Tennessee football returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon for its regular season finale against Vanderbilt. The Vols are looking to spoil perhaps the best Vanderbilt football season of all time while finishing the regular season 9-3.
The Vols are three-point favorites against Vanderbilt with kickoff just over 24 hours away. Here’s three keys for Tennessee to end the regular season with a rivalry win over the Commodores.
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Win Early Downs On Defense
Vanderbilt’s offense is predicated on staying in front of the sticks, avoiding third-and-longs and being in positions where they can both run or pass to move the sticks on third down. A season ago, the Commodores’ offense had success in the first half when it won early downs and got into third-and-short to help them sustain long drives. Once Tennessee forced them into third-and-long, Vanderbilt’s offense struggled to stay on the field.
That’s a key for Tennessee in this game. Vanderbilt is more equipped to win in third-and-long then they were a season ago but it is still a weakness. If the Vols can win on first down, they set their defense up for success against a strong Vanderbilt offense.
Tennessee’s run defense has turned in some of its better performances of the season in the last month. They need their best performance yet against the Commodores.
Find Some Consistency In The Run Game
For as much success as Tennessee’s offense has found this season, this is the worst that they’ve run the football under Josh Heupel. In multiple SEC games this season, most notably Oklahoma, Tennessee struggled to run the football and put the weight of the offense on Joey Aguilar and the passing attack.
Last week against Florida, Tennessee ran the ball well which led to a drama free win and a productive first half against the Gators. Vanderbilt has a susceptible passing defense. I expect Vanderbilt to try and take away big play in the passing game and force Tennessee to move the ball with its run game and underneath passing game.
But if Tennessee can run the ball against Vanderbilt then passing plays should be there and the Vols could turn in one of their best performances of the season.
Finish Drives On Offense
Everything in the last section leads to this point, Tennessee should be able to move the football in this game. There’s been very few games this season where Tennessee has struggled to move the ball and Vanderbilt’s defense is worse than most of those opponents.
Perhaps the biggest key for Tennessee offensively is to simply not beat themselves. The Vols have had turnovers in plus territory and penalties that have killed drives frequently this season. Self inflicted mistakes have often been Tennessee’s biggest weakness on offense.
The Vols need to avoid this in this game. Vanderbilt will not beat themselves and has typically maximized its opportunities this season. If Tennessee makes a bunch of self inflicted mistakes, Vanderbilt will likely beat them.
