Tennessee football beats Vanderbilt to secure winning record in Josh Heupel's first season

Tennessee guaranteed itself a winning record in coach Josh Heupel’s debut season with a 45-21 win over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale Saturday.

None of UT's previous three coaches had a winning record in their first season. Lane Kiffin went 7-6 in 2009. Now the Vols (7-5, 4-4 SEC) will await their bowl invitation announced on Dec. 5.

UT has flipped this rivalry back in its favor. Vanderbilt had won three straight over the Vols from 2016-18 in its longest winning streak in the series since the 1920s. But UT has won the past three meetings.

Vanderbilt (2-10, 0-8) has lost 21 straight SEC games, dating back to 2019.

Here are five observations from UT’s home win, which drew an announced crowd of 77,349 at Neyland Stadium.

Hendon Hooker climbs record book, leaves game with injury

Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker suffered a hand injury with 8:03 remaining when he was hit while pitching the ball on an option play. He left the game and went to the locker room.

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Hooker tossed his 26th TD pass, passing Heath Shuler (25 in 1993) for seventh place on UT’s single-season list. Next up are Joshua Dobbs (2016), Jonathan Crompton (2009) and Casey Clausen (2003), who each had 27. Peyton Manning holds the record with 36 in 1997.

Hooker was 10-of-18 passing for 156 yards and two TDs. He also rushed for 75 yards.

Theo Jackson gets pick-6 against ‘hometown college’

Earlier in the week, senior safety Theo Jackson, a Nashville native, said he wanted to beat his “hometown college” so he wouldn’t hear chirping from friends back home. He took that into his own hands with a 55-yard interception return for a TD on the fifth play from scrimmage.

Linebacker Jeremy Banks brought pressure from Vanderbilt’s right side, and quarterback Mike Wright tossed a hurried pass toward the left sideline. Jackson, a former Overton standout, jumped the route for the interception and broke two tackles en route to the end zone.

It was Jackson’s third interception of his career and his first TD. And it was UT’s third pick-6 of the season, their most since having four in 2013. Solon Page III had a 31-yarder against Tennessee Tech, and Alontae Taylor returned a 56-yarder against Kentucky.

Cedric Tillman catches Joey Kent

Wide receiver Cedric Tillman made a TD catch for a sixth straight game for UT’s longest streak since Joey Kent did it in six consecutive games in 1995.

Tillman caught two TD passes. In the second quarter, he grabbed a short pass on an in-route on third-and-11, and then he cut outside and slipped two tacklers en route to the end zone. On the second play of the third quarter, he broke two tackles on a 46-yard catch-and-run for a score.

Tillman’s ninth TD reception tied him for eighth on UT’s single-season list with Kent (1995), Justin Hunter (2012), Da’Rick Rogers (2011), Denarius Moore (2010) and Jermaine Copeland (1997). Marcus Nash owns the school record with 13 TD catches in 1997.

Jabari Small runs wild without Tiyon Evans

UT’s backfield moved on without Tiyon Evans, who entered the transfer portal Friday despite leading the team with 525 rushing yards. Jabari Small passed Evans as the team’s top rusher with 103 yards and two TDs on 15 carries against Vanderbilt.

Small scored on a 6-yard run in the second quarter and an 11-yarder in the third quarter. Freshman Jaylen Wright had a career-high 112 rushing yards, including a 10-yard TD.

Small had already grown accustomed to playing without Evans, who had missed four games and barely played in a fifth because of injury.

Josh Heupel wins in November

Heupel upheld a UT tradition of winning in November, posting a 3-1 record in the month. But it wasn’t easy. Since Kentucky was ranked No. 17 when the Vols beat them on Nov. 6 and Georgia was No. 1, it marked only the fourth time in the past 50 years that UT played two Top 25 teams in November.

UT has won 70.3% of its November games and its greatest coaches dominated during this month.

Gen. Robert Neyland had a 65-9-7 record in November games during his three stints as coach from 1926-52. Johnny Majors had a 50-12 record in November from 1977-92. Phillip Fulmer went 54-10 in November from 1993-2008. Neither Majors nor Fulmer ever posted a losing record in November in a single season.

In recent years, Kiffin (3-1), Derek Dooley (7-4), Butch Jones (12-6) and Jeremy Pruitt (6-4) had winning records in November. However, Dooley and Jones were fired in November, and their interim replacements went 1-2 to finish the month.

In 2022, Heupel will face Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt in November.

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football beats Vanderbilt; Josh Heupel has winning record in first season