Let’s take a minute to look back at the status of Tennessee Football this time last week…..
Now we know, no suspense as to what the Vols’ required mission and associated rewards are now for Saturday’s trip to Music City. With the latest College Football Playoff rankings dropping last night with the Vols ranked 8th, it’s win Saturday against Vandy and Tennessee will be part of the inaugural 12-team playoff. That challenge wouldn’t normally be a big deal. After all, Tennessee has won 5 in a row and own the series against Vandy 80-32-5 with many of the Vanderbilt wins coming early in the series before the General arrived in Knoxville. However, the 2024 Vanderbilt football team is one many SEC fans don’t recognize in a scary way.
This Vanderbilt team is the team that knocked off then #1 ranked Alabama, first time in program history the Commodores had knocked off a top-ranked team. Vandy also came within one play of knocking off Texas before losing by a field goal. They went down to the plains and beat AU on their home field. Last Saturday, they went into Tiger Stadium at night and played LSU to within a touchdown. Overall, Vandy is 6-5 and have their sights on finishing 7-5 with a season ending win over the big brother from the East.
But, Vandy has shown glimpses of the historical Vandy with a 28-7 home loss to South Carolina and a 36-32 loss to Georgia State, a team that is now 3-8 on the season. So while this season’s Vanderbilt team is definitively better than recent years, they have shown some week to week inconsistency that Vol fans hope shows up Saturday.
Vandy will attempt to play keep away with the ball, control the clock and limit the Vols’ possessions. The Vols fortunately have an elite defense that is tough to run on. Despite how the Vols’ defense looked in Athens two weeks ago, they should and frankly must be effective Saturday in Nashville for Tennessee to get the W. And when Tennessee has the ball, they must avoid the turnovers. Vols will likely serve up a healthy dose of Dylan Sampson and he should have a good game against a Vandy defense that the Vols should be able to run against. Hopefully Tennessee’s passing game will contribute in a positive way. It should but it’s going to be a cold, wintry day at Dudley Field and sometimes that type of weather just doesn’t fit well with a passing game.
Tennessee is currently an 11 point favorite. That line may be a little high. I’m hoping it turns out to be significantly low and that is demonstrated early in the game. I do not want to see a fourth quarter game. This Vandy team has proven that if they hang around long enough, they will win more times than not. I want to see the Vols start fast and pour it on so we Vol fans are not sitting on the edge of our seats deep into the fourth quarter.
The CFP slot is there for the taking for the 2024 Vols. Get it done Tennessee!
Now that we’re caught up, let’s take a look at the status of Tennessee Football this week.
After an incredibly off-track start at Vanderbilt, the Vols stormed back from a 14-0 deficit to down the Commodores 36-23 and now await their CFP bracket. I jokingly said Saturday while watching the game that the hotel must have messed up the Vols morning coffee and served up decaf. Clearly, the Vols weren’t awake or ready for the opening whistle. Fortunately they resolved that problem and played a very nice game the remaining fifty five minutes.
As I had hoped, the Tennessee passing game did show up. I’m not sure how Tennessee would have pulled this game out had it not. Nico started slow but man did he pick it up as the game progressed. He finished the game 18-26 with 4 TD’s, good enough for his second SEC Freshman of the Week award while playing with a dinged up wide receiver unit. We did get a nice look into the future with former 5-star WR Mike Matthews who finished with 3 catches and a TD.
Mr Steady, running back Dylan Sampson, had a huge game with 178 yards on 25 carries. That performance earned him the all-time regular season program rushing record. His early fumble did lead to a Vandy TD, something we hope doesn’t happen in the playoffs.
It was good to see DeSean Bishop back in action as he ran for 61 yards on 13 carries.
One big stat that was very significant in the final outcome was time of possession. Tennessee struggled in this area during the first half with Vandy controlling the clock for just under 20 minutes minutes. Big turn around in the second half as Tennessee controlled the ball and ended up winning the time of possession with 33 minutes. Great job by the Vol defense in thwarting the Vandy ball-control strategy. Helping this stat was an amazing 11 of 15 3rd down conversions by the Tennessee offense.
One area the Vols really need improvement in heading into the playoffs is with penalties. Tennessee was 13 for 102 yards Saturday at Vanderbilt. Tennessee is close to the bottom nationally in D1 penalty stats. This aspect of the game will get you beat in a close game against a more disciplined team. Penalties definitely hurt Tennessee in its’ two losses this season, improvement is absolutely needed before teeing it up in a playoff matchup.
So now with the latest CFP rankings dropping this week, we know it is highly probable that Tennessee is going on the road for their round 1 playoff game. It appears the destination could either be Columbus Ohio for a matchup with the Buckeyes or a return to Athens for a second chance at UGA. Any chance of Tennessee hosting a playoff game is a long shot but occasionally a long shot does hit. The unpredictability of the CFP committee is another factor that makes it difficult to know what to expect next week when the final CFP rankings are released. Keep a close eye on the Big 10 and SEC championship games this weekend. Both could have a direct impact on how things sort out for Tennessee’s first round playoff matchup.
The Vols have done their part. You can’t win it unless you’re in it and the Vols will be playing for a national championship in 2024!
