Tennessee football laid an egg in its regular season finale, losing to instate rival Vanderbilt 45-24 as Diego Pavia struck the Heisman in a lopsided second half at Neyland Stadium.
Four quick takeaways on a disappointing end to the regular season.
Forcing Turnovers Tennessee’s Only Way To Get Off Field
Early this season, Tennessee’s defense struggled to stop opponents from moving the ball but did a good job of forcing turnovers. That trend somewhat disappeared over the last month but returned against Vanderbilt from the very first drive.
Vanderbilt converted a pair of third downs to open the drive before facing third-and-17 at the Tennessee 21-yard line. That’s when Pavia made a mistake, throwing it inside and into coverage. Edrees Farooq made him pay, intercepting the pass and keeping Vanderbilt off the scoreboard on the first drive of the game.
After two easy touchdown drives where Vanderbilt didn’t face a single third down, Pavia took a shot to open the drive and Ty Redmond went up and intercepted the ball. In six first half drives, Vanderbilt scored three touchdowns and punted just once.
Penalty Facilitates A Vanderbilt Double Dip
Tennessee forced Vanderbilt’s lone punt of the first half leading by seven points and with 5:15 remaining in the first half. It was an opportunity for Tennessee’s offense to take control going into half. But an offensive pass interference forced the Vols to punt and began a Vanderbilt march to the red zone.
The Commodores faced third-and-12 at the 13-yard line with 15 seconds remaining in the half and no timeouts. Tennessee was off the field when Pavia’s pass fell incomplete but a borderline late hit call on Jalen McMurray gave Vanderbilt new life and set up a game-tying touchdown on the next play.
Tennessee took a knee into halftime giving Vanderbilt the ball back to open the second half. The Commodores marched 75 yards in 11 plays. Vanderbilt faced just one third down all drive, a quarterback sneak on third-and-one as they went right down the field.
The sequence highlighted a lot of Tennessee’s issues this season as they made multiple self inflicted mistakes and did not play complimentary football.
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Vanderbilt Dominates On The Ground
Tennessee’s run defense had been improved in recent weeks after being a weakness early in the season. But Vanderbilt exploited the Vols’ shortcomings and dominated the ground game.
The Commodores consistently moved the ball on the ground throughout the game, totaling 314 total rushing yards on 37 carries while converting third-and-short on the ground at a high rate. Tennessee particularly struggled to contain Pavia’s legs.
Vanderbilt’s senior quarterback rushed for 165 yards on 20 carries. He beat Tennessee on designed quarterback runs and even more prominently by scrambling on a number of third down designed pass plays.
On the other side, Tennessee ran the ball well early in the game. DeSean Bishop went for 92 yards in the first half but Vanderbilt’s defense bowed up as the game went on. The Vols still had some instances where they ran the ball well but mostly could not create anything on the ground in the second half.
Over all, the Commodores completely controlled the run game. Vanderbilt out-gained Tennessee on the ground 314-83.
Tennessee’s Offense Was Boom Or Bust
Tennessee’s offense struggled to put complete drives together like it had for much of the season. The Vols were extremely boom or bust on offense. They turned in three first half touchdown drives and two of the drives were less than 2:35 of game time.
The Vols’ three drives that did not end up in the end zone netted just two first downs as Tennessee could not keep its offense on the field.
The theme largely continued into the second half. After Vanderbilt double-dipped, Tennessee promptly went three-and-out. Tennessee never got the ball back trailing by one-score. The backbreaker came in the third quarter when Mike Matthews dropped a wide open touchdown on third down and Tennessee had to settle for a field goal.
In the end, Tennessee had four scoring drives. Only one other drive crossed midfield.
3 Responses
What an embarrassing end to the Vols’ regular season. They played like they didn’t even realize football games had a second half.
A defense that allows a quarterback to run for 165 yards is not a defense . . .. it’s a joke. Fire Banks.
I’m thinking Tim Banks must go. I like the guy, but jeez.