No. 7 Tennessee trails first by 14 points before routing Vanderbilt 36-23.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Niko Yamaleava threw for 257 yards and four touchdowns, rallying No. 7 Tennessee from a 14-point deficit within the first five minutes to a rout. intrastate rival Vanderbilt 36-23 Saturday.

Volunteers (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference; No. 8 CFP) needed a big win to impress the College Football Playoff committee and earn a home playoff game in December.

They beat Vanderbilt (6-6, 3-5) for the sixth straight season.

Moreover, they recovered from a terrible start, giving away the first 14 points to score 29 points in a row. They led 24-17 at halftime after Yamaleava’s first three passes.

Junior Sherrill returned the kickoff 100 yards for a Vanderbilt touchdown, stunning the mostly Orange crowd. Dylan Sampson fumbled the Vols’ second play from scrimmage, and Cedric Alexander’s 26-yard 4-yard TD run put Vandy up 14-0 early.

Yamaleawa then gave Tennessee the lead with a 28-yard pass to Donty Thornton Jr.

Tennessee got a break when Max Gilbert’s 50-yard field goal bounced off the crossbar and went wide. Yamaleawa found Thornton again for an 86-yard catch-and-run touchdown, and then he threw an 18-yard pass to Miles Kitselman just before halftime.

Yamaleawa completed the first drive of the third quarter by hitting Mike Matthews with a 14-yard pass for a 31-17 lead. The Vols added safety Tyre West and another Gilbert field goal.

Diego Pavia He threw a late 31-yard pass to Richie Hoskins, and Vandy’s two-point conversion fell short.

Poll Meaning

Tennessee didn’t make a good impression with another slow start. The Vols will need to hope for some help to have any chance of moving up. a spot or two. The big question is whether the Vols can pull off playoff game in December at Neyland Stadium, where they are undefeated this season.

Conclusions

In the first half alone, Tennessee collected TD runs of 91 and 96 yards. The Vols then beat Vandy in their own spacing game, failing to even hold the ball for 10 minutes in the first half. They finished with an advantage in that metric, outscoring Vandy 538-212.

Vanderbilt had some of the best offensive success against Tennessee of any opponent this season. The Commodores had 114 yards rushing and 17 points at halftime against a defense that ranked sixth nationally, allowing just 98.8 yards per game. The Vols were fourth in the country, giving up just 13.1 points per game, having defeated 10 of 11 opponents by fewer than 20 points this season.

Sampson’s latest record

The Tennessee running back, who set a program record with 22 rushing touchdowns this season, did not reach the end zone for the first time this season. Sampson finished with 178 yards and reached 1,485 yards on the season, surpassing the school mark of 1,464 yards set by Travis Stevens in 2001.

Next

Tennessee waits to hear its place in the CFP field, while Vanderbilt will find out where it will be headed on December 8th.

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