Tennessee football closes the regular season by hosting Vanderbilt on Nov. 29 at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols (8-3, 4-3 SEC) are completely out of the CFP picture but can end the Commodores’ playoff hopes by winning in Neyland.
Vanderbilt (9-2, 5-2) throttled Kentucky last week and can register a top-20 road victory to boost its CFP resume this weekend.
Here are Knox News’ staff predictions for Tennessee-Vanderbilt:
Adam Sparks, UT beat reporter: Tennessee 34, Vanderbilt 31
This isn’t just a scrappy overachieving Vanderbilt team like in past years. But Tennessee realizes that, which is why it should be ready to play. Diego Pavia will play well. But the Vols will make the last big play and get an essential boost from the Neyland Stadium crowd. This should be a classic to close the regular season.
Mike Wilson, UT beat reporter: Tennessee 44, Vanderbilt 34
Tennessee is better than Vanderbilt this season. Neyland Stadium is a massive factor, especially in big games like this − and Vanderbilt is a bigger game than usual.
Gentry Estes, Tennessean columnist: Tennessee 41, Vanderbilt 34
The Vols’ offense wants to throw it around and make plays in space. This has given Vandy’s defense trouble this season, much like it has given Vandy trouble annually against Tennessee since Josh Heupel arrived. Diego Pavia and the offense will do its part to keep the Commodores in the game, but in a shootout, I’ll pick the home team who has also dominated this series of late.
