Vols Prepare For ‘Pivotal Game’ Against Mississippi State

(utsports.com) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Another night game is on tap at Neyland Stadium this weekend as No. 7/6 Tennessee caps its four-game homestand by hosting Mississippi State on Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

It will mark the Vols’ final SEC home game of the season and will also serve as this year’s Homecoming Game.

“Another pivotal game on the schedule,” head coach Josh Heupel said on Monday afternoon. “Mississippi State team that’s continuing to get better throughout the course of the season, really in every phase.

“It will be a great environment. Looking forward to seeing our fans. They have been awesome here during this run of home games. Hopefully they rest up and are ready to roll this Saturday too.”

The Big Orange will look to take another step forward offensively after racking up 477 yards in their win over Kentucky last week.

Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava played a large part in the success against the Wildcats, putting forth his best performance in an SEC game to date with 292 passing yards and a touchdown on a career-high 28 completions.

It was an extremely productive game for UT’s tight ends, as well, with Iamaleava frequently targeting them in the passing game. The group totaled nine receptions for 124 yards in the victory, led by a career-day from Miles Kitselman, who finished with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.

“I think we all did a great job throughout the week of practice last week just building confidence through each rep, getting the ball in our hands and showing Nico that we can be a safe outlet for him whenever he is in trouble. And then when it opens up in the passing game, knowing he can depend on us to throw the ball downfield and we will make a play for him,” said junior tight end Holden Staes, who caught three passes for 27 yards on Saturday.

“I think on Saturday me, (Miles Kitselman) and (Ethan Davis), we all did a great job with that, just being honed in on the details of what goes into each play, and when the ball came out, we each had our opportunities to make plays, and that’s what we did for this offense.”