Vandy 42, Tennessee 24: Vols lose eight games for first time in program history

Team 121 became the first Tennessee squad in program history to lose eight games in a season with Saturday's 42-24 loss to Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium.

“It hurts as a coach for those 22 seniors who played their last football for Tennessee," interim coach Brady Hoke said.

Ohio State now stands alone as the only power-conference program to never lose more than seven games in a season.

Additionally, this marks the first season in which the Vols (4-8, 0-8 SEC) did not win an SEC game. Tennessee is a charter member of the SEC. The conference played its first football slate in 1933.

"We’re going to come back better. I promise that," freshman offensive lineman Trey Smith said.

Vanderbilt (5-7, 1-7) avoided going winless in league play.

Here are five things we learned.

Kyle Shurmur owns this defense

Shurmur, Vandy's junior quarterback, has looked like an elite talent the past two times he's faced Tennessee.

On Saturday, he completed 20 of 31 passes for 283 yards and four touchdowns. That's after he passed for 416 yards and two TDs against the Vols last season.

“We knew he was a really good quarterback who had really good poise, and he came out and executed tonight," linebacker Colton Jumper said.

Jarrett Guarantano showed enough to top the offseason depth chart

Guarantano, UT's redshirt freshman QB, had his ups and downs this season, but he ended the year with one of his better games. He was 14-of-22 passing for 183 yards with two TDs and an interception.

Brandon Johnson caught six passes for 107 yards.

Guarantano's biggest problem continues to be the rate by which he's sacked, and a large part of that is due to shoddy pass protection. Vandy sacked him three times.

Monitoring the QB situation will be an interesting offseason storyline. Guarantano, Quinten Dormady and Will McBride all made at least one start. Each is set to return in 2018, but it would come as no surprise if at least one player transfers.

Tennessee should consider its QB competition very much open, but Guarantano played well enough his final four games against Kentucky, Southern Miss, LSU and Vandy that he deserves to be atop the depth chart.

"I'm not going to forget this, and I'm going to let it drive me," Guarantano said of the team's 4-8 season. "I think that just has to be the team's mindset."

UT defense decimated again

Shurmur wasn't the only Commodore to enjoy facing Tennessee.

Ralph Webb rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns, and Vandy amassed a season-high 529 yards.

Tennessee's defense allowed more than 500 yards in four games this season.

“We were terrible on defense, particularly on third downs. I think they were 11 of 15," Hoke said. "That’s unacceptable.”

The Vols really, really need offensive line help

Tennessee entered August with 13 scholarship offensive linemen. Due to injuries and attrition, the Vols were down to four available scholarship linemen for a portion of last week's game.

UT had five scholarship linemen against Vandy. Brett Kendrick returned from injury, but starters Jashon Robertson and Coleman Thomas were out with injuries.

Kendrick, Robertson and Thomas are seniors, leaving eight scholarship linemen set to return.

Behind the patchwork line, the Vols had 55 rushing yards, factoring in the three sacks, against a poor Vandy defense.

"I thought we'd be able to run it a little bit more, more effectively," Hoke said.

The Vols have two three-star offensive linemen committed to the 2018 class. They could use some additional reinforcements.

Vandy has edge in recent history

After Saturday's result, the Commodores have won four of the last six matchups against Tennessee. The Vols had won 28 of 29 games against Vandy before that stretch.