Vanderbilt wasn’t able to accomplish their goal of beating the flailing LSU Tigers this past weekend, but they do have another opportunity to cause chaos in the last game of the regular season.

The Commodores now sit with a 6-5 record, having already secured their spot in a bowl game, but they can play a huge part in how the College Football Playoff might look like if they can knock off their in-state rivals this weekend.

Tennessee has had an interesting year so far, looking like juggernauts early in the season before their offense stumbled and turned them into a beatable team.

That’s what Vanderbilt is hoping to do.

After years of being outclassed by their SEC competition, they have given just about everyone they’ve faced a challenge this season by beating Alabama, losing in overtime to Missouri and losing in one-score games against Texas and LSU.

Tennessee knows they can’t take Vanderbilt lightly, understanding the Commodores would love nothing more than to potentially eliminate the Volunteers from national championship contention.

Josh Heupel was quick to praise Vanderbilt during the early part of the week, making sure to not give the upset-minded Commodores bulletin board material.

“Big road game. Playing a really good football team in Vanderbilt. You look at what they’ve done throughout the season, but statistically they do a great job of tying all three phases together. They play complementary football. They’re smart. They’re tough. They’re physical. They’re disciplined. They make you earn it,” he said per Grant Ramey of Volquest.

In the past, that might have been viewed as lip service, but this year, it’s a warning to his team.

Vanderbilt can play with anyone in the SEC, and with the rule changes that don’t stop the clock whenever a team gets a first down, they have used their modified offense that has triple option running principles to control the game.

With Tennessee having a tough time scoring at different parts of the season, that could be a real issue for them.

The Commodores are hoping their star quarterback, Diego Pavia, can muster up one final elite performance in the finale despite him dealing with multiple injuries.

He’s been a major part of Vanderbilt’s success this year, giving them a real duel-threat option who has challenged their opponents in multiple ways.

Pavia likely already leaves Nashville as a program legend despite being on campus for just one season, but if he can pull off this upset, he would certainly lock down that status.

Oakland senior running back Daune Morris was heavily recruited by then-Louisville running backs coach De’Rail Sims when Morris was a freshman at Chattanooga Red Bank.

Sims continued recruiting Morris after he came to Tennessee as running backs coach even after Morris committed to Southern Cal in April.

That persistence and Tennessee’s push for a playoff berth in 2024 were big reasons why Morris flipped from the Trojans to the Vols, a move he announced Monday after an official visit to Knoxville over the weekend.

“(Sims) was one of my first ACC offers as a freshman,” Morris said. “He continued to recruit me, hit me up every day, and he just showed me consistency throughout the recruitment process.

“UT has always been in the back of my mind. I didn’t see me going there until I got on campus. Once I saw it for myself and the coaches continued to show me, it proved to me this is the place.”

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Morris committed to USC on April 9, just four days after he announced a top 10 that included Tennessee.

“On my visits, it’s been the same-in, same-out,” Morris said. “Coach (Josh) Heupel and everybody showed me the same love. It’s been nothing different. To get that kind of love from an SEC school in my home state, it means a lot.”

He said the Vols’ success this season, especially that of junior running back Dylan Sampson, weighed heavily in his decision.

“Just understanding the people behind me in my home state and the trajectory that Tennessee has right now,” Morris said. “How the trajectory is going with the quarterback (Nico Iamaleava), with the athletes and with the running backs. Dylan Sampson doing his job, scoring 20 touchdowns. It just shows what they can do with the running back and how they use their running backs in the right situations.”

Morris is listed by 247Sports Composite as the No. 29 athlete nationally and No. 16 recruit in Tennessee for the 2025 class. He was No. 3 on The Tennessean’s 2024 Dandy Dozen, a ranking of the top players from the Nashville area for the Class of 2025. He is a three-star running back.

MORE: Oakland beats Riverdale 49-46 in Battle of ‘Boro TSSAA football playoff classic thanks to 4 Daune Morris TDs

He had many power conference offers. That included SEC schools Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, along with Deion Sanders’ Colorado squad, Louisville and USC in his top 10.

Morris is healthy after having missed the better part of six games this season, most of that due to an ankle injury he suffered on the first snap of the Patriots’ Week 1 win over Independence.

He has been especially explosive in the TSSAA football playoffs, gaining 481 yards and scoring nine touchdowns over Oakland’s past two games. For the season he has 856 yards rushing and 16 TDs.

MORE: How USC commitment Daune Morris, Oakland were ‘laser focused’ despite looming TSSAA decision

He had a breakout junior season at Oakland after transferring from Chattanooga. The Tennessee Titans Class 6A Mr. Football finalist and first-team all-area performer rushed for 2,012 yards, added 568 receiving yards and scored 36 total touchdowns in leading the Patriots to the Class 6A BlueCross Bowl for the fourth consecutive season.

Could Tennessee football return to play Georgia in Athens in the playoffs?