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Tennessee Football: Five Takeaways from Vols 53-28 Victory Over the Vanderbilt Commodores

By Caleb Calhoun

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Tennessee football moved to 8-4 with a 53-28 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ final regular season win.

Next: Tennessee-Vanderbilt Official Recap

It’s season first time since 2007 that the Tennessee Vols will have more than seven wins. That is a huge step in the brick-by-brick process that Butch Jones has been stressing.

The Vols dominated Derek Mason’s Commodores 53-28 despite Vanderbilt threatening with a few nice offensive drives in the first half and a big fourth and goal stop in the second half.

Jones and Mike DeBord brought in a perfect offensive game plan, and John Jancek did well enough, making proper adjustments in the second half.

All of it made for a complete performance at Neyland Stadium, and the Vols took full advantage of the back end of their schedule this season.

It makes for a much better look than the 2-3 team and then the 3-4 team that we saw earlier in the season.

Getting to 8-4 after that took a lot of mental toughness against a bunch of dangerous teams, and Jones and his team held on each time. Here are five takeaways from Tennessee’s victory over the Commodores.

1. Tennessee’s Rushing Attack Might be the Best in the SEC

The Vols had more than 300 yards 0n the ground and no turnovers in their fourth 50-point performance of the year, and it was all thanks to the rushing game. The trio of running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara along with quarterback Joshua Dobbs has gotten better throughout the year, and they dominated Saturday.

Dobbs had 93 yards on the ground, Kamara had 99 yards, and Hurd had 120. This rushing attack is all back next year. It could be dangerous.

2. The Secondary is Still a Work in Progress…At the End of the Year

We excused this with injuries earlier in the year, but it was the last game of the season against the worst offense in the SEC, and the secondary looked, if possible, worse than ever.

Kyle Shurmur threw for over 200 yards and had three touchdowns. That’s ridiculous to allow from this atrocious offense, and he kept the Commodores in the game early. John Jancek has plenty of kinks to work out. Hopefully things will be better when the Vols get fully healthy.

3. Aaron Medley Has Turned the Corner at Kicker

His inability to make kicks beyond 40 yards was admittedly frustrating midway through the year. But Butch Jones was right never to lose faith in Aaron Medley, and he has become a model of consistency.

Medley made four kicks beyond 40 yards in the past five weeks, and he has not missed one. At that same time, he made the game-winning kick vs South Carolina and has only missed one kick since the winning streak started. This is clearly a new day for the kicker. And it means a lot going forward.

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4. The Rush Defense Is Inconsistent

While the secondary struggled a lot, John Jancek’s rush defense once again struggled to prevent big plays from happening. They gave up 149 yards on the ground to Ralph Webb, including a 70-yard play, and allowed over 200 altogether.

That should not have happened against the Commodores, and this defense giving up more than 400 total yards to this offense was embarrassing. Still, the elite pass rush led by Derek Barnett once again made up for it. But overall, the rush defense has got to get better.

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5. The Offensive Line Has Finally Developed Depth

At the beginning of last year, Butch Jones inherited a terrible situation thanks to Derek Dooley’s idiotic decision not to recruit an offensive lineman for an entire class. As a result, he had no depth or experience.

This year, he finally had the proper number of bodies, but still not enough experience. However, despite a rash of injuries, the youth movement finally came to fruition at the end of the year.

The line has given Joshua Dobbs plenty of time to throw the football and has made for an incredible running game. Young guys like Chance Hall and Jack Jones have complemented Kyler Kerbyson perfectly and will carry the torch in the future.

Jones and DeBord finally have what they need here, and it speaks volumes going forward.

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