UT and Vandy Report week 10

Tennessee and Vandy had decidedly different outcomes in their games this weekend. UT manhandled Memphis 50-14 and and Vandy was on the end of a 55-14 whopping. Let's breakdown both games.

UT 50 Memphis 14 - Tyler Bray got the start for Tennessee and delivered big time for the Vols. Bray made some exceptional throws going 19/33 for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns. Bray, showed why the coaches and the team are so high on him, making the young Tigers secondary look over matched. Although this was a mediocre Memphis team, Bray showed poise in the pocket through out the game. UT actually started the game by spotting the Tigers a 7-0 lead. Ryan Williams put Memphis on the scoreboard first as he hit Marcus Rucker with a four-yard TD strike midway through the first quarter, but from there the contest belonged to UT as it tallied 50 straight points.

UT begin its manhandling with Bray tossing two touchdown passes, one to Taurean Poole for nine yards and then a beauty of a throw to Justin Hunter for 42-yards. The score was 14-7 after the first quarter.

In the second is where the Vols really took off on the Tigers, scoring 26 points. It started with a 26-yard field goal from Micheal Parlardy and two more touchdown passes from Bray to Denarius Moore and Da'Rick Rogers of 14 and 22 yards. Bray would later find Gerald Jones (who moved into the top 10 all-time receiving in Vols history) on a nine-yard TD pass play and Micheal Parlardy ended the quarter with another field goal to make it 40-7 at halftime.

In the third, Tauren Poole (Who finished with 101 yards on 16 carries)  would burst for a 21-yard run and Parlardy would add another field goal. The game was over going into the fourth. It was good to see the Vols have some success after struggling so much this year. The defense even showed some teeth with Chris Walker recording a couple of sacks and the team recorded 3 interceptions. They also forced 3 fumbles but only recovered one. The Vols would end the night with 510 yards of offense, including 379 through the air. The 50 points matched Tennessee's largest scoring output of the season. I am excited to see Bray's progression. No knock against Matt Simms, but Bray has all the tools for in an SEC quarterback with the big arm and quick release. UT can open the playbook more with his play. Bray has a chance to be very good in the coming years and should only develop a better chemistry with his young receivers in Justin Hunter and Da'Rick Rogers. This has to be a good feeling for the Vol faithful after suffering one of the toughest season's of memory but the future looks bright on the offensive side of the ball.

One bad note of the game perhaps was kicker Micheal Parlardy. Head coach Derek Dooley wasn't happy with his kicker after the game. He didn't play well last night," Dooley said on his Sunday teleconference. "He took a little step back."

The win now puts UT at 3-6. The next three games look to be winnable for the Vols as they face Ole Miss, Vandy, and Kentucky.Hopefully they can keep the good play up and win their last three games to become bowl eligible.

Florida 55 Vanderbilt 14 - Florida walked into Nashville and thoroughly demolished the Commodores. The Gators used their big play ability to turn this one into a laugher.

Chris Rainey (In his second game back from suspension) would block punts from Vandy twice and also caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from John Brantley. The Commodores would not score until  Ryan van Rensberg blocked a punt Javon Marshall recovered and ran in for a touchdown, making it 41-7.

Its really disheartening to see Vandy play so bad. They couldn't stop the Gators in any phase of the game. Vandy has now lost its fourth straight, ensuring a second straight losing season under first-year coach Robbie Caldwell. They have also been outscored 168-35 in this slide. I knew with top running back Warren Norman out they would struggle but the offense was just anemic. Larry Smith finished a dismal 7/18 for 28 yards passing no touchdowns before being relieved by Jared Funk. The offense only generated 109 total yards and that just won't get it done in the SEC. Vandy had trouble fielding kickoffs and the miscues on top of such a horrible offensive performance all but the doomed the Dores.

Vandy is now 2-7 with 3 games remaining and will have a hard time winning any the way they are playing. I really like Robbie Caldwell but he seems to be in over his head. Its hard to justify bringing him back if the team doesn't show any improvement in the last three games of the season. Vandy's remaining schedule concludes with Kentucky, Tennessee and Wake Forest. They will be the underdog in all of their remaining games. Let's wish the Commodores the best and see if they can pull it back together for their remaining schedule.