Nico Iamaleava passed for four touchdowns and Dylan Sampson rushed for 77 yards and set a school-record for TDs as No. 11 Tennessee rolled to a 56-0 victory over UTEP on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
Sampson scored on a 14-yard TD run early in the second quarter for the game’s first points to deliver his 22nd TD of tje season to break the Tennessee single-season mark set by Gene McEvers in 1929.
Iamaleava was 15 of 20 for 173 yards for Tennessee (9-2), while Bru McCoy caught a pair of TD passes and Squirrel White and Ethan Davis each had a TD reception.
Tennessee moved its all-time record to 2-0 against the Miners, also having blanked the Conference USA school 24-0 in 2018.
Jermod McCoy and John Slaughter had interceptions for the Volunteers, while Dominic Bailey recovered a fumble to set up a score.
Skyler Locklear was 10-of-19 passing for 50 yards with an interception for UTEP (2-9), while rushing for 37 yards on eight carries. JP Pickles also had a turn at QB for the Miners and was 10 of 15 for 72 yards. Kenny Odom had eight receptions for 70 yards.
Both defenses set the tone in the first quarter. The UTEP defense allowed just one first down to the Southeastern Conference team in three ugly series in the opening quarter and only 22 yards.
In the second quarter, Sampson ended a 68-yard drive by dashing up the middle for 14 yards for the record-setting score to take a 7-0 lead with 13:22 remaining before halftime.
After Bailey’s fumble recovery, Iamaleava flipped a screen pass that White took 9 yards to the end zone nearly six minutes later.
Davis put the Volunteers up 21-0 when he grabbed a short pass for a 1-yard TD. Iamaleava then found Bru McCoy from 18 yards with eight seconds left in the second quarter for a 28-0 halftime lead.
McCoy caught his second TD and Peyton Lewis rushed for a pair for a 49-0 lead in the third quarter, but the biggest roar from Volunteers fans came when it was announced Florida beat No. 9 Ole Miss 24-17, to enhance the Volunteers’ College Football Playoff hopes.
Cameron Seldon’s 3-yard run capped the scoring as the Volunteers finished the season undefeated at home for the second time in four years.
