The last time that Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt in consecutive years was 1925 & 1926. The Vols are headed into very dangerous territory in Nashville tomorrow.

M.B. Banks' last Tennessee team in 1925 lost to Vandy in Nashville. He became ill during that season & gave up the UT job, taking job as Knoxville Central High's coach for the balance of his career.

In 1926, as all Vol fans know, General Robert R. Neyland became the UT coach. He also lost to Vandy in his first year as head coach in a game that was also played in Nashville, but only lost to them twice after that in his illustrious career on The Hill that lasted until 1952. In fact, he only lost to Vandy once at all in Nashville, in 1948.

The 2 schools didn't play each other in 1924, but for some reason they played 3 games in a row in Nashville, 1923, 1925, & 1926. Since then, all of the Knoxville games have been in the odd years & the Nashville games in the even seasons.

What would back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt mean? Perhaps another shakeup on the Vol coaching staff? It certainly would be devastating if this year's team lost in Nashville after having just suffered losses to LSU and Arkansas, with resurgent Kentucky looming the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

It is certain that we are headed into uncharted waters with there never having been consecutive wins by the Commodores over the Vols in 80 years. I'm not sure today's players understand the significance of that.

Even Bill Battle won his last one over Vandy in Nashville after having lost to them in Knoxville in his next to last season. Johnny Majors won his first 5 in a row over VU with  less talent than UT has had in decades.

In fact, Majors only lost once to them and that was in Nashville in 1982, the last time Vandy had beaten UT until last year. In '82, UT finished 6-5-1, having a very similar year to what we had last season. The next year we bounced back for a 9-3 season, beating Maryland in the Citrus Bowl.

This UT team has a chance to make a similar comeback year and finish 10-3 with a bowl win. In order to do that, they must beat their cross-state rival tomorrow in Music City. Then they may earn a chance to return to Tennessee's capital city to face an ACC team in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl next month during the holidays.