Tennessee’s up against their arch-rival Vanderbilt next. By this time last season, the Volunteers were celebrating their double-point victory over their rivals. But we all know what stood out in that particular rivalry game. A furious Clark Lea. Back-to-back unsportsmanlike calls. A huge scuffle. It became quite physical. An upset loss isn’t impossible this season. After all, this could be a sort of revenge game for the Commodores.

Josh Heupel and Tennessee might be in for their roughest challenge against Vanderbilt on Saturday. On November 27, a post was shared on X featuring the highlights of 2023’s Tennessee vs Vanderbilt game during the scuffle scene. The caption reads, “Tennessee’s game against Vanderbilt got chippy last year. Vols should be ready for an inspired Vandy team on Saturday. It’s gonna be a physical game.” 

Tennessee held the spotlight this season after their wild win over Alabama and their subsequent fall to Georgia. But with their 56-0 blowout victory over UTEP, they remain a solid contender for the 2024 playoff games, currently ranking No. 8 on the AP Poll ranking. But their season finale against Vanderbilt could make it crush their playoff hopes. 

We got to understand that the present team isn’t the Vandy from 2023 who were crushed 48-24 and went 2-10. Of course, their new QB Diego Pavia, who turned their fortune around this season with a 6-5 record, hadn’t been part of the big scuffle last season. But he’s not ignorant of the importance of this rivalry game as he views it as a “life or death” situation. Can this highly anticipated game between a repeat of last season? 

What happened at the Tennessee vs Vanderbilt game in 2023?

It wasn’t a great sight at Neyland Stadium on November 26, 2023, when a fight broke out between Tennessee and Vanderbilt. It’s the result of the built-up pressure from the previous plays. The intensity of the scuffle led to the clearing of the benches in front of UT’s sidelines and Tennessee players Tyler Baron and Dominic Bailey and Vanderbilt’s Delfin Xavier Castillo received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Even Vandy HC Clark Lea was called for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second quarter after AJ Swann was tackled on two consecutive deadball fouls. 

Ahead of the highly awaited game, Clark Lea hinted at a comeback to even their records. He said, “We can get to play the in-state rival and a team that we haven’t performed well against. That’s the biggest thing to me. We can talk all we want. We need to perform better, and we need to close the gap.” Tennessee holds the edge in the rivalry with 80-32-5, 3-0 under Josh Heupel. But no matter what kind of emotion Saturday brings on the field, the players have to discipline themselves enough to understand that their fans are there for the plays and not the fights.