Last November, Vanderbilt finally ended Tennessee's grip on this rivalry. This time the Commodores host the rematch to close out both teams' seasons.
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TENNVAN
TENNVAN
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Best BetVanderbilt
Vanderbilt gets this one at home, coming off a program-best 10-win season and a defense that returns as much experience as almost anyone in the country. Tennessee's counting on a true freshman or a redshirt freshman with 9 career throws to hold up in a hostile rivalry environment, which is a real ask in a season finale. Take the Commodores to build on last year's breakthrough rather than fade back to old habits.
Tennessee
+DeSean Bishop is a top returning SEC rusher
+top-10 caliber O-line with LSU transfer addition
+Matthews, Staley each threats for 1,000 yards
−Starting QB has 9 combined pass attempts or none
−brand-new defensive coordinator this season
−lost last year's meeting 45-24, snapping 2018 streak
Vanderbilt
+Coming off 10-win season, program's best ever finish
+beat Tennessee last year, ending 7-year drought
+defense ranks among nation's most experienced returners
−Losing Diego Pavia, reigning SEC Player of the Year
−true freshman or unproven senior replacing him at QB
−no longer the underdog, carries real expectations now
Tennessee walks into 2026 needing a new quarterback for the second straight year, and Josh Heupel is again betting on youth. The job is likely to come down to five-star true freshman Faizon Brandon or redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, who has 9 career pass attempts. Heupel has made a living turning over quarterbacks and still finishing top-20 in total offense, so he's not panicking, but this is the least proven QB room he's had in Knoxville.
Vanderbilt's rebuild is more dramatic. Diego Pavia, the reigning SEC Player of the Year and Heisman runner-up, is gone, off training camp with the Ravens after dragging the Commodores to a 10-win season, the best finish in program history. Clark Lea has been blunt about it: 'We won't replicate Diego.' The plan is true freshman Jared Curtis, a five-star who flipped from Georgia at the last minute, or senior Blaze Berlowitz, stepping into a program suddenly carrying expectations instead of chasing them.
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TENN Tennessee
VAN Vanderbilt
Both rosters lean on experience everywhere except center stage. Tennessee's offensive line, with LSU transfer Ory Williams and center Sam Pendleton, has been talked about as a top-10 unit nationally, and DeSean Bishop returns as one of the SEC's premier rushers. Vanderbilt counters with defensive continuity — Lea's group ranks among the nation's most experienced returning defenses — and receivers Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley give Tennessee's passing game a runway even with a green arm behind center.
Tennessee Volunteers
Nov 20?vs LSU—
Nov 13?@ Texas A&M—
Nov 6?vs Kentucky—
Oct 16?vs Alabama—
Oct 9?@ Arkansas—
Oct 2?vs Auburn—
Sep 26?vs Texas—
Sep 19?vs Kennesaw State—
Sep 12?@ Georgia Tech—
Sep 5?vs Furman—
Vanderbilt Commodores
Nov 20?@ Florida—
Nov 13?vs Alabama—
Nov 6?@ Mississippi State—
Oct 16?vs Arkansas—
Oct 9?vs Ole Miss—
Oct 2?@ Georgia—
Sep 25?@ Auburn—
Sep 19?vs NC State—
Sep 12?vs Delaware—
Sep 5?vs Austin Peay—
Recent form.
This is a rivalry that Tennessee owned for decades — the Vols hold a 79-33-5 all-time edge and once ripped off 22 straight wins from 1983 to 2004. But last year flipped the script. Vanderbilt's 45-24 win was its first over Tennessee since 2018, and it came in the first meeting ever with both teams ranked. Sedrick Alexander ran for 115 yards and 3 touchdowns that day, and the Commodores are the ones with something to defend now instead of chase.
Tennessee Volunteers
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Vanderbilt Commodores
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Both programs will have played 12 games of tape on their new starting quarterbacks by the time Nashville kicks off Friday, November 27, so this isn't the same blind guesswork it looks like in July. What it does look like is a proving ground: can Heupel squeeze another top-20 offense out of a true freshman or a redshirt freshman with almost no snaps, and can Vanderbilt show that last season's breakthrough was about program-building and not just one transfer quarterback catching fire. Whichever team answers that better probably wins the rivalry trophy talk for another year.
