“Man, it couldn’t have started any worse.”
It quite literally could not have. With Tennessee’s season hanging in the balance, the Volunteers gave up an opening kickoff return for a touchdown. Dylan Sampson then fumbled and Vanderbilt quickly punched in another.
Down 14-0, and frankly getting blown off the ball by the Vandy offensive front early on, things looked bleak. Until they didn’t. A huge interception in the endzone by Jermod McCoy, a few big plays in the passing game, Dylan Sampson doing Dylan Sampson things — Tennessee stormed back to take a lead into halftime. They would quickly put things away to open the second half.