A wild final weekend of the regular season threw our SEC Power Rankings for a loop. They also had a role in shooting Tennessee football up the list. One team has clinched its College Football Playoff spot, 13 teams are bowl eligible, and nine have clinched a winning record on the season thanks to what happened over Thanksgiving.
Of course, immediately afterward, two teams in the market for new head coaches made their hires, one a splash hire that nobody saw coming, and Vol fans themselves have been worried about the coaching carousel. However, that’s a topic for another day.
This list will recap the season for the teams involved but also take a look at their futures, immediate and long-term. It will be also the last one we do until the end of the bowl season. See where Tennessee football and everybody else stands in our SEC Power Rankings following the 2021 regular season.
Last week: Lost to Tennessee Volunteers 45-21
Well, all hope went out the window on Saturday. Clark Lea was trying to get at least one Power Five win his first year with the Vanderbilt Commodores, and an SEC win would have been even better. The best would have been if it had come against Tennessee football, the one team Vandy would love most to beat every year.
However, the Vols restored their dominance in the series and in the process dashed all of those dreams. Lea inherited a complete mess, and that was clear from the start. His team had chances in some SEC games this year, particularly against the South Carolina Gamecocks and Missouri Tigers, but they just weren’t good enough to get it done.
As the only team with no games left to play, these guys clearly belong at the bottom of our SEC Power Rankings. It’s pretty obvious too given the fact that every other team finished at least .500. There’s no surprise with this one, but Lea could be building something.