Saturday, Nov. 28; Vanderbilt Stadium; Nashville, Tenn.
Having already secured a .500 record in this crazy year, Tennessee football will be thrilled when it’s facing the Vanderbilt Commodores. The fear was they wouldn’t be able to reach that point, and reaching it with a key road win at the Auburn Tigers will have fans everywhere beyond excited. That is what they’ll be thinking about when they face Vandy.
This happened last year, when Jeremy Pruitt’s team clinched a bowl berth, against all odds, by beating the Missouri Tigers on the road before their final game against Vandy, and they dominated that game. Well, this time around, they will dominate again offensively on the ground, with Eric Gray and Ty Chandler repeating their 2019 and 2018 games respectively.
However, Vanderbilt always has something up its sleeve when it gets ready to play the Vols. Last year was an anomaly. Even when UT was at its best in the mid-1990s, Peyton Manning always struggled against the ‘Dores. Derek Mason’s team will make sure that happens to the Vols this year, and they will provide a major scare at times.
Think along the lines of what happened in 2000 and 2004. With an elite rushing attack, UT will take a commanding lead. However, Vanderbilt will shockingly not go away, and that’ll allow them to fight back into the game. It won’t be enough, though, and Jeremy Pruitt’s team holds on late to secure a winning record for the season, a great accomplishment.