Joe Milton helps Tennessee football crush Vanderbilt on senior day with 6 TDs
Joe Milton’s last game at Neyland Stadium was his best for Tennessee football.
Milton, the sixth-year senior quarterback, accounted for a career-high six touchdowns on senior day in a 48-24 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday. He passed for four TDs and rushed for two more.
It's the most TDs a UT player has accounted for since quarterback Jonathan Crompton had six (five passing, one rushing) against Memphis in 2009.
Seniors scored all 48 of UT’s points. And the Vols (8-4, 4-4 SEC) gained 617 yards of total offense in their fifth straight win over Vanderbilt (2-10, 0-8) in the series.
Despite a disappointing November, including lopsided losses to No. 9 Missouri and No. 1 Georgia, the Vols should finish the regular season in the Top 25 thanks to this win.
UT entered the game ranked No. 21 in the College Football Playoff poll, No. 23 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and No. 25 in the AP poll. Now it will await its bowl bid.
Here are six observations from the Vols’ home win over Vanderbilt to finish the regular season.
Joe Milton saved his best for last
Milton was 23-of-32 passing for 383 yards, four TDs and no interceptions.
It set Milton's career high for TD passes, which had previously been three TD passes against Clemson in last season's Orange Bowl and against Indiana in 2020 while he played for Michigan. And it surpassed his 344 passing yards against Indiana.
Milton connected with Ramel Keyton for a 56-yard TD pass on the third play of the game. He hit McCallan Castles for a 10-yard TD pass. He zipped a 34-yard TD toss to Jacob Warren. And in the third quarter, he completed a short pass to Keyton, who broke it for a 46-yard score.
Milton also had a pair of 2-yard TD runs.
Freshman Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star recruit, relieved Milton in the fourth quarter. Iamaleava was 9-of-12 passing for 66 yards.
Jaylen Wright rushes for 1,000 yards
Jaylen Wright became the first UT player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Jalen Hurd in 2015. He rushed for 75 yards on 11 carries.
It’s the 19th 1,000-yard rushing season in program history. Travis Stephens holds the UT record with 1,464 yards in 2001.
Ramel Keyton also had career day
Keyton, a senior, had four catches for a career-high 122 yards and two TDs for the best game of his career. And Squirrel White had nine receptions for 107 yards.
They were the third and fourth 100-yard games by UT wide receivers this season. White had the other two – 104 yards against South Carolina and 111 yards against Alabama.
Last season, White, Jalin Hyatt, Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy combined for 11 100-yard receiving games in a record-breaking offense.
Scuffle broke out between rivals
Things got heated before halftime, which resulted in multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
UT defensive end Tyler Baron hit Vanderbilt quarterback A.J. Swann after the whistle when a false start penalty was called. That started the tensions.
On the next play, defensive end James Pearce sacked Swann, but the play was negated by a delay of game penalty on Vanderbilt. The play trickled toward the Vanderbilt sideline as Commodores players pursued Pearce, who walked away.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct when he argued following the back-to-back hits on Swann on plays that were blown dead due to penalties.
After the next play, a scuffle broke out near the UT sideline. Vanderbilt players ran across the field to join in the skirmish.
Three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were assessed, including Baron and defensive lineman Dominic Bailey for UT and offensive lineman Delfin Xavier for Vanderbilt.
Two minutes later, Vanderbilt’s Alan Wright was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct following UT’s extra-point kick after a Milton TD run. Again, the teams had to be separated.
Tennessee tight ends finished on high note
Warren and Castles, UT senior tight ends, also played their final game at Neyland Stadium. And they left their mark.
The duo has eight TD catches this season, the most by UT tight ends since scoring nine TDs in 2007. Castles had a 10-yard TD reception in the first quarter, his fourth of the season. Warren had a 34-yard TD catch in the second quarter, his career-high fourth TD of the season.
UT tight ends had four TD catches in 2021 and three in 2022.
The tight ends took very different paths to UT. Warren, a Knoxville native, is a sixth-year senior. Castles is a UC-Davis transfer who played only one season for the Vols.
Josh Heupel avoided first three-game losing streak
UT coach Josh Heupel doesn’t lose often. He had never lost three straight games in six seasons as a head coach, and that streak continues.
The Vols were coming off back-to-back losses for the second time in Heupel’s tenure, but they stopped the slide. He improved to 15-3 following a loss, including 9-2 at UT and 6-1 at UCF.
UT also got back to winning at Neyland Stadium, improving to 18-4 at home under Heupel. This was its 14th consecutive sellout, as a crowd of 101,915 witnessed the rout. A week earlier, the Vols’ 14-game home winning streak was snapped by Georgia.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Joe Milton has 6 TDs as Tennessee football crushes Vanderbilt on senior day
