Pro Football Focus grades, snap counts from Tennessee's win over Mississippi State
The Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts from Tennessee’s 33-14 win over Mississippi State Saturday night at Neyland Stadium:
Tennessee’s Offense
| Player | Overall PFF Grade | Snap Count |
| Dont’e Thornton | 84.1 | 35 |
| Nico Iamaleava | 81.4 | 41 |
| Squirrel White | 78.9 | 26 |
| Dylan Sampson | 75.4 | 55 |
| Cameron Seldon | 69.5 | 9 |
| Shamurad Umarov | 68.1 | 9 |
| Lance Heard | 63.4 | 84 |
| Chris Brazzell | 61.7 | 51 |
| Peyton Lewis | 60.3 | 20 |
| Nathan Robinson | 60.0 | 1 |
| Chas Nimrod | 60.0 | 2 |
| Jaxson Moi | 60.0 | 1 |
| Javontez Spraggins | 59.8 | 72 |
| Jackson Lampley | 59.7 | 66 |
| Miles Kiltselman | 58.6 | 64 |
| Cooper Mays | 57.6 | 84 |
| Mike Matthews | 56.6 | 16 |
| Andrej Karic | 55.5 | 21 |
| Bru McCoy | 54.8 | 59 |
| Ethan Davis | 54.5 | 19 |
| Gaston Moore | 52.9 | 43 |
| Holden Staes | 52.8 | 62 |
| Dayne Davis | 51.9 | 56 |
| John Campbell Jr. | 49.5 | 28 |
Nico Iamaleava completed 8 of 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, before being ruled out at halftime with what was described by the ESPN game broadcast as an upper-body injury. Iamaleava also ran four times for 22 yards and was apparently injured after getting hit after throwing on a third down late in the first half.
“We anticipate having him ready for next week (at Georgia),” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “Precautionary measure at halftime. Feel like we’ll be ready to roll Saturday.”
Gaston Moore completed 5 of 8 passes for 38 yards and led a touchdown drive and two field goal drives in the second half.
Dylan Sampson rushed for a career-high 149 yards on a career-high 30 attempts, scoring on a 33-yard touchdown run in the second half to give him 20 rushing touchdowns on the season. He also went over the 1,000-yard barrier for the season on Tennessee’s opening drive, becoming the 20th running back in program history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season.
Sampson left the game late in the first half with what appeared to be a lower left leg injury, but he returned after missing one possession to start the second half. Peyton Lewis carried 14 times for 44 yards and Cam Seldon ran six times for 26 yards.
Dont’e Thornton also left in the second half with an upper-body injury, after catching three passes for 104 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown from Iamaleava in the second quarter.
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Squirrel White caught three passes for 63 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown on the opening possession. It was Tennessee’s first points on an opening drive since Kent State on September 14.
Chris Brazzell caught two passes for 17 yards and Bru McCoy caught two passes for 12 yards.
Tennessee’s Defense
| Player | Overall PFF Grade | Snap Count |
| Jayson Jenkins | 91.1 | 26 |
| Boo Carter | 79.9 | 35 |
| James Pearce | 79.7 | 45 |
| Jalen McMurray | 76.9 | 22 |
| Jakobe Thomas | 76.8 | 18 |
| Arion Carter | 75.2 | 51 |
| Rickey Gibson | 75.1 | 50 |
| Jaxson Moi | 74.9 | 17 |
| Elijah Simmons | 73.1 | 6 |
| Jeremiah Telander | 72.7 | 41 |
| Dominic Bailey | 71.5 | 42 |
| Andre Turrentine | 71.1 | 49 |
| Christian Charles | 70.7 | 24 |
| Caleb Herring | 69.2 | 5 |
| Kalib Perry | 69.2 | 10 |
| Joshua Jospehs | 68.9 | 29 |
| Omari Thomas | 66.6 | 28 |
| Will Brooks | 64.2 | 43 |
| Christian Harrison | 63.7 | 36 |
| Daevin Hobbs | 63.2 | 19 |
| Jordan Matthews | 62.1 | 5 |
| Jermod McCoy | 61.7 | 57 |
| Bryson Eason | 58.5 | 30 |
| Omarr Norman-Lott | 56.4 | 21 |
| Jalen Smith | 46.8 | 28 |
Tennessee’s defense, while holding an opponent to 19 points or less for a 10th straight game, gave up just 271 total yards. Mississippi State threw for 92 yards and ran for 179 yards on 38 attempts. The Bulldogs scored twice on the ground, on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and an 18-yard run in the third.
State went 3-for-13 on third down and 2-for-3 on fourth down. The Vols had four sacks, nine tackles for loss and forced two turnovers. Boo Carter intercepted a Michael Van Buren pass at the Mississippi State 11-yard line in the first quarter and Jeremiah Telander recovered a fumble in the third quarter after a Jayson Jenkins strip sack.
James Pearce, Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott and Jenkins all had one sack each while nine different players combined for the nine tackles for loss, led by 1.5 TFLs from linebacker Arion Carter.
Carter and Jermod McCoy led Tennessee with seven tackles each and Telander had six.
