One of college football’s oldest rivalry games will write a new chapter Saturday when Tennessee hosts Vanderbilt for the season-finale. The two in-state foes have squared off a total of 115 times dating back to 1892 with Tennessee dominating the series, 77-33-5.
The Vols won 22-straight between 1983-2004 and combined for a 71-9-2 record over the Commodores from 1928-2011. Vanderbilt has found success of late, winning five of the last nine meetings. Tennessee snapped a three-game losing skid back in 2019 and have won the past two meetings.
That’s all history but Saturday is expected to follow a similar tune as the Commodores enter the showdown winless in Southeastern Conference play. But just like last week against South Alabama, Josh Heupel will prepare his team the same way with hopes of finishing on a high note.
“It’s a huge game for us as we finish the regular-season,” coach Josh Heupel said in his Monday press conference. “It’s an in-state opponent and one that our players and staff will be ready to go for.”
It was a disaster from the get-go for first-year head coach Clark Lea as FCS East Tennessee State embarrassed Vanderbilt 23-3 in week one. Randy Sanders’s unit actually had a touchdown called back in the ballgame, so it wasn’t even that close.
The Commodores rebounded a week later, snapping the program’s 11-game losing skid with a win on the road at Colorado State. Three weeks later on October 2, Lea’s bunch won in a close-call over UConn, but it’s been winless since – a stretch of six games.
To put it bluntly, Vanderbilt ranks dead last in the conference in just about every major statistical category. If not last, a spot or two away. The Commodores have surpassed the 20-point total inside conference play just twice and have surrendered at least 30 points to every conference opponent on the schedule, excluding South Carolina.
The offense scores just 15 points on 311 yards of total offense an outing, throwing for 187 yards and rushing for 124 yards on average. The unit has scored only 18 offensive touchdowns this season and turned it over 20 times while allowing 26 sacks.
With the majority of games out of hand by the second half, Vanderbilt has played two quarterbacks this season. Sophomore Ken Seals started the first six games of the season before Mike Wright took the opening snaps in four of the last five games.
Neither signal-caller has been particularly good with both completing passes in the 50 percent range. Wright, who got the start last week at Ole Miss, has thrown for seven touchdowns on the season to Seals’s five. Both have combined for 14 interceptions.
“Offensively, the ability of the quarterback to run the football is a big part of their game,” Heupel said of Wright. “That’s something we’ve really got to do a good job with this week.”
It’s a youthful backfield for the team from Nashville with sophomore Rocko Griffin leading the way. The tailback has a team-high 413 yards and three touchdowns while freshman Patrick Smith adds 358 yards on the season. Wright has gained 366 yards from the quarterback position while junior Re’Mahn Davis totals 211 yards on the year.
Fifth-year senior Chris Pierce is the go-to guy through the air with a team-high 609 yards on 53 receptions and two touchdowns. Sophomore Will Sheppard ranks second with 38 catches for 479 yards and two touchdowns while Senior Cam Johnson’s four receiving touchdowns leads the team.
The tight ends are hardly used in the receiving game for the Commodores as Ben Bresnahan, Gavin Schoenwald and Justin Ball have combined for just 13 receptions, 146 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, it doesn’t get much better on paper as the Commodores rank last in the conference in surrendering 35 points and 459 yards a game. The squad’s best outing came back in week two where Vanderbilt held Colorado State to just 21 points.
The defense has forced 15 takeaways and sacked opposing quarterbacks just nine times on the season.
Linebacker Anfernee Orji is the best player in the base 4-3 scheme, totaling 82 tackles, 10.5 TFLs and a sack in 11 games. Fellow linebacker Ethan Barr is second on the team with 76 tackles and is tied for the lead in interceptions with three.
Michael Owusu and Elijah McAllister each receive regular playing time in the middle layer of the defense as well.
Cornerbacks Jaylen Mahoney, Gabe Jeudy-Lally and Allan George have combined for three interceptions wile safeties Max Worship, Dashaun Jerkins and Brendon Harris have five. Up front, Nate Clifton and Daevion Davis are a handful off the edge while a rotating cast of players get reps on the interior.
“They are strong and physical in their front-seven,” Heupel said of Vanderbilt’s defense. “I think they have continued to get better throughout the course of the season. The last week, they had a chance to turn it into a one-possession football game late in the game.”
With bowl eligibility now obtained, the Vols are eager to finish the regular-season the way it started – scoring points. Tennessee surpassed the 400-point total in Saturday’s win over South Alabama. It’s the most points scored for a Volunteer unit since 2016 when Joshua Dobbs and company accounted for 473 in 13 games.
The game will also serve as Senior Day for those playing their final game at Neyland Stadium.
“I’ll probably feel some sad emotion. Some stuff like that,” Velus Jones said Monday. “Playing with my brothers – I love this football team and playing for this university. I’m surrounded by great people with this staff and anyone that has something to do with Tennessee football.
“If I was to drop a tear, it would be tears of joy. Not just for my journey but about these guys. I made a lot of brothers and these relationships will last for a lifetime. I’m going to soak it all in.”
