Tennessee football vs. Vanderbilt: 10 keys for Vols and Commodores

On a four-game winning streak, Tennessee football will look to finish 7-5 by beating Vandy. Here are the Volunteers’ and Commodores’ keys to the game.

For the first time all year, Tennessee football is favored in an SEC game. The Vols are only 2-2 this season when favored and 4-3 when underdogs, so that might not be a good thing. We all remember how disastrous the start of the year was.

Two home losses to Group of Five schools, the Georgia State Panthers and BYU Cougars, have wrecked what could have been a very good season by UT. They could be looking at 10 wins on the year given how red-hot they are, but now they can only hope for eight.

However, Jeremy Pruitt’s team is on a roll, and they are far different from the team that started the season. As they get set to host the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday, Tennessee football will be looking to secure a winning record on the year.

With a win, a very good bowl game is also a possibility, and a few things could break a certain way to put the Vols in the top 25 at the end of the year as well. So there are still lots of things to play for despite the way they started the season.

Vanderbilt, meanwhile, comes in looking for a major upset. Announcing that they are keeping Derek Mason on after this year has put interest in the program at an all-time low, and that’s despite them being on a three-game winning streak against the Vols, something that hasn’t happened since before Robert Neyland was coaching UT.

If Mason can make it four straight, he might rejuvenate some interest in the team. And finishing 4-8 doesn’t look as bad. So this team and this group of seniors, which has never lost to the Vols, still has something to play for.

What can they do to pull off that upset, though? How can Rocky Top make sure that doesn’t happen? We’re going to break all of that down here. These are the 10 keys to the game between the Vols and Commodores when Tennessee football hosts Vanderbilt this weekend.