Vanderbilt dominates first quarter against Tennessee with incredible plays

The time for talking ended when Vanderbilt took the field on Saturday against Tennessee.

All week leading up to this rivalry matchup, Commodores coaches and players discussed this matchup and how they promised things would be different in this iteration after the previous three under Clark Lea had been anything but competitive.

A Vanderbilt victory would end what has been a special season, but would also herald itself as a program on the rise with things heading in the right direction after prolonged years of struggles.

The Commodores were ready literally from the kickoff in this one, taking an early lead against their in-state rivals when sophomore wide receiver Junior Sherrill took the kickoff for a touchdown to give themselves a 7-0 lead.

Despite what the analytics may say, it’s hard to convince players on the field that momentum isn’t real, and with FirstBank Stadium humming, Vanderbilt’s defense was able to force a fumble two plays into the drive. Tennessee.

Located at the Volunteers’ 26-yard line, the Commodores were ready to take full advantage.

It took a little while, seven plays to be exact, but Vanderbilt was able to get it into the end zone with a great run by Sedrick Alexander to go up 14-0 and put real pressure on their rivals who have everything to lose if they can’t get out of Nashville with a victory.

But Tennessee was able to put its early struggles behind it and respond with a score.

They showed off the power of their explosive offense by scoring a touchdown on a drive that took five plays.

With the game now 14-7 in favor of the Commodores, they needed to quell the momentum the Volunteers were starting to build after they drove down the field and scored easily.

Vanderbilt did just that, marching from their 27-yard line into Tennessee territory, where they had to settle for a field goal but built a double-digit lead.

The Commodores had one more big play before the first quarter ended, stopping the Volunteers on a fourth run from their own territory that gave Vanderbilt the ball in excellent scoring position.

It was as good a quarter for the Commodores as they could have asked for, and coming into this matchup as the clear underdogs, they will need to maintain this level of play for the rest of the game if they want to win. take down their archrivals.