Dylan Sampson makes Tennessee history in thrilling Vols win over Kentucky

Tennessee football keeps its College Football Playoff hopes and SEC Championship opportunities alive with a thrilling 28-18 win over Kentucky on Saturday night. It is Josh Heupel's fourth-straight win against Kentucky since being hired in 2021.

The Vols' offense scored a first-half touchdown for the first time since September 22, but Tennessee left a lot of points on the board with yet another first-half fumble, dropped touchdown passes, and missed field goals. 

Despite the continued struggles on offense, they found a way to find the end zone and outscore the Wildcats. Tennessee's offense continues to be led by Junior running back Dylan Sampson in the backfield. 

Josh Heupel's offense is most successful when the running game is working, and that has been evident throughout the season when Sampson has had a successful game on the ground and when he hasn't.

That continues to be the story as Sampson breaks Tennessee's 95-year-old single-season rushing touchdown record against Kentucky. 

The junior running back from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fumbled early in the game and was benched, but he didn't let that define how this game would end for him. 

He scored his first touchdown of the game against Kentucky in the third quarter, which marked his 18th touchdown of the season, tying Gene McEver's mark set in 1929. 

Sampson followed that up with another touchdown in the fourth quarter to break McEver's single-season record and put his name in Tennessee's record books. 

The record-breaking touchdown wasn't a simple rushing attempt but a play that required Sampson to utilize his toughness to get into the end zone. It looked like the Kentucky defense had him stopped at the four-yard line, but he continued to move his feet, and thanks to an assist from his offensive lineman and Nico, he scored the record-breaking touchdown.

He continues to have one of the best seasons a Tennessee running back has had in a long time on Rocky Top. He has 979 rushing yards on the season to go with his 19 touchdowns, including the 141 rushing yards he had against Kentucky. 

Tennessee has four games remaining on the regular season schedule, which gives Sampson an opportunity to chase Travis Stephens's 2001 single-season rushing yards record of 1,464. 

As Sampson continues to dominate in the backfield, the Tennessee defense is also playing at an elite level. The Vols defense got off to a slow start, allowing 166 total yards in the first quarter, which is the most of any quarter this season. 

Once the defense settled in, though, it shut down the Kentucky offense for most of the night, allowing only one more touchdown and 194 total yards in the next three quarters. 

Tennessee also continues its impressive streak of holding opponents to less than 20 points in every game this season. Only four other teams have done that to this point in the season, and all four have won the national championship. 

The Vols join 2003 LSU, 2011 Alabama, 2012 Alabama, and 2021 Georgia as the only teams to hold every opponent to less than 20 points in its first eight games of the season. 

This win also marks Tennessee's third-ranked win of the season. Tennessee defeated No. 24 NC State, No. 15 Oklahoma, and No. 7 Alabama to this point in the season, with a date against No. 2 Georgia a couple of weeks away.