Tennessee suffers loss at Vanderbilt to end their disappointing regular season.
With Vandy’s win, they get bowl eligible at 6-6 and the Vols fall to 8-4 after a 5-0 start. It’s been a season that has had a lot of twists and turns. It started with an escape of Appalachian State. Then a win over eventual ACC coastal champion in Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway in front of 150,000 fans. A sluggish win over Ohio, beating Florida for the first time since 2004, a miracle victory at Georgia. Everything just seemed to be going Tennessee’s way.
They were #9 in the country at Texas A&M, before losing in heartbreaking fashion in overtime. That’s when things started to go downhill. They were losing guys, especially on defense to injury. However, the defense seemed to regress and not get better and learn as the season went on. The Vols gave up a combined 1,983 yards in their last three games to Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Let’s not forget about running back Jalen Hurd leaving the program after a shocking loss at South Carolina. Tennessee fans are never happy after a loss, but a loss to Vandy is anything but acceptable. Vandy isn’t the Vandy of old, but it’s never an easy pill to swallow losing to your little brother in Nashville.
There was a lot of hope for this team this year. The team with a win last night had a good possibility of a Sugar Bowl berth with Auburn and Florida losing. With the loss though, Tennessee looks to be going to a lower tier bowl such as maybe the belk bowl for example. This was a team that had SEC championship and even playoff hopes coming into the season. While there were a staggering amount of injuries, this team seemed to not know what it was doing as the year went on. They regressed instead of progressed. That’s on the coaches and Butch Jones is going to have a lot of heat on him.
On a lighter note, the offense has looked much better since Jalen Hurd left the program. Quarterback Josh Dobbs has looked sensational, as well as running back Alvin Kamara. It’s a shame these guys didn’t get the goals they were going after on the field. They can still end the season on a high note with a bowl win though, wherever and whenever that’ll be.
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