Things didn't start off as planned for Tennessee football on Saturday. The Volunteers' arch rival Vanderbilt came out of the gates on fire with a chance to ruin Tennessee's season and took a 14-0 lead in the opening five minutes of the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown, a fumble recovery and another score.

However, that momentum didn't last long. Tennessee dominated the game for the rest of the afternoon, quickly erasing that deficit and controlling the rest of the game. Nico Iamaleava threw four touchdown passes and the Vols controlled the game at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, shutting down Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt offense in a 36-23 win.

After the game, cameras caught Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea's message to Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, via Camille Gear of WBIR Channel 10.

“Great battle man,” Lea said during the midfield handshake, per Gear. “Congrats and good luck in the playoffs.”

Tennessee came into this week ranked No. 8 in the country, so this win should secure its spot in the final 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. With some of the upsets that took place around the rest of the country on Saturday, including losses by Ohio State and Miami (FL), Tennessee not only has a great case to reach the playoffs but to host a first round game.

Tennessee in good spot to be playoff sleeper

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Nobody seems to be paying much attention to Tennessee, but Josh Heupel has one of his best teams in Knoxville in 2024. The Volunteers' win over Vanderbilt got them to 10 wins on the season and should be enough to get them into the College Football Playoff.

After a few fortunate bounces, Tennessee now has a chance to host a first-round playoff game at Neyland Stadium. No team wants to make the trip to Knoxville to play in one of the most hostile environments in all of college football in the first round.

This Tennessee team has more substance to match up with the big boys in college football than it has in past years. Heupel is still running his somewhat gimmicky spread out offense, but the foundation of this Tennessee team is up front.

This group can really run the football behind a big offensive line and star running back Dylan Sampson, who has been one of the most productive offensive weapons in all of college football. On defense, they can stop the run and get after the quarterback with the pass rush led by star edge rusher James Pearce Jr.

Tennessee picked up a quality win over Alabama and has shown that it has the beef on both lines to at least hang with some of the traditional powerhouses in college football. If Nico Iamaleava can protect the football and create a few explosive pass plays, this Tennessee team will be a very tough out in December.