Star Tennessee Running Back Views Vanderbilt Commodores Matchup As Playoff Game
The Vanderbilt Commodores will have their hands full with one of the nation's top running backs on Saturday against the rival Tennessee Volunteers, especially with the apparent mindset he is bringing to the matchup.
When speaking to the media before the game, Volunteers star rusher Dylan Sampson gave a peek into the mindset that the team has heading into rivalry week.
"Everybody in the building knows the reality of the game, how much it means. It basically is a playoff game," said Sampson. "Take care of business and handle what it is. But we've got to go and attack every detail this week."
Tensions will always be high in this matchup, but the expanded playoff only adds more wrinkles to the fold.
The Commodores are basically set, now they are playing to secure a winning season. It would be their first since James Franklin led them to a 9-4 record in 2013 before being poached by the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Tennessee, on the other hand, still has a chance to sneak into the playoffs if everything goes their way. The Volunteers will need to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday and it could set them up with a great chance to snag one of the at-large bids.
A Commodores win on Saturday would all but eliminate them from competition. That will certainly be one of the driving forces of motivation for a Vanderbilt squad trying to play spoiler for their bitter rivals.
They will have to slow down Sampson to do so, however. That is a runner that is hard to bring down no matter what is motivating him to run the ball.
The superstar junior has had a very successful season so far. He leads the SEC in every rushing category with 231 carries for 1,307 yards and 22 touchdowns.
A big day this weekend could hoist Sampson into first place in school history for rushing yards in a season. He is 157 yards short, a metric he has come close to a couple times but not yet accomplished. He has already cleared the school record for touchdowns by four.
He will be the best running back that the Commodores have faced this season, by a fair margin.
Virginia Tech Hokies running back Bhayshul Tuten is No. 26 in the country with 1,035 rushing yards and is the best back that Vanderbilt has come across.
Of course, it was early in the season, but the Commodores held him to nine rushes for 34 yards and a score. It was the second-worst game of the year for him.
As a whole, Vanderbilt's run defense is tied for No. 36 in the country. They allow, on average,123.5 yards with 3.95 per carry this season. Even coming close to that average would be considered a win against the tough Tennessee rushing attack.
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders