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Tennessee football report card in 42-17 win at Vanderbilt

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee running back Ty Chandler (8) rushes through the Vanderbilt defense during the second quarter at Vanderbilt Stadium Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn.Gw55838
Tennessee running back Ty Chandler (8) rushes through the Vanderbilt defense during the second quarter at Vanderbilt Stadium Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn.Gw55838 /
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Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Eric Gray (3) runs from Vanderbilt Commodores linebacker Alston Orji (24) during the second half at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Eric Gray (3) runs from Vanderbilt Commodores linebacker Alston Orji (24) during the second half at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /

Here are our grades for the Tennessee football Volunteers in their win at the Vandy Commodores.

Given how bad this Vanderbilt Commodores team is, it’s hard to grade any performance against them. You could consider it the reverse of the Alabama Crimson Tide. As a result, Tennessee football ending its six-game losing streak with a 42-17 win on Saturday is much less about any improvements the Vols made and much more about how bad Vandy is.

However, UT still won. Jeremy Pruitt’s team is 3-6 and ended a slide that made this season a disastrous one. How do we grade the units, though? Half of the standout performances Saturday were due to a combination of where Vandy is weak and where they are depleted.

Interim head coach Todd Fitch didn’t call the best game, but he had very little to work with. As we dive in with our report card for Rocky Top, we’ll take these issues into account. Just like we always do, we’ll have two slides for offensive grades and then one for defense, special teams and coaching each. These are our grades for Tennessee football position units at Vanderbilt.

Offensive grades part I

Quarterbacks: B-

J.T. Shrout and Harrison Bailey completed 20-of-31 passes for 297 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Shrout was only 6-of-13 for 90 yards, 2 touchdowns and the pick, but he played better when the game was in hand. Still, Shrout had a pick, and Bailey had a fumble, and they were playing against a horrendous Vandy defense. There was improvement, but it wasn’t elite.

Running backs: A-

It’s hard to fully judge how the running backs did against a horrendous Vanderbilt defense, but Ty Chandler, Eric Gray, Jabari Small and Dee Beckwith combined to have 30 carries for 205 yards, just under 7 yards a carry. Chandler had a touchdown as well. Tennessee football torched Vandy on the ground, and as a result, we have to put these guys in the A range.

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