Vanderbilt made history on Saturday with a 45-24 victory over Tennessee in Knoxville.
The 14th-ranked Commodores ended their 6-game losing streak in the series and earned their first win at Tennessee since 2017. The 21-point margin was the largest Vanderbilt win over Tennessee since 2012. But, maybe more importantly, the ‘Dores secured their 10th win of the season.
In doing so, newly-extended head coach Clark Lea officially set a program record for wins in a single season. And he pushed Vandy to the doorstep of the College Football Playoff.
Tennessee had no answers for the Vandy offense. The ‘Dores totaled 582 yards, with 314 on the ground. Tailback Sedrick Alexander ran for 115 yards and 3 scores on 10 carries. Quarterback Diego Pavia ran for a career-best 165 yards and a score on 20 carries.
Pavia, a Heisman Trophy candidate, also threw for 268 yards and a score. In the process, Pavia set a single-season record for passing yards by a Vandy quarterback (3,192), breaking Kurt Page’s record set in 1983. Pavia is the fourth player in Vandy history to pass for 3,000 yards in a single season.
On the other side, Tennessee put up 382 yards of offense behind a fine effort from quarterback Joey Aguilar. The Vols’ passer threw for 299 yards and a touchdown, passing Peyton Manning to move up to fourth on the Vols’ all-time single-season passing list.
Tailback DeSean Bishop also ran for 97 yards and 2 scores.
Tennessee got 2 takeaways that led to 14 points. The Vols moved the ball. They just couldn’t slow the Vandy attack. The Commodores had 19 explosive plays in the game, and a 29% explosive play rate.
The Vols end the regular season at 8-4. Vandy moves to 10-2 and will await Selection Sunday to find out if it has done enough to land a spot in the 12-team CFP field.
Vanderbilt 45, Tennessee 24
Here’s the Vandy-Tennessee box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
