Tennessee and Vanderbilt first met over 130 years ago. After that first meeting, it took over twenty years for UT to gain their first win, and over 35 years for the Volunteers to string together a win streak against the Commodores. After taking decades to get any traction, UT eventually took over. Between the years of 1926 and 2012, Vanderbilt only won 9 games. But starting with that 2012 game, Vanderbilt has mostly kept pace with Tennessee, with the split only favoring UT 6-5.
On the season, Vanderbilt started the season with a pair of wins, flashing as an unbeaten team. Since then, they have lost 9 straight. Tennessee, on the other hand, has bounced between looking dominant and looking completely lost, but mainly living in a space between those two extremes. While the expectation would mostly be for a ranked team to win over a team without a single conference win, nothing should be taken for granted with this UT season.
On Saturday, though, the biggest story had less to do with the play on the field, though I do have some good news on that front for Volunteers fans. There was a strange series of events near the end of the first half. After Vanderbilt kicked a field goal to cut UT’s lead from 14 points to 11, Tennessee countered with a field goal of their own, and a return to a 14-point lead. The Commodores offense got a couple first downs, one off a 27-yard pass. But then Vandy’s QB, AJ Swann, was sacked for a loss of 4. Taking their time, Vanderbilt set up for their next play, and the ball was snapped right after the play clock ran down. Both the Commodores and Volunteers started going through the play anyway, and a handful of UT defenders took down Swann, including pass rush phenom James Pearce Jr. Vandy receiver, Will Shepard, charged in five seconds after the takedown to lay a hit on Pearce. After they were separated, Vanderbilt’s coach continued to argue with the refs, and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, setting up 3rd and 39. A draw play up the middle resulted in a couple yard gain, and a whole lot of extra curriculars commenced.
In the middle, Vol defender Dominic Bailey was trading blows with a pair of Commodore offensive lineman, but the real scuffle ensued near the Tennessee sideline. UT’s Tyler Baron and a VU player exchanged fisticuffs of their own, and the benches on both sides of the field cleared. The game was halted as the teams were pulled apart. Coaches with cooler heads were carefully but firmly interesting themselves between hot headed compatriots. White and black slashed refs were spotted between the two factions, attempting to diminish tempers and bring temporary peace. I watched, eyes riveted, sipping hot chocolate nearly 750 miles away. After several minutes, both teams were assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which offset, and a 4th down punt was kicked. Tennessee scored a touchdown soon thereafter for a 31-10 lead it would take into the locker room.
Considering the storied history between these teams stretching back well over a century, a fight such as this was more than likely to eventually break out. But it came off as almost contrived. While Tennessee was getting late hits, it was determined the officiating staff had done a poor job whistling plays dead, and therefore no fouls were assessed to UT. Vanderbilt, overmatched on the field, wasting away in SEC play, and without a hope besides playing spoiler to the Vols (which was quickly becoming a more and more unlikely scenario with each set of drives), the Commodore players could only try and get a win outside the whistles instead of between the whistles. As further evidence of Vanderbilt’s slim to non-existent chances, Tennessee would coast after taking a five-touchdown lead, and would finish with a 48-24 win.
There were some encouraging signs in this game. Despite a few drops, and receiver Squirrel White showing a propensity to not hold on to the ball (he was cited for two fumbles in the first half, though both were reversed), embattled quarterback Joe Milton showed some of his best consistency of the year. He was accurate on intermediate passes, and read the pass rush well at times, knowing when to run instead of throw. He also showed better accuracy on the deep ball, though an underthrow to receiver Kaleb Webb contributed to a stalled drive. But he also accounted for 4 passing scores and 2 rushing scores.
Additionally, lead rusher Jaylen Wright eclipsed 1000 yards rushing on the season, the first Volunteer to do so since Jalen Hurd gained over 1200 yards in 2015. The Vols also had a pair of 100-yard receivers, and a third gained over 80 yards. The defense also had three players credited with at least half a sack, and the team collected 7 tackles for loss. Tennessee gained over twice the yards Vanderbilt did, and half of all the Commodore’s yards were on their opening scoring drive and their last full drive. In a strange flex, each team was assessed the same number of penalties, one of the rare games in which Tennessee was not flagged more than their opponent. With the win to close their season, Tennessee ended with a record of 8-4, and a less than stellar 4-4 SEC win to loss rate.