Adams: 1-2 punching bag could hit back and hurt

Here they come again, Vanderbilt and Kentucky - the best one-two punching bag in Tennessee football history. What a finish, huh?

That's a somewhat dated view of UT's two-game stretch run. In fact, the punching bags have been punching back lately. Nonetheless, it's still the best November parlay in the SEC.

Alabama closes with Auburn every year. Florida gets Florida State. Georgia gets Georgia Tech. South Carolina gets Clemson. You can go right on down the SEC line and not find a more favorable finish.

And UT doesn't just get Kentucky or Vanderbilt for its regular-season finale. It gets them both, back-to-back.

Why am I expounding on something as obvious as the sun coming up in the East? Because it is so obvious, you might take it for granted.

Also, because it's not as easy as it looks. Here's how it looks: 25 consecutive victories against Kentucky and 26 victories in the last 27 games against Vanderbilt.

In the last five years, UT has had only one blowout victory over the Commodores, up next in Neyland Stadium this Saturday. The Commodores won in 2005 and lost by a point in 2007.

The Kentucky series has followed a similar course. In the last five games, three of UT's victories have been by six or fewer points, and one required an overtime.

They're doing more than coming close against other SEC teams.

Since Kentucky last beat UT in 1984, it has won four games Georgia, back-to-back games against South Carolina in 1998-99, and even beaten Florida once (in 1986).

Vanderbilt beat Georgia just two years ago and has won two of it last three games against South Carolina. Since beating UT in 2005, it has beaten every other team in the SEC East except Florida. But it has come close against the Gators, losing in two overtimes in 2005 and by only six points to its 2006 national championship team.

Beating Vanderbilt and Kentucky hasn't been this challenging in awhile. Kentucky has gone to three consecutive bowl games and is eligible for a fourth. The Commodores had a rare winning season last year.

Their improvement speaks to the coaching of Rich Brooks at Kentucky and Bobby Johnson of Vanderbilt.

The improvement isn't reflected in Vanderbilt's current 2-9 record. But that's misleading in a way.

The Commodores have actually improved their running game this season through recruiting. Their defense is solid. It's just that their quarterbacking has been woefully inadequate.

And you know how inadequate quarterbacks get exposed in a conference as defensive-minded as this one.

You can't always project Vanderbilt's performance against UT based on how it might have struggled through the rest of its schedule. For example, Vanderbilt's 2-9 team challenged the 15th-ranked Vols until the final minutes before losing 38-33 in Nashville five years ago. Those kind of games have popped up throughout the recent history of the series, regardless of who Vanderbilt's coach was.

Woody Widenhofer's first Vanderbilt team won two games, yet played UT's 1997 SEC champions a 17-10 game. Rod Dowhower's last two teams each won two games, but lost to top-10 UT teams by five- and seven-point margins. Twenty years ago, Watson Brown's 1-10 team lost to the eighth-ranked Vols by only seven points.

Such games aren't a coincident. No matter how dreadfully Vanderbilt's season has gone, it can right the wrongs with an upset of its more famous in-state rival. That's powerful motivation.

It's also a warning for the Vols.

UT's fifth-year seniors don't need a warning. They were on the team that lost to Vanderbilt in 2005. And they probably haven't forgotten that Vanderbilt made that one game its 2005 highlight video.

That's powerful motivation, too.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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