Tennessee football survives night of miscues, miscommunication, and misdirection

Tennessee football survives another hard-fought game to improve to 5-1 on the season. I took the Vols overtime to get the win, but they did finish off Florida 23-17 to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, although it wasn't pretty. 

The offense continues to struggle against above-average defenses. Florida's front seven was able to pressure redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava all night and kept Dylan Sampson quiet for most of the night, but it wasn't enough to prevent Sampson from finishing the night with 112 yards and three touchdowns. 

The Vols went scoreless in the first half for the second straight game. Tennessee averaged 37.3 ppg in the first half through the first three games of the season. 

Offensive penalties and mental errors are still issues for the Vols' offense. Holding and false start penalties continue to prevent the offense from getting started. 

Nico looked his best when he was out of the pocket and away from pressure. Josh Heupel and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle called some effective rollout passes in the second half, which helped the Vols stretch the field, move the ball, and find the end zone. 

Although it seemed to be effective, they kept Nico in the pocket for most of the fourth quarter, which limited Tennessee's ability to move the ball for the rest of the game. After the past two games, Nico seems best out of the pocket and on the move. 

When there is any sort of pressure forcing Nico to hurry his throw, he struggles with accuracy. However, he has done a little better the past two weeks when there is a called rollout pass, which might have to become part of the game plan moving forward. 

Tennessee's defense, especially run defense, continues to dominate and looks to be the best part of this year's Tennessee team. One of the defense leaders, Keenan Pili, left the game in the first quarter and could miss an extended period of time with an apparent knee injury. 

The defense continued to show up throughout the second half and carried the team for the third straight game. We knew the defense was going to need to help carry the team until the offense figures itself out with Nico at quarterback, but it looks like the defense is better than expected and can be leaned on in most situations. 

The defense was especially impressive in the second half, setting up the offense in great field position immediately after scoring its first touchdown. The Vols went on to score 17 unanswered points and had a second-half spark similar to the Oklahoma game.

Despite the offensive struggles, Tennessee did something that they have only done three times in the past two decades: beat Florida. The Vols had to get back in the win column this week, and they got it done, no matter how ugly it looked at times throughout Saturday night. Now the Vols turn to Alabama and the Third Saturday in October with their entire season still out in front of them.