Saturday marks the first time under Jeremy Pruitt in which Tennessee football is favored in an SEC game. But the Volunteers can’t overlook the Commodores.
It seems obvious. Tennessee football has lost three straight to the Vanderbilt Commodores, and the Vols are on a four-game winning streak this year while Vanderbilt is 3-8. So they are the better team and clearly not going to overlook these guys while playing them at home.
However, history tells a completely different story. These guys had a bowl to play for last year when facing Vandy and got blown out. They had a New Year’s Six bowl to play for back in 2016 and lost in Nashville then. And it doesn’t stop there.
No matter how resurgent Tennessee football is in November, Vanderbilt can always give them trouble. Let’s go back to the mid-1990s during the Peyton Manning years. UT was at its peak. The Commodores were consistently losing.
However, in 1995, they only won 12-7. In 1996, they only won 14-7. Then, on Senior Day in 1997, the Vols played for a chance to win the SEC East for the first time since the divisional split. And in Manning’s final home game, they only won 17-10.
During this century, when they have had resurgent seasons, they still managed to struggle with Vanderbilt. Let’s start with 2000. These guys fell to 2-3, but then they reeled off a six-game winning streak. However, that sixth win, at Vanderbilt, was a two-point win. It followed 63-20 and 59-20 wins against better teams.
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Fast-forward to 2014, a year similar to this one. UT had gotten to 5-6 after a horrendous start again. They had new energy with Joshua Dobbs in the lineup. Vanderbilt was 2-9 and had nothing in Derek Mason’s first year. However, the Vols still only won 24-17.
So we’ve covered UT struggling with Vanderbilt. What about them struggling this year? Don’t forget that this team is only .500 on the year as a favorite. They already showed with the Georgia State Panthers and BYU Cougars that they are capable of slip-ups. Despite being 4-3 as underdogs this year, this is a big deal.
They may have already clinched a bowl game, and their turnaround in Jeremy Pruitt’s second season is real. But the losing streak to Vanderbilt, the losses to open the season and the history of this series shows Tennessee football has to be ready. Despite their dominance historically in the series before three years ago, it was always close.
As a result, they have to throw out the records again. We could also point out that Vanderbilt did upset the Missouri Tigers earlier this year, and that’s why Mizzou has finished the season 6-6 instead of 7-5. So there are tons of reasons for UT to worry about this game, and Pruitt has to make sure his team remains focused.