Tennessee drops its regular-season finale to Vanderbilt 45-24 in an embarrassing defensive effort from the Vols.
Final. pic.twitter.com/qTcBIGWUW4
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) November 30, 2025
Clark Lea and Vanderbilt cooked up the perfect game plan for Tennessee, despite a couple of first-half interceptions from Diego Pavia to give the Vols an early advantage.
Tennessee went into halftime +2 in turnovers, yet the game was tied at 21, with the Commodores heading into halftime with all the momentum.
Vanderbilt carried that momentum into the second half, scoring three more touchdowns and matching Tennessee's point total for the game in the final two quarters.
Joey Aguilar finished with 299 passing yards and one touchdown, but his stat line does not tell the story of the Vols’ second-half struggles. Tennessee had only 102 yards in the second half, compared to Vanderbilt’s 279 second-half yards.
The Vols' offense struggled in the second half, scoring only three points after a 21-point first half. Tennessee laid a dud on both sides of the ball in the second half, with Vanderbilt dominating all phases of the game.
In a season where Tim Banks has been consistently criticized for the Vols' defensive struggles, the regular season ends with another rough defensive performance.
Vanderbilt finished the game with 579 total yards, led by Pavia with 268 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 165 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown.
Pavia has been one of the most-talked-about quarterbacks in the SEC, maybe the country, and Tennessee's defense had no answer for him on the ground or through the air, especially in the second half.
This is just another example of a mobile, dual-threat quarterback torching a Tim Banks defense. The Vols' reliance on man coverage continues to expose the defense against mobile quarterbacks, and Pavia took advantage of Tennessee's defense to bolster his Heisman campaign and Vanderbilt's bid for the College Football Playoff.
This performance also comes on the heels of ESPN’s Greg McElroy calling Banks an “emotional play-caller” as the Vols’ defensive struggles amplify.
“You hit the nail on the head with there is some emotion when it comes to his play calling,” McElroy said earlier this week. “For example, a team hits a 20-yard play, he wants to blitz you now because he’s mad that you just gained 20 yards.
“The team stops the run on — let’s just say they stopped the run on 1st-and-10, he automatically is thinking pass on second down. He calls a (defensive) pass play without acknowledging, sometimes, oh, their run game’s now going, they’re going to go back to the run on second down. And they gash him for eight yards."
Vanderbilt took advantage of Tennessee's defense and did exactly what McElroy explained multiple times on Saturday night, further exposing Tennessee and Banks' defensive issues.
Tennessee's season ends at 8-4, a disappointing finish after back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins. The Vols will now wait and see their bowl fate after conference championship weekend next week.
Josh Heupel will undoubtedly have to make some decisions on the defensive side of the ball for next year for the Vols to return to the College Football Playoff and return to the national title conversation.