Let's see:
Tennessee had a 104,000-seat stadium overflowing with orange and white clad fans, many of whom stood and yelled themselves hoarse for 4 straight hours. Compare that to CBS's overhead shots of a Vanderbilt Stadium clearly dominated by the visitors' red and several empty seats in the upper levels of Vandy's prime homeside seats.
UT played a national power, ranked 5 places higher them in the rankings, to two overtimes (admittedly after blowing a 17-3 lead in the 4th Q), after a blow-out loss to that same team last year on the road. Clearly, there's been improvement, despite the boneheaded failure to seal the deal yesterday.
The mid-major UT beat last week in Nashville blew out an FBS team from a Power 5 conference yesterday, on the road (Bowling Green defeated Maryland 48-27 in College Park). The mid-major who beat Vanderbilt by 2 points last week at VU edged La. Tech by only 3 points, at home.
Hmmm.
Tennessee fans are rightfully in a meltdown over their second-half conservative breakdown.
But I doubt any of them are having to console themselves with a Vanderbilt loss.