Ranking Every Tennessee Football Game in 2015 by Importance

Nov 29, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores running back Ralph Webb (26) celebrates after scoring during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Vanderbilt Stadium. The Volunteers won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

8. Vanderbilt Commodores

Sticking with circled wins on the schedule that the Vols do not need to worry about, we come to the final one and the most difficult one on the list, the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Vanderbilt, as we have mentioned in the past, is a team that always gives the Vols trouble regardless of how bad they are or how good Tennessee is at the time. That’s not going to change this year with the Commodores probably being a heck of a lot better than last year, even if they remain the worst team in the SEC.

So while this is a circled win, it is the most important circled win on the schedule. Tennessee actually needs to spend time worrying about beating Vanderbilt because this team could certainly sneak up on them in a bad way.

It is also the most important circled win because it is the one conference game that is a circled win, and you always want to prioritize your conference games in that regard. Add in the fact that this is at least an in-state rivalry from one side, and you don’t want to have to deal with those guys in Nashville bragging about beating you for a whole year.

All things taken into account, this is not one of the most important games that the Vols need to prioritize given the fact that they will likely win and have plenty of other games to worry about on the schedule.

But it is not a game that they cannot take with as much of a relaxed approach as other games on the schedule. So with that in mind, let’s move on from the circled wins and losses.

Next: #7: Georgia Bulldogs