Dylan Sampson sets TD mark as No. 7 Tennessee leads Kentucky

Dylan Sampson ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns and set Tennessee's single-season rushing score record to help the No. 7 Volunteers beat Kentucky 28-18 on Saturday night in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Nico Iamaleava completed 28 of 38 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown, helping the Volunteers (7-1, 4-1 SEC) win their third straight game. Miles Kitselman caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown, and Peyton Lewis added a rushing score.

Sampson, who finished the game with 27 runs, set the mark with his 19th rushing touchdown of the season with 4:55 to play. He broke College Hall of Famer Gene McEver's record (18 in 1929).

The Wildcats (3-6, 1-6) lost their fourth straight game.

Kentucky's Brock Vandagriff completed 10 of 17 passes for 123 yards with a touchdown and an interception before leaving in the third quarter. He was injured when Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. was sacked with 7:11 left in the quarter.

Gavin Wimsatt took over the quarterback position for Kentucky and was 4 of 10 passing for 69 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jamarion Wilcox rushed for 102 yards on 17 carries for the Wildcats.

Tennessee took advantage of good field position twice in the third quarter to turn a three-point deficit into a 21-10 lead.

Joshua Josephs sacked Vandagriff and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Jeremiah Telander at the Wildcats' 28-yard line.

Five plays later, Sampson scored on a 7-yard run to give the Volunteers the lead with 8:28 left in the third quarter.

Later in the quarter, Wimsatt was quarterback and the Wildcats were at the Tennessee 27. Wimsatt's third throw was intercepted by Will Brooks, who sailed 67 yards to the Wildcats' 10.

Two plays later, Iamaleava threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Kitselman, giving the Volunteers an 11-point lead with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

Kentucky got within three points early in the fourth quarter when Wimsatt threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Mori Maclin and then hit him again on the two-point conversion toss to cut the Wildcats' deficit to 21- 18 to reduce.

Sampson scored on a 6-yard run with 4:55 left. He appeared to be stopped at the 3 before a rugby scrum broke out and several Tennessee players rushed him for the score.

Kentucky led 10-7 at halftime.

Vandagriff connected with Josh Kattus on a 27-yard scoring pass with 5:28 left in the first quarter.

Sampson was substituted for the second quarter after losing a fumble late in the first quarter, so it was Lewis who scored the tying score with a 1-yard run with 4:45 left in the first half. Kentucky's Alex Raynor kicked a 32-yard field goal 30 seconds before halftime.

–Field level media