Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee 2015: Start time, live stream, TV schedule and 3 things to know

Derek Mason has shown improvement in his second year as Vanderbilt’s head coach, but nothing will legitimize his tenure in Nashville more than a win over Tennessee in Neyland Stadium.

The Commodores are just 30-74-5 against their in-state rivals all time, but Vandy has won two of the last three showdowns between these teams. However, any momentum they had built with those wins was swiftly washed away during the team’s recent rebuilding process. Tennessee won last year’s matchup on the road to doom the ‘Dores to a 3-9 season in Mason’s debut year. Now they’ll face a Vanderbilt team that has won one more game than the previous year, but has also been shut out in two of their last four contests.

Tennessee will have to keep the nation’s worst scoring offense out of the end zone to win the 110th meeting between these teams. Vandy has scored just 14 points per game as their passing offense has sputtered throughout the year. A win on Saturday would give the Volunteers their most wins in a single season since Philip Fulmer was roaming the sidelines, way back in 2007. They’ll have to get through a Commodore defense that has been notoriously stingy -- they’re fifth in the nation when it comes to red zone defense -- to earn that eighth win.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Spread: Tennessee is favored by 16.5 points.

Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Rocky Top Talk (for Tennessee fans) and Anchor of Gold (for Vanderbilt fans).

1. Will Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks step up? Derek Mason challenged his true freshman passer Kyle Shurmur on Tuesday, telling reporters that the young QB has to boost his team’s offense. He’s not wrong. The Commodores have passed for only 97 total yards in their last three losses. They scored seven total points in those games.

2. Tennessee will be dialing up their pass rush against a shaky Commodore offensive line, and that could mean a veritable QB feast for Derek Barnett. The UT defensive end currently ranks fourth in the SEC with seven sacks this season. That number could rise significantly against an inexperienced, relatively immobile quarterback on Saturday.

3. A victory on Saturday could still mean a postseason berth for the Commodores. A five-win Vanderbilt team could still earn bowl eligibility thanks to the glut of bowl games this season and a relative scarcity of six-win schools. No one seems to know for sure, but it seems like the teams with the highest APR rates -- the NCAA’s measurement of graduation rates by program -- will be the ones selected to fill out the lowest rungs of the holiday football schedule. While a spot in the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl won’t mean much to Derek Mason, the extra month of practice that comes with it would be huge for his young and developing team.