Tennessee football’s awful 38-13 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores did have some guys who played hard. Here are the top Volunteers performers from the game.
It’s pretty easy to say that Tennessee football did not end the season the way they wanted. A 38-13 blowout loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores, their third straight in the series, cost them a chance at a bowl game for the second straight season.
There are numerous seniors on the team along with other talented guys who fought hard all year but just didn’t have enough to carry the team. Despite appearing to turn a corner in October, the Vols fell apart in the end with two straight blowout losses to end the year.
What’s hard about Tennessee football’s loss to Vanderbilt, however, is there were clearly guys trying to do things the right way, as Jeremy Pruitt would say. You could point out a clear group of playmakers who fought hard all game long.
That’s why, despite the blowout, it was actually pretty easy for us to hand out our final round of Smokey Points for this game. There were players who clearly had good performances and were doing everything they could to win the game.
The problems is what Pruitt has been talking about all year. Not enough players are doing things right, and the depth is not there yet either. When you have those issues, five players performing well isn’t going to be nearly enough to win a game.
Heck, 10 or 15 players performing well won’t be enough to win a game. Don’t worry, we couldn’t find anywhere near that many players who would have made this list. It actually is pretty straightforward when you look at the results.
These five players were the only ones who deserved any consideration for helmet stickers, and since we only give out five a game, it was a perfect fit. So let’s go ahead and break down the guys we want to give credit to despite a rough loss. These are our final Tennessee football Smokey Points for the 2018 season following the Vanderbilt Commodores’ beatdown of the Vols.