iamaleava found Mike Matthews for a 14-yard TD pass with 8:43 left for a 31-17 lead. Tennessee&#8217;s Jackson Ross, punting for the first time all day, pinned the Commodores at their 4. Two plays later, the Vols tackled Sedrick Alexander for a safety. Max Gilbert hit a 22-yard field goal on the Vols&#8217; ensuing drive for a 19-point lead. Tennessee averaged 10.3 yards per play and didn&#8217;t punt in the first half, but led just 24-17 thanks to turnovers (a 2-1 deficit), penalties (seven for 55 yards) and a Vanderbilt special teams touchdown. Vanderbilt&#8217;s Junior Sherrill opened the game with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and after CJ Taylor forced a Sampson fumble that Nick Rinaldi pounced on at Tennessee&#8217;s 26, Alexander scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Commodores up 14-0 just 4:38 in. Iamaleava found Thornton for touchdown throws of 28 and 86 yards, and then hit Miles Kitselman with 22 seconds left in the first half, giving Tennessee its first lead. Vanderbilt&#8217;s Brock Taylor hit a 32-yard field goal with 4:01 remaining in the first quarter, but the Vols scored the half&#8217;s final 17 points, starting with Gilbert&#8217;s 50-yard field goal, which hit the crossbar and bounced over. &#8211;Field Level Media<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/8f1b067ac382372f70adec147bf957fd.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Nov 30, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) passes the ball against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>-Steve Roberts-Imagn Images<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nico Iamaleava threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns as No. 8 Tennessee stormed back&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}