Featured Image: Redshirt senior quarterback Diego Pavia rushes against the Missouri Tigers in FirstBank Stadium on Oct. 25, 2025. | (ON3.com)
This edition of the College Football Preview will be slightly different.
Instead of focusing on Tennessee’s game and the top game of the week, I will be solely focused on Tennessee today.
This is because Saturday’s game is a matter of pride for the Volunteer State. The No. 19 Tennessee Volunteers welcome the No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores to Neyland Stadium on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. to decide who “runs the state.”
In years past, this game was a formality. But now, this game means more for the state of Tennessee than it ever has. The current scoreboard sits at 79-32-5 with the majority of those wins from Tennessee.
In the preseason, Vanderbilt starting redshirt quarterback Diego Pavia said, “Vanderbilt is going to run Tennessee after this year.” This riled up an already feisty Tennessee fan base before the season even started.
Pavia has been the leader of this Vanderbilt squad for two seasons now. In congruence with head coach Clark Lea, these have been Vanderbilt’s most competitive seasons since 2013, when James Franklin was head coach.
Pavia leads the team in not just passing with 2,924 yards and 26 touchdowns, but rushing as well with 661 yards and eight touchdowns. Pavia is the true engine of the Vanderbilt offense, while also being a vocal leader in the locker room. He’s the heart and soul of the team—a factor that Tennessee could only hope to have.
Now after a semi-disappointing season for both teams. Tennessee hoped to be in their second consecutive College Football Playoffs and Vanderbilt hoped to get to their first. It appears neither team will be able to make it to the playoffs, so now the biggest game of the season lies ahead of them.
After a dramatic offseason of their own, Tennessee got off to a strong start, 5-1 with their only loss against the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs in overtime. Then everything started to go wrong after a come apart against the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide.
The cracks began to show in that game and the usual questions about head coach Josh Heupel led Tennessee teams started to show. This included questions about the play calling, preparedness for big games and the ability to get his team in the right mindset for away games.
Combine the Alabama game with another loss to the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners and Tennessee has yet to win a game against a ranked opponent all season.
Luckily, Tennessee will get Vanderbilt at home this year, but this win will not come easy compared to years past.
Tennessee will need to get their best play from senior quarterback Joey Aguilar and their defense if they want to come away with a win on Saturday and if they do not want fans to call for their heads come the offseason.
This might be the hardest game of the season to call for Tennessee—a lack of true vocal leadership worries me and might be the reason they fall behind in the state on Saturday.
However, I think Tennessee feels the pressure of this one and respond accordingly with a much more talented roster.
Tennessee takes control of the state again in Neyland.
Final Score: Tennessee 38, Vanderbilt 31
