Tennessee Football: 3 quick takeaways from dominant win over Vanderbilt

Tennessee football dominated in-state rival Vanderbilt 28-10 to solidify their bowl status. Here are three quick takeaways from the Vols’ win.

It wasn’t pretty most of the game for Tennessee, but the Volunteers got the job done as they reached seven wins and five of them in the SEC with a 28-10 win over Vanderbilt.

The Volunteers have surely come a long way from their early season losses to BYU and Georgia State, respectively.

For the Commodores, the season has been a disappointment. They have struggled to score points despite having one of the best running backs in the conference senior Ke’Shawn Vaughn. It wasn’t pretty, but the Vols got it done between two lighting delays of all things.

Here are three quick takeaways from this one.

3. Quarterback play left a lot to be desired

Neither quarterback exactly set the world on fire in the pass game this evening. Neither Vanderbilt quarterback was effective in this game. Senior Riley Neal threw a touchdown pass, but completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes and had fewer than 150 yards passing. His teammate Deuce Wallace was even more ineffective with three completions for 30 yards.

Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano had 20 yards per completion, but he only had six of them. The Volunteers didn’t pretend to commit to the pass in this one either throwing only 17 times against the Commodores.

2. Volunteers dominated the line of scrimmage

The Volunteers set out to dominate this game on the line of scrimmage, and they did. Led by running back freshman Eric Gray and his 246 yards rushing, the Volunteers grounded and pounded the Commodores on offense. The Vols totaled 297 yards rushing in this one.

Guarantano had time to throw the ball, he just didn’t complete passes. The Commodores had no such luck running the football. Vandy tallied a paltry 110 yards and less than four yards per rush. Vanderbilt couldn’t move the Volunteer defensive line at all in this game. Tennessee only had three sacks, but Neal was under duress all game long.

1. Two programs, two different directions

Tennessee has improved through this season, and are playing their best football at the right time. Getting to the postseason is huge for the Volunteers because they’ll get those 15 extra practices in the post season which are most needed.

Vandy had their struggles early in the season, but their upset of Missouri resulted in the Commodores losing four of their last five games. The defeat of the Tigers said less about Vanderbilt and more about Missouri. Tennessee is beginning their ascent in the SEC East and trying to catch up to Georgia and Florida.

The Commodores are making an investment in their football facilities, but they do have limitations due to their location and academics. However, they aren’t going in the right direction on the field. Their offense hasn’t been very good, and the defense — head coach Derek Mason’s speciality — has been porous as well.