ON MY ALLEGED MIND (11-29-21)
VOLS REGAIN FOOTING: With an easy victory over in-state “rival” Vanderbilt the Vols reestablished what should be expected domination over our half-hearted neighbors to the West. Vandy barley tries to be competitive choosing instead to remain in the SEC for the annual paycheck shared whether you deserve it or not. In a story in the
News Sentinel by Adam Sparks last week about first-year Vol and Vanderbilt coaches one of the former Commodore leaders from year’s gone by was quoted as saying
“you can’t be Harvard Monday through Friday and beat Alabama on Saturday” (are you listening Donde?). The more things change the more they stay the same, I guess. But back to the Vols; they have now defeated South Carolina, Missouri and Vandy three consecutive times, thrashing each in Josh Heupel’s first year on The Hill. Along with continuing the Vols domination of the Kentucky series those are much-needed steps back toward relevance. Now about that Florida nonsense…..
YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME….EXCEPT VANDY: There is little question that the Vanderbilt team that played both Ole Miss and Tennessee closer than expected is a much-improved unit from the one that opened the season with an embarrassing 23-3 loss to ETSU. Clark Lea certainly made strides in Year-one. That aside the Commodores have now lost 21-straight SEC contests and their approach to the game Saturday suggested they’re just fine with that. I mean at some point shouldn’t you at least appear as if you’re interested in breaking that dreadful string? After seeing Tennessee use only 33 seconds of the third quarter to take a 31-7 lead the Commodores appeared perfectly comfortable to simply keep the game tighter than the 32-point Vegas spread. The Dores had 1000 paper cut drives of 6:28 and 9:17 eating up more than a quarter’s worth of time to score twice in a game they trailed by four scores. Vandy proved -like many teams before them- they can sustain drives against the under-manned Vol defense but at what cost? Shouldn’t you at least try to win the game?
HAPPY FACTS:
WE OWE THEO: The Vols won their seventh game assuring a winning season and easily dispatched of Vandy but nothing was more satisfying than seeing Theo Jackson be rewarded in his last game in Neyland Stadium. The Super Senior from Nashville has seen more than his share of agony over his five years as a Vol but stayed the course and has been one of Tennessee’s most valuable pieces in Heupel’s rebuild. Jackson is 4th on the Vols with 73 tackles, leads in pass breakups with 11 and has been a leader on the defensive unit from jump. His 55-yard interception return for a TD to kickoff Tennessee’s scoring versus his hometown university had to be a thrill he’ll carry into whatever comes next. No one deserves that type storybook ending more.
A PACE AND A TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Tennessee appeared to run a slightly slower version of their ultra-fast offense versus the Commodores. Averaging 73.7 offensive snaps per game on the season the Vols ran only 60 plays 42 of which were runs. Not sure why the last game of the season was played differently from the first 11 other than the fact that Vandy never appeared interested in actually winning the game. That is the only reach I could come up with for the Vols apparent lack of their typical offensive urgency.
BITS AND PIECES:
Tennessee’s undermanned offensive backfield may not wow anyone minus Tiyon Evans but Jabari Small (15-103; 2 TDs) and Jaylen Wright (15-112; 1 TD) certainly were efficient versus Vandy averaging 6.9 and 7.5 yards on 30 total carries.
Hendon Hooker was 10-18 passing for 156 and 2 TDs before leaving late with an apparent hand injury. It wasn’t one of his better performances but as he’s done all season since Pitt he avoided the devastating plays that defined Tennessee Football in the three years prior to his arrival.
No one -with the exception of Hooker, Heupel and staff- have been more critical to Tennessee’s turnaround than Cedric Tillman. He continued his stellar season with six catches for 102 yds and 2 TDs. He hasn’t taken the easy route as many of his scores are either winning 50-50 battles or running through tacklers on the way to pay dirt. Sure hope the NFL thinks he’s too slow. It will be their loss.
Tennessee’s defense was solid in the first half but seemed to have trouble shaking surrendering the 56-yard Mike Wright to Will Shepard prayer Hail-Mary (or Male-Harry as a tongue-twisted buddy used to say) to end the first half. Vandy gashed the Vols front for most of the second half.
NEXT TIME: Bowl opponent preview and hoops
CLOSING COMMENT: Sure is nice to look forward to the Vols accepting a Bowl Bid. A little less than a year ago most of us were hoping they would turn one down.
