LEXINGTON, Ky. — Cooper Mays made his way over to Dylan Sampson in the fourth quarter.

The Tennessee starting center wanted to give the the sophomore running back one more vote of confidence before he took the field.

At that point, junior running back Jaylen Wright had 120 rushing yards on 11 carries—his fifth game this season with 100-plus yards—but was sidelined after being "nicked up," according to head coach Josh Heupel.

Enter Sampson, who not only provided Tennessee with consistency in Wright's absence, but also provided the dagger in the No. 21 Vols' 33-27 over Kentucky at Kroger Field on Saturday—twice.

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"Sometimes, it's really just instinct. Things happen so fast," Sampson said. "In my mind I'm saying, 'Stay up. We're in a critical game...Go make a play.' Cooper Mays, right before we went out there he said, 'Why not you? Why not you to be the one to change the game?'

"So it's going out there, stay up and make a difference. Be a spark. That what we all try to do. That's what's really going through my mind."

Sampson was the spark.

In a game that went back and forth with Tennessee's lead cut to one score three times, it was Sampson's ability to stay up that sustained the Vols' drives. He broke one for a 12-yard touchdown—his first since Sept. 30 vs. South Carolina to put Tennessee up 33-24 with less than eight minutes left in the game.

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"(Sampson was) Dynamic, in the second half in particular, down the stretch," Heupel said. "Did an unbelievable job making people miss, reading the blocks. Running extremely hard, running through tackles. Wright did that early, too. Got nicked up on the back half of it. Jabari (Small) ran hard early in the game. All-in-all, big time effort from those guys. Obviously (Sampson) played really special."

Kentucky answered Sampson's touchdown with a field goal to pull within six with four minutes, 24 seconds remaining, putting the game in the hands of Tennessee's offense.

Sampson got the Vols into plus territory with a 20-yard run. A few plays later, he caught a quarterback Joe Milton III pass out of the backfield on second down where Sampson was initially hit behind the line of scrimmage, broke a tackle and picked up a first down.

Facing a critical third-and-7 later with just under two minutes left, Milton ended it with his own run of 9 yards.

In a season where Tennessee's offense has struggled, it was the group that secured the Vols their first road win of the season.

WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Josh Heupel, players recap Tennessee's win over Kentucky

"We blocked it extremely well (on the final drive)," Heupel said. "We got hats on hats for most part and when it got to the third level, running backs made plays. They ran through people and made them miss and went forward. Huge, huge for that group and for this game, to finish this game with the ball...Really proud of the opportunity we got to finish the game with it."

Sampson finished with 75 yards on 17 carries, most of which he accounted for in the second half.

"We've just got to go out there and execute," Sampson said. "That's what I was trying to do every time I touched the ball."

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