Butch Jones, Derek Mason know the difference one game can make

HOOVER, Ala. - Coaches address the big picture at SEC Football Media Days. After all, there’s an entire season to consider.

However, after Tennessee coach Butch Jones and Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason met with the media on consecutive days this week, I couldn’t help but narrow the focus to a single game, Vanderbilt’s 45-34 victory over Tennessee in their regular-season finale last year.

Imagine if UT had won the game, as odds-makers predicted. The Vols would have played in the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt would have ended the year with a third consecutive losing regular season under Mason.

Instead, Vanderbilt qualified for a bowl and UT was relegated to another trip to Nashville, for the Music City Bowl.

Coaching contracts were impacted, too. Jones didn’t get a raise or contract extension. Mason got both.

Eight months after the victory, Mason doesn't downplay the significance of that one game.

“It took me to a different spot,” he said Tuesday, “ … to now truly understanding exactly where we were.

“You know, on a cool November night, we’re sitting there and we’re watching Vanderbilt play as good of football as any team in the country, and that’s a special moment.”

As a result, Jones enters his fifth Tennessee season on the hot seat, and Mason has as much security as a coach with three consecutive losing seasons can have. The upset also serves as a vivid reminder that games and seasons often don’t go according to form.

The Commodores seemed incapable of scoring 45 points, even against a defense as vulnerable as Tennessee’s. More puzzling was how dynamic their passing attack suddenly looked.

More:Butch Jones praises Vols' offseason leadership

Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur ranked 105th nationally in passing efficiency last season. He threw more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9).

Against Tennessee, Shurmur resembled an NFL prospect, completing 21 of 34 passes for 416 yards and two touchdowns.

More:Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur 'has grown up' from catch with Donovan McNabb to SEC

And a pedestrian Vanderbilt receiving corps also contradicted its resume. A group seemingly lacking in big-play ability made one big play after another.

Vanderbilt’s offensive outburst against Tennessee was even more puzzling after its bowl performance. The quarterback and the offense returned to form in a 41-17 Independence Bowl loss to N.C. State. Shurmur completed only 19 of 46 passes for 158 yards and threw three interceptions, and Vanderbilt totaled just 314 yards.

Tennessee was so inept in the loss to the Commodores that a convincing 38-24 bowl victory over Nebraska couldn’t negate the memory of its previous trip to Nashville. So what if the Vols beat a Cornhuskers team that was playing with an incompetent backup quarterback? They couldn’t pass the Kyle Shurmur Test.

The performance also left you wondering how much better the defense can be this season, especially since it will be without All-American Derek Barnett.

Last season’s upset loss to South Carolina already had damaged Tennessee’s chances of winning the SEC East. But the loss to Vanderbilt now resonates even more for a program that has lost three of its past five games to the Commodores.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him @johnadamskns.