The Tennessee Vols dominated UTSA on Saturday, beating the Roadrunners 45-14 on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. 

The Vols started hot as quarterback Joe Milton rushed 81 yards on the first play from scrimmage to give Tennessee an early 7-0 lead. 

Tennessee then forced a punt before going on a nine-play drive that ended with a Dylan Sampson rushing touchdown. 

Five minutes into the game and the Vols were up 14-0 and it looked like the offense was finally "clicking" the way everyone has been expecting this season. 

But unfortunately for Tennessee, the first five minutes was the best the offense looked all day. 

It's not that it was bad the rest of the day — Tennessee scored 45 points after all against a team that won 23 games from 2021 to 2022. 

But there were far too many missed opportunities for points. Tennessee opened the play calling up a bit more against UTSA, and wide receivers were able to get open, but for whatever reason — maybe it was Joe Milton or maybe it was the timing of the receivers' routes — the Vols weren't able to connect on several of those big plays. 

On one play, wide receiver Squirrel White was wide open in the middle of the field and had what appeared to be a clear route to the end zone (the play was similar to Jalin Hyatt's fourth touchdown against Alabama last season), but the pass was thrown behind him and he wasn't able to get a hand on it. 

If Tennessee is going to get back into the SEC East division race — and that starts next Saturday with a rematch against South Carolina — they can't miss that many downfield shots. 

(Note: Joe Milton injured his knee before halftime and wasn't 100 percent in the second half. It's not unreasonable to suggest that his injury contributed to some of the miscues. But the point remains that those plays have to be hit against South Carolina next weekend.) 

One bright spot for the Vols on Saturday was the play of running back Dylan Sampson. 

Sampson received zero touches in Tennessee's loss to Florida last week and the coaching staff didn't have a good answer for why that was the case. 

Against UTSA, Sampson rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries (the Vols rushed for 303 yards on the day). 

Sampson obviously has to be a major focal point of the offense moving forward. Whether that's handing the ball off to him or getting him involved in the passing game, Sampson is just too talented to not be utilized as often as possible. He's essentially a threat to score everytime he touches the ball. 

Ultimately, a win is a win for the Vols. And it's hard to be too critical of a team when they cover a 28 point spread. But Tennessee fans who watched the Vols last season know that this team isn't hitting on all cylinders just yet. Not even close, really. 

Tennessee is a good team. But they're going to have to show some significant improvement next week against South Carolina if they're going to be a factor in the SEC East race this fall. 

Tennessee Vols commit shows off impressive speed with big play

He’ll be on Rocky Top soon

Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK