Derek Mason Can’t Say Tennessee

For years, even decades, the annual matchup between Tennessee and Vanderbilt was nothing but an exclamation point to the Volunteers’ season.

But that’s changed in recent years. Former Commodores head coach James Franklin led Vandy to two straight wins over the Vols, before bolting to Penn State.

Under Franklin, the Commodores played with an edge. They played hard. In fact, they played better than they’d ever played before. Vandy was no longer a doormat in the SEC East. They were no longer the team fighting with Kentucky to not finish last.

But then Franklin left town and the ‘Dores were left scrambling to fill their head coaching vacancy.

Enter Derek Mason, former defensive coordinator at Stanford.

Vanderbilt made what seemed like a fantastic hire. Mason was a hot coaching name, thanks to serving under folks like Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw.

However, things haven’t went so swell during Mason’s first season in Nashville. The Commodores have looked just plain awful this season, despite having a decent amount of talent left from the Franklin era.

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What was turning into a big time in-state rivalry game between Vandy and UT, has now returned to irrelevancy. Despite the fact that Vandy still owns a two-game winning streak over the Vols.

Vandy has been so terrible this season (they lost to Temple and only beat Charleston Southern by one point), that most folks assume the rout will be on when the Vols visit Nashville on Saturday.

Right or wrong, that’s the expected outcome.

So perhaps Mason is trying to add a little something extra to the matchup with his comments on Tuesday.

"Mason: There is no love lost between these two teams. This football team feels like they have something to prove and I’m sure the team out east feels they have something to prove as they are trying to get bowl eligible. There’s a lot at stake and we are going to play the game that way.It’s a big deal because it’s where you live. Vanderbilt’s won the last two games so there’s added pressure for that group out east to win and get bowl eligible.There are things riding on this game so there’s a lot to play for.They’re a good football team, but they’re the team out East. We’re Vanderbilt, They’re the team out East."

Mason avoided using the word Tennessee when talking about the Vols. Instead, he elected to use geographical references.

It’s good motivational tactic, but as the Vols know from experience, it can backfire.

Last season, Butch Jones refused to refer to Alabama by name, instead calling them the “red team”.

This apparently offended Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron, who then went and lit up the Vols.

I doubt the Vols will be offended by Mason’s remarks. They know what’s at stake this Saturday and I can’t imagine what Mason says will move the needle much in the UT locker room.

The team “out east” is currently a 17 point favorite against Vanderbilt.