FINAL: No. 8 Tennessee 23, Florida 17 (OT)

WHAT HAPPENED: Tailback Dylan Sampson slammed into the end zone from a yard out on Tennessee’s first possession of overtime to give the eighth-ranked Volunteers a 23-17 victory over rival Florida in their Southeastern Conference game Saturday night at sold-out Neyland Stadium. Sampson’s score was his third of the game for the league’s rushing leader and came after his 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth period put the Vols ahead for the first time with just under 10 minutes to play. The Gators, 15 1/2-point underdogs, rallied to tie the score behind freshman quarterback DJ Lagway after starting sixth-year Graham Mertz left the game in the third quarter after suffering what appeared to be a knee injury. Lagway fired a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chimere Dike on a third-and-19 play with just 29 seconds remaining in regulation to make the score 17-16 and stun the crowd of more than 102,000. UF coach Billy Napier, at first, kept his offense on the field and threatened a two-point conversion attempt — and a go at the win — but after Tennessee called a desperation timeout and reset, Napier opted to send Trey Smack out to kick the point-after and play for overtime. UT won the coin toss and chose to play defense first. The Gators ran three plays, lost four yards and turned to Smack, who earlier kicked a 42-yard field goal. His OT attempt from 47, however, was pushed right, leaving Tennessee to play for the win. The Vols needed five plays to go the 25 yards, with Sampson crashing across on second-and-goal from the 1 and giving the Volunteers just their third win in the last 20 games of this series. Sampson, who came into the game with 589 rushing yards and 12 TDs, finished with 112 on 27 attempts and the three scores. Defensively, UF did a mostly outstanding job of containing a UT offense that began the day ranked No. 5 in the nation at 519.0 yards per game, as the Vols finishing with a season-low 312 yards and nearly dropped a second game in as many weeks as a top 10-ranked team. UT sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed 16 of 26 passes for 169 yards, no scores, an interception and was sacked three times. Lagway finished nine of 17 for 98 yards, the one score, one interception and three sacks, as the Gators actually out-gained the Vols with 361 yards of total offense. Mertz was 11-for-15 for 125 yards and a touchdown, with his 13-yard scoring toss to tight end Arlis…