Bo Wallace and Ole Miss
look to secure a bowl bid on Saturday when they travel to Baton Rouge to take on LSU.
NASHVILLE — The Vanderbilt Commodores have a chance Saturday night to crank up the intensity in their rivalry with Tennessee.
Vanderbilt is bowl-eligible and trying to remain perfect in November.
The Vols desperately need a win over a team they’ve beaten 29 of the last 30 years to have a chance at ending their bowl drought and give coach Derek Dooley a chance of keeping his job.
“I know they want to get the W, but we really need it more than they do,” said Tennessee left tackle Antonio Richardson. “We’ve just got to go in there with a chip on our shoulder and get this win.”
The Volunteers (4- 6, 0- 6 SEC) beat Vanderbilt (6-4, 4-3) in Knoxville last season 27-21 in overtime.
“I’m not sure what the past shows,” said Vanderbilt defensive end Johnell Thomas. “I’m just confident in where this team has come, and where we’re headed right now. That’s pretty much it.”
The Commodores can deal a big blow to their rival. Of Dooley’s four SEC wins in his three seasons, two are against Vanderbilt. The Commodores already have that many league victories this season.
“We’ve just got to focus on the game at hand, and that’s on Saturday,” Vols receiver Zach Rogers said. “We can’t be worried about what’s going to happen with all that clutter outside of this place.”
Tennessee receiver Justin Hunter expects the Commodores to be fired up, especially remembering how close they came a year ago.
“We don’t want to lose a game we should win, so we’re going to go in there and fight our tails off,” Hunter said.
The Vols are coming off a 51- 48 overtime loss to Missouri in which they blew a 21-7 halftime lead. Vanderbilt rallied from 17 down in beating Ole Miss 27-26 on the road.
The SEC’s four leading receivers will be in this game. Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson average a combined 161.7 yards each game, second only to Vanderbilt’s duo of Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd (168.9 yards). UT’s Tyler Bray also has Rodgers and tight end Mychal Rivera as targets, helping him throw for 1,302 yards in just the last three games.
DEVELOPMENTS
Vols’ probation extended: The NCAA has extended Tennessee’s probation by two years as part of additional penalties handed down Friday after ruling that former football assistant coach Willie Mack Garza provided impermissible travel and lodging to a former prospect.
Penalties include a public reprimand and censure plus a reduction in official visits, evaluation days and complimentary tickets to recruits on unofficial visits. This extends a probation that started in August 2011 and now runs through Aug. 23, 2015.
The NCAA ruled Garza reimbursed talent scout Will Lyles for plane tickets and hotel expenses associated with an unofficial visit made by Lache Seastrunk and his mother in the summer of 2009. The visit occurred outside the period for prospects to make expense-paid visits.
Seastrunk, a running back, eventually signed with Oregon and now plays for Baylor.
Hogs, Bulldogs aim to end slumps: Mississippi State has had three disappointing weeks in a row. Arkansas, meanwhile, has had three disappointing months.
But the Bulldogs (7-3, 3-3 SEC) and Razorbacks (4-6, 2-4) say they have plenty of confidence heading into their game Saturday in Starkville.
Arkansas has won three in a row in the series.
“There’s fight left in us. There’s no question,” Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson said.
The Razorbacks have lost two of their last three, including a 38-20 loss to South Carolina last week.
“They still have all that talent on the roster and they’re very dangerous,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said of the Razorbacks. “Now their backs are against the wall, they have to win out to get to a bowl game. I imagine they’re going to come out fighting.”
The Bulldogs won their first seven games, but they have lost consecutive games against Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU by a combined 76 points.