The 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers punctuated the 2022 regular season with a dominant, wire-to-wire performance, shutting out Vanderbilt 56-0 Saturday night at FirstBank Stadium.
With Saturday’s victory, Tennessee (10-2, 6-2 SEC) secured its first 10-win regular season since 2003 and its first overall 10-win season since 2007, accomplishing the feat in the second season under head coach Josh Heupel while amassing a single-season school record of 568 points.
The Big Orange put up 513 yards of total offense on a rainy night in Nashville, including a season-high 362 rushing yards on 31 attempts to establish a new school record for yards per carry-gaining 11.7 yards per rush. The mark topped the previous program standard of 10.7 yards per carry in a 68-0 win over Tennessee Tech on Oct. 27, 1951.
Tennessee’s stable of running backs combined for five touchdowns, including an 83-yard scoring burst from sophomore Jaylen Wright, an 80-yard dashing touchdown by freshman Dylan Sampson and a 52-yard scoring sprint by junior Jabari Small. Wright led the charge with a career-high 160 yards on only five attempts (32.0 yards per carry), while Sampson turned in first career triple-digit output with 131 yards on 12 carries.
With two scores each on Saturday, Small (12) and Wright (10) become the first Tennessee duo with 10 or more rushing touchdowns in a single season since Jalen Hurd (12) and Joshua Dobbs (11) did so in 2015.
Not to be outdone, the Tennessee defense posted its first shutout of an SEC opponent since a 48-0 blanking of Vanderbilt on Nov. 22, 2003. Eleven different players recorded at least a half-tackle for loss as the Vols piled up a season-high 13.0 stops behind the line of scrimmage, led by edge rusher Roman Harrison who posted a career-best 2.5 TFLs. Defensive backs Tamarion McDonald and Wesley Walker each finished the contest with a game-high eight total tackles, while McDonald and linebacker Jeremy Banks both logged a pair of pass breakups.
For the game, Tennessee limited Vanderbilt (5-7, 2-6 SEC) to 254 total yards and 3.3 yards per play. The Commodores finished the night 3-of-17 on third down conversion attempts and 0-of-4 on fourth down.
Making his first start of the season and third of his Tennessee career, redshirt senior quarter back Joe Milton III completed 11-of-21 passes for 147 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. Junior wideout Jalin Hyatt pulled in three catches for a game-high 86 yards, improving his season total to 1,267 which stands 31 shy of the program record set by Marcus Nash in 1997.
Special teams prowess was on display as well with the Vols racking up a Heupel-era high 116 punt return yards, highlighted by a 73-yard touchdown from return specialist Dee Williams. The junior from Forsyth, Georgia, also forced Tennessee’s lone takeaway of the ballgame on a Vanderbilt fake in the third quarter, knocking the ball loose from Commodore punter Matt Hayball before sixth-year senior Nick Humphrey pounced on the pigskin and logged his first career fumble recovery.
With the regular season wrapped up, the Vols await their postseason destination. Bowl matchups are set to be announced on Sunday, Dec. 4.
