Tennessee football’s 42-24 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores assured that 2017 would be the worst season in Volunteers’ history in multiple ways.
It’s hard to break down just how embarrassing the 2017 Tennessee football season was. Going through two head coaches, three quarterbacks and a makeshift offensive line, the Vols managed to end their season on the lowest note possible: with a 42-24 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Now, Tennessee football has suffered its first eight-loss season in school history. But that’s not the only reason this is the worst season ever.
It’s also the first winless SEC season in school history. Sure, they have only had one conference win a few times. But even when the program had hit rock bottom in 2012, it managed to beat the Kentucky Wildcats.
And that brings up another embarrassing factor. In addition to finishing 4-8 and winless and last place in the SEC, the Vols lost to both Kentucky and Vanderbilt. That does not happen on Rocky Top!
Oh sure, it would happen sporadically through the 1950s. But this is not the same Vanderbilt program that existed in the first half of the 20th century. And Kentucky is no longer the powerhouse that Bear Bryant built!
Add in losing to all your other rivals, the Florida Gators, Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs, and you can’t find a season in school history worse than this one. Sure, they went 1-6-2 in 1906 and 1909, but are we honestly going to count those?
Even the attendance, at least from the eye test, appeared to be the worst in history Saturday night.
So while the season was a loss heading into Saturday evening anyway, losing again, this time in blowout fashion, only magnified the pain.
Now, that’s not to say this season couldn’t have been worse. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were once a rivalry for Tennessee football, and the Vols did win that game to open the season in Atlanta. But they were beyond lucky to get that double-overtime win and had no business pulling it out.
This is just to simply point out that while this is the worst season in school history, it’s not the worst possible season the Vols could have had. Still, though, it was pretty bad.
Before 2017, not having eight losses was a point of pride for Tennessee football. It was something they could even hold over Alabama and Florida and other rival schools. Now, that’s gone out the window. Tennessee added a major bit of negative history to its program on Saturday. And it makes the focus on the next coach even more crucial.