No. 7 Tennessee eager to score faster hosting Mississippi State for homecoming

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- — The seventh-ranked Tennessee Volunteers have one last chance to fix a nagging issue on their own field before hitting the road.

Scoring before halftime.

The Vols have been shut out through the first 30 minutes by Arkansas, Florida and Alabama. They rallied to beat Florida and Alabama. They managed one touchdown before halftime against Kentucky with their stingy defense keeping them close for a third straight comeback.

“We need to, we want to start a lot faster than we have here in the last few weeks,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. "We have to take advantage of things and do the simple things at a high level. In particular, down in the red zone where we have had to kick too many field goals the last few weeks, we have had turnovers, we have gotten behind the chains, things that we control. We have to be better.”

Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC, No. 7 CFP ) goes into Saturday night's homecoming game against Mississippi State among five one-loss teams in the Southeastern Conference. This is the Vols' last potential tune-up before a visit to No. 2 Georgia in a game that could help decide much more than just who plays for the SEC title on Dec. 7.

The Bulldogs (2-7, 0-5) should provide a good opportunity for Tennessee to work out those offensive kinks. Mississippi State just snapped a seven-game skid last week against Massachusetts. First-year coach Jeff Lebby hopes his Bulldogs keep growing from experience this season.

“The setting, the environment, the night game, it will be an electric atmosphere," Lebby said. "We have to do a great job of communicating and finding ways to take that out of our game.”

Iamaleava tuning up

Nico Iamaleava is the key to getting the Vols' offense going faster, and he is coming off his best passing game yet in the 28-18 win over Kentucky when he was 28 of 38 for 292 yards along with a TD pass. His 28 completions tied for the most by a Tennessee quarterback since Heupel took over in 2021.

Iamaleava also has been at his best in the second half of the last three comebacks, completing 61.7% of his passes for 287 yards and two TD passes.

Okie connection

Heupel has a personal stake in this game. He and Lebby have known each other since Heupel was a graduate assistant and Lebby was a student coach at Oklahoma. Lebby also was offensive coordinator at Central Florida (2018-19) when Heupel was head coach. Several assistants on Lebby’s staff also worked for Heupel.

“(He’s) a guy that I have more respect for than maybe anybody in the profession,” Lebby said. “(He’s) a great friend and somebody that has been a great mentor to me.”

Tennessee record

Dylan Sampson now has Tennessee's single-season record with 19 rushing touchdowns through eight games. He took over a school record that had stood since 1929, and he ranks second in the FBS this season. Lebby called Sampson incredible at running through defenders.

"Arm tackles don’t tackle him,” Lebby said.

Big-play QB

MSU's Michael Van Buren, a true freshman who took over when Blake Shapen was lost for the season with an injury, threw eight touchdown passes in October — more than any other SEC quarterback. Van Buren certainly has caught Heupel's attention.

Keeping the faith

Tennessee kicker Max Gilbert is mired in a slump going 1 of 6 on field goal attempts over the past two games. Despite the frustration, Heupel hasn’t lost confidence, saying Gilbert needs to find his sweet spot and go play.

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