Tennessee football in top half of SEC Power Rankings after Week 4

Defeated Vanderbilt Commodores 17-12

Last year, Jimbo Fisher came under fire for going 8-5 given his salary and expectations. However, the Texas A&M Aggies were still developing under him, and they had one of the toughest schedules in the nation. Four of their five losses were to teams in the College Football Playoff race in the last week of the regular season, and two were to teams who made the playoff.

With more development and attrition on other teams, though, they were supposed to take a major step forward this year. How did they respond to those expectations? Well, they had to hold off the Vanderbilt Commodores, who were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the league. Kellen Mond couldn’t even throw for 200 yards, and they had three turnovers.

On top of that, it took a major mistake by Derek Mason, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave A&M a first down, that even allowed the Aggies to secure the win. All of a sudden, this team doesn’t seem like an automatic or even a likely loss for Tennessee football. If they look like this all year, they could be in for a long season.

As it is, they’re still 1-0, which puts them in the top half of our SEC Power Rankings. Over the next three weeks, though, they face the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators and Mississippi State Bulldogs in that order. Taking that into account, we’re about to know pretty quickly if this team has finally taken that next step under Fisher.