Four quick takeaways: Tennessee avoids upset, beats Florida in overtime

Tennessee's coaching staff used a lot of angry profanities for 60 minutes Saturday night against Florida. But when Dylan Sampson drove into the end zone from a meter away and made the final score 23:17, insults echoed with joy through the press box.

It was ugly. It was gross and not pleasant for any non-masochist. But it ended with Tennessee's third win over Florida since 2004. Here are four quick takeaways.

Deja vu?

Tennessee scored first-half points in Josh Heupel's first 43 games as head coach. That changed last week when Tennessee went scoreless in the first 30 minutes at Arkansas. Against Florida we continued with another scoreless first half.

But like the Arkansas game, Tennessee wasn't in a bad situation at halftime thanks to a strong defense and some bad mistakes by Florida.

The Gators settled for three points on a drive into Tennessee territory. Then, on first-and-goal at the one-yard line, James Pearce Jr. took a quarterback sneak away from Graham Mertz and recovered him to save seven points.

Florida took over on first-and-10 at Tennessee's 11-yard line for the final drive of the first half after an interception by Iamaleava. The Gators immediately struck back with a false start. Then, when Boo Carter and Omarr Norman-Lott sacked Mertz in the third period and Florida ran out of timeouts, the Gators had to use their field goal unit on the field. Florida hit the field goal as time expired. Only they had 12 men on the field and finished the first half.

It felt like Florida should have had a significant lead at halftime. Instead, the Gators only led 3-0 and Tennessee was fully in the game.

Brutal mistakes from Nico Iamaleava

Tennessee's offense had more rhythm than it did against Arkansas a week ago. But mistakes from Nico Iamaleava were costly and constantly put the Vols' defense in bad situations.

The first mistake came on the opening drive of the game when Iamaleava and Dylan Sampson fouled a handoff exchange to end a promising opening drive that was deep in Florida territory.

In the second quarter, Tennessee had Squirrel White and Chas Nimrod open behind the defense twice within three plays. Iamaleava threw White and missed Nimrod – although it appeared there was a miscommunication down the stretch. A score on both plays would have been a much-needed touchdown for the Tennessee offense, but neither happened.

Finally, on the Vols' final drive of the first half, Iamaleava threw an interception into triple coverage. This error gave Florida fantastic field position, but the Gators were unable to convert due to a strong Tennessee defense and incompetent time management.

More from RTI: SEC Nation officially travels to Tennessee for the rivalry game against Alabama

Third quarter momentum, but Vols leave points unanswered

Tennessee almost felt dead when Florida managed 92 yards for a touchdown on its second drive of the second half in nine plays. The drive gave the Gators a 10-0 lead midway through the third quarter against a struggling offense.

At this point, Tennessee's offense showed some competency, rushing 75 yards in 11 plays for its first score of the game. Iamaleava hit two nice plays against Chas Nimrod and Chris Brazzell before the running game did the rest of the damage. The touchdown came on a six-yard touchdown run by Dylan Sampson on fourth-and-1.

Then, with DJ Lagway replacing the injured Graham Mertz, Tennessee's defense made a game-changing play. Lagway got the ball into trouble and Arion Carter made a diving interception to give Tennessee the ball deep in Florida territory.

Tennessee failed to take full advantage, going three-pointers and missing a potential touchdown due to a missed blooper on third down, but still had a three-point lead to tie the game. A touchdown would have completely turned the game around, but the tie was still a major turning point.

Tennessee hardly wins the rushing battle

For decades, the winner of the Tennessee-Florida game was almost always decided by who won the battle on the ground. After 60 minutes, everyone finished with a distance of 132 yards apiece.

And the game was decided in extra time. The Vols botched a screen pass, forcing Florida on third-and-20, and the Gators could only run for six yards. That left the field goal at 47 yards and Trey Smack's kick went right wide.

Tennessee threw two quick passes to RPOs on its overtime possession, but an eight-yard run by Dylan Sampson was the biggest play of the period. He hit the ball on two more runs from the three-yard line.

The Vols beat Florida 143-138 and secured the win in overtime.