In a game not even deemed worthy of broadcast on CSS, Tennessee takes on Vanderbilt tonight, 8 pm EST. Preview.
Seriously, I've got like 7 cable sports networks on my TV, couldn't one of them carry the 16th-ranked team in the nation playing it's in-state conference rival? If coach Pearl is wearing his orange coat and I don't get to see it on TV, I'm going to be livid.
And it's not like Vandy is lunchmeat, they happen to be 10-5, by gawd. Well, so Sagrin has them # 108, that is kind of luchmeatish, depending on how much stock you put into rankings like that. It will be the first game against top-25 team for the 'Dores, so it's a little tough to judge where they are as a team. Chris Lowe has deemed the game a "legitimate road test," so there's that.
It will be the first of three road games for Tennessee, and regardless of how good Vandy is or isn't, the comp gets significantly tougher after tonight when the Vols travel to Ohio State Saturday (on TV, hooray!). In football this would be a "sandwich game," the conference opener and a top-20 game, with supposedly a weaker opponent in between.
So it's up to the Blender, the Discombobulator, DuWayne Chews and the rest to keep focus in Memeorial Gym tonight. We'll see, I mean, hear how that goes tonight.