All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football in top half of SEC Power Rankings for Week 1 of 2022

By Caleb Calhoun

Volunteers gather and sing the alma mater after the Tennessee vs Ball State football game in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.Utvsballstate 2461
Volunteers gather and sing the alma mater after the Tennessee vs Ball State football game in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.Utvsballstate 2461 /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 14
Next
Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright (5) rushes for a touchdown past Elon defensive back Bo Sanders (7) during the first quarter at FirstBank Stadium Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn.Nas Elon Vanderbilt 008
Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright (5) rushes for a touchdown past Elon defensive back Bo Sanders (7) during the first quarter at FirstBank Stadium Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn.Nas Elon Vanderbilt 008 /

. Commodores . 13. team. 887. . 2-0

Defeated Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 63-10

Defeated Elon Phoenix 42-31

It was a tale of two weeks for the Vanderbilt Commodores. However, Clark Lea’s team has as many wins as they had last year, and both wins are by double-digits when both last year were within a field goal. If Vandy’s initial win over Hawaii was all we had to go by, they would be significantly higher in these rankings.

However, struggling with an FCS program in the Elon Phoenix the next week required us to tank them. Hawaii is overrated, and their play against Elon only puts them ahead of LSU because they won and we have nothing else to go on right now. That doesn’t mean there’s no concern, though.

Vandy has great quarterback play, good enough to make Tennessee football nervous when the two face off at the end of the season, but they don’t really have anything else. As a result, what we’ve seen right now, despite them scoring 63 points in Week 0, is enough for us to push them down in our SEC Power Rankings.

Now, they finally have a real test this weekend, hosting the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and then they visit the Northern Illinois Huskies before beginning SEC play. If they could beat Northern Illinois, it would prove this is a program on the rise, but Wake could give them trouble.

Home/Vols Football