It was all Tennessee on Saturday.
The Volunteers offense rolled to take a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga in the 2024 season opener in Knoxville on a steamy Saturday inside Neyland Stadium.
“I like a lot of things we did – all three phases of the game,” Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel said. “Defensively, I thought the line of scrimmage, we did a really nice job. We played good third-down defense, tight coverage for most of it. Really a lot of positives on that side of the ball. Offensively, did some really good things early. We have to learn to stay dialed in and finish a half and a quarter of a football game, but all-in-all good things, obviously.”
Nico Iamaleava made the most of his first start inside Neyland Stadium as he went 22-of-28 passing – including going 10-for-10 to open the game – and finished with 314 yards and three touchdowns. Iamaleava only played the first half.
“It felt great going out there and competing with my guy,” Iamaleava said. “We put a lot of work into this year, so it felt good to go out there and display what we have been working on.”
Dont’e Thornton Jr. had a big game at the wide receiver slot as he caught two touchdowns and finished with three catches for 105 yards.
Dylan Sampson led the Tennessee rushing attack as he recorded a hat trick with three touchdowns and finished with 124 yards on 12 carries.
“Yeah, he was limited for a few days, but then he got back in the rotation,” Heupel said of Sampson. “He’s been healthy for a while, and we expect him to play in the way he did today, decisive, violent cuts and he got pad under pad. Obviously, he has the ability to do anything you should want a running back to do. I’m going to say that, just the ability to play out in space and play at the line active. Love the performance from him today.”
As a team, Tennessee had 718 yards of total offense which was just six yards away from the program record of 724 (Missouri, 2022).
The Volunteers hit the gas by scoring on its first seven possessions of the game as the Vols led 45-0 at the half.
Tennessee is set to return to action next Saturday for the Duke’s Mayo Classic against NC State in Charlotte.
