Tennessee football at Vanderbilt: 10 keys for Vols and Commodores

10. Crowd breakdown in Nashville

It’s well-documented that when Tennessee football plays the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, the crowd is almost always majority Vols fans. Heck, that’s the case even when they play all the way across the state in Memphis.

But will it be different this year? Again, it’s the first time in a long time that UT is playing Vanderbilt in Nashville when both teams are on even playing field and have something to play for. Considering those circumstances, could Vanderbilt fans have enough motivation to fill up more seats than usual?

Even if they did, would it matter? Or would Vols fans in Nashville still be the ones to sweep up all the spare tickets? This is something worth paying attention to because the crowd noise could play a factor in this game.

Vanderbilt is 4-2 at home this year and 1-4 on the road. That one road win was at the Arkansas Razorbacks, far and away the worst team in the SEC. It’s a bit different for the Vols, who are 4-3 at home and 1-2 on the road with another loss at a neutral site. But having their fans in Nashville could be very useful.

So while this won’t play a huge role in determining the outcome of the game, it could be a factor. And for the first time in a long time, there’s a bit of a twist as to whether or not Vanderbilt will actually be playing a home game against UT. That’s a rare thing to happen.