Tennessee-Vanderbilt: Preview and Prediction for Senior Day
The Tennessee Volunteers will host the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. Both of these teams are looking to snap losing streaks with Tennessee having lost two in a row, and Vandy having lost 9 in a row. I’ll just go ahead and say it now, if Josh Heupel and the Vols don’t bump Vandy’s losing streak to 10 several people need to be fired. The Vols are coming in as 27-point favorites, playing at home, and hopefully pissed off about the way the month of November has gone so far. Listen the Vols will most likely win this game, but in order for the fanbase to have some hope for next year I think 3 things need to happen on Saturday against the Commodores.
Hold Vandy under 17 points.
Vanderbilt has been abysmal on offense for most of the year. They can’t block, they don’t have consistent Quarterback play, and their offensive coaching staff isn’t exactly known for creativity. However, the Tennessee defense without Kamal Hadden has been average at best. Vandy does have decent weapons lined up at wide receiver in Will Shepard and London Humphreys ,and If these two are on their game it could be a long night for the Tennessee Secondary. However, I hope to see the pass rush show up for the first time since the Texas A&M game and have a major impact on this game. A pass rush would certainly help the reeling secondary, and if the Vols don’t want a frustrating afternoon they need to be effective. Besides those two names at wide receiver Vandy doesn’t have too much to worry about on offense, so holding them to under 17 shouldn’t be all that difficult. Lastly, if the Vols end up in a shoot-out with the Dores Tim Banks should be served a pink slip before he has a chance to leave the press box. Bottom-line. End of story.
Get Nico reps one way or another
If you haven’t realized by now that the Joe Milton experiment was a failure you’re being willfully obtuse. The Vols have scored 17 points in their last two games, and zero points in the second half of both contests. Furthermore the two touchdowns both came from explosive plays which means in the two big games in November Joe Milton failed to lead a single drive into the red zone and finish with a touchdown. The red zone issues this year have been well-documented. The Vols are 21-43 when it comes to scoring touchdowns once they get inside the 20. I fail to see how Joe Milton is blameless when it comes to the offensive struggles, and for Josh Heupel to be ok with an average Quarterback is truly dumbfounding. Josh Heupel will undoubtedly start Joe Milton tomorrow which is stupid, but if he’s going to start him he better have a game plan that results in points and allows the Vols to build a big lead. The nightmare scenario is Joe Milton leading the offense to less than 30 points and the game not being in doubt soon enough to see Nico reps. These last two games should be Nico’s dry-run for next year anyway, but for whatever reason we will have to watch the 6th-year senior for two more meaningless games instead of getting your young stud a head start for next season.
Leave no doubt
If there’s one thing the Tennessee Volunteers do it’s beat Vanderbilt. Tomorrow shouldn’t be any different. The Vols are a significantly better team than the Dores, and anything less than covering the spread will be a major disappointment in my eyes. Pound the rock, get after it on defense, and light up the scoreboard. Furthermore, Josh Heupel needs to show the fanbase that he hasn’t lost the locker room. It would be very easy for things to unravel after two blow-out losses, but a D-1 head coach has to have the ability to hold things together. If the Vols are in a dogfight with the Dores or God forbid lose, the fanbase will then know that Heupel lost the team. However, I still believe in Heupel moving forward, and I expect the Vols to show up and leave no doubt.