I'll take the better defense that has had success on the road in conference play, and has dominated this series 28-1 from 1983-2011, but Vanderbilt has won 4 of the past 6. The winner gets to a bowl game, and Tennessee has nothing to lose in this game in the new Jeremy Pruitt era, while Derek Mason is on the hot seat for Vanderbilt.
Tennessee's defense is holding SEC foes 20 yards below their season average while Vanderbilt is letting those foes 73 yards above their season average. These two teams have 5 of 7 common opponents in the SEC. Tennessee clearly the more difficult schedule with games against Alabama, and Auburn while Vanderbilt had Arkansas and Ole Miss. In the 5 common opponents Tennessee did better in net yardage in 4 of the 5 games, and than Vanderbilt did, and the one they did not was the MIssouri game which happened just last week, but Tennessee lost their QB and best WR very early in that game and both are probable for this game. Vanderbilt last week beat Ole Miss, one of the worst defenses in the SEC held them to 378 yards as they were out gained by 191 yards at home.
This is a big game for Tenn and Jeremy Pruit to regain control of this rivalry, and I think we are getting hidden value here based off last week's results alone. The better, defense, has already played close at South Carolina, and beat Auburn on the road, look for Tennessee to pull the outright upset here.
Where to find Freddy?