Vanderbilt football went into Neyland Stadium and walked away with a dominant win over Tennessee. The Commodores won 45-24 behind a 31-3 run stemming back to the end of the second quarter.
After the game, Vanderbilt’s official X account took a shot at UT. “The so-called ‘NeYlAnD EfFeCt,” the account wrote with a picture of the cleared out stadium with little time remaining.
Tennessee finished the year 1-3 at home in SEC play, with losses to Georgia, Oklahoma and the Commodores. Heading into the year, the Vols had lost three games across four seasons of Josh Heupel’s tenure at home in SEC play.
The so-called “NeYlAnD EfFeCt” pic.twitter.com/gvEf79vKGt
— #14 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) November 30, 2025
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With Clark Lea and Heupel getting to their schools in 2021, Heupel had dominated the series. He had led Tennessee to a 4-0 mark, with each win relatively comfortable. After the game, Lea commented on what the win meant to him and the program.
“They’re obviously celebrating, and I’m so happy,” Lea said after the game. “Obviously, this was a big week for me personally just getting the extension to the finish line and knowing that we’re going to keep and continue on this build, it was so meaningful. And shout out to Candice for her hard work and getting that done again. I say this as many times as I can’t. I’ve got the best AD in the country. She’s tough. She’s resilient. Every time we needed her to step up, she stepped up. I mean, two years ago, in this exact space, the conversation was about we can’t go on as we are, and all she did was link arms with us, not judge us, but look to help us and support us. And that’s when we started to really plot our course to today.
“And what’s cool to me is, with the extension now we can, we can take that line and plot it even further, but a meaningful week for me, meaningful week for this program and for the players to come out and play the way they did today. I mean, again, this game is their day. It’s their moment. They were really impressive. And what are the emotions? I mean, some of it will sink in, some of it will take some time, but it’s special, and I’m really, again, proud and happy.”
Tennessee finishes the regular season 8-4 (4-4 SEC). Now, the Vols await their bowl game selection after next weekend’s slate of conference championship games.
