Nico Iamaleava had a dreadful start but a better finish in No. 9 Tennessee's 23-17 overtime win over Florida on Saturday.

Iamaleava committed two turnovers. He struggled under pressure. And he looked lost in the face of the Gators defense for much of the game.

Plus, Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC) was held scoreless in the first half for a second straight game. That had never happened in coach Josh Heupel’s four-year tenure before these past two games against Arkansas and Florida (3-3, 1-2).

But the Vols still finished off a tough home victory. Here’s a quick rundown of Iamaleava’s performance against the Gators.

Nico Iamaleava’s stats

Iamaleava was 16-of-26 passing for 169 yards, no TDs and one interception against Florida. He was sacked three times.

Through six games in the 2024 season, Iamaleava has completed 65% of his passes for 1,217 yards, seven TDs and three interceptions.

Nico’s best: String of completions on TD drive

It was a brief highlight during an otherwise poor performance.

But on UT’s touchdown drive in the third quarter, Iamaleava connected on mid-range passes to keep the chains moving and allow the Vols’ up-tempo offense to find its rhythm.

Iamaleava was 4-of-4 for 49 yards on that 11-play, 75-yard drive. Dylan Sampson’s TD run cut Florida’s lead to 10-7. Sampson later scored to put the Vols up 17-10 in the fourth quarter.

Nico’s worst: Fumble, interception, misfires

Iamaleava had an assortment of errors, mostly in the first half. He was fortunate that UT’s stout defense prevented Florida from converting those miscues into points.

UT has thrived on its opening drive of games under Heupel. And it looked like the Vols were marching to the end zone to start this one.

They quickly went 49 yards in seven plays with an up-tempo attack. But then Iamaleava fumbled on a routine hand-off exchange with Sampson. Florida recovered at its own 26-yard line to prevent a quick UT scoring drive.

In the second quarter, Iamaleava misfired on two deep passes in the same drive that would’ve gone for TDs. His toss to Squirrel White was too long, and his pass to Chas Nimrod was too wide.

Just before halftime, Iamaleava tossed an interception into double coverage.

Grade: D-

The scoreboard didn’t do much to gloss over Iamaleava’s bad night.

If not for UT’s lockdown defense and Sampson's rushing, the redshirt freshman quarterback would’ve taken the blame for a devastating loss.

Give Iamaleava a little credit for not making a bad night worse, though. After the two early turnovers, he protected the ball.

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 at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Nico Iamaleava stats: Tennessee QB struggles but Vols top Florida in OT