Tennessee players react to convincing win over North Carolina State
CHARLOTTE — Tennessee throttled North Carolina State on Saturday night in the Queen City. The defense was stout on the night and led the way from the kickoff.
“I feel like we just came out and played hard,” Omari Thomas said after the game. “We wanted to win the line of scrimmage on offense and defense and I felt like we did that today. We have to continue to grow and get better. We had a lot of mistakes out there but we came out and played hard and had a good game.”
The Vols got on the board first with a 9-yard touchdown run from Dylan Sampson. The drive stayed alive on third-and-14 after Sampson went 17 yards to the 12-yard line on a pass from Nico Iamaleava. The drive covered 62 yards in nine plays. Sampson ran for over 130 yards with multiple touchdowns on the night.
The second offensive touchdown came from tight end Miles Kitselman.
“It just all happened so fast,” Kitselman said of his first touchdown in Orange. “Seeing that ball up in the air you go don’t mess up, don’t mess up. I hadn’t scored a touchdown since Hutch.”
The first interception of Nico Iamaleava’s Tennessee career was converted into a field goal by NC State. The Wolfpack connected on a 24-yard field goal from Kanoah Viesett. The scoring drive went 40 yards in six plays in 2:30. Iamaleava wasn’t as sharp this week but still completed near 70% of his passes with a touchdown to Miles Kitselman.
“I think for me it was taking what the defense was giving us,” Iamaleava said after the game. “That first mistake I was trying to squeeze it too long. I could have ran it or scrambled and made a play, I made it easier in the second half.”
Tennessee won special teams on the night as Max Gilbert made three field goal. He was perfect on the season until missing on a 53 yard attempt late in the fourth.
