Tennessee’s rivalry game against Vanderbilt will have to wait.
For the second time this month, Tennessee will have a football game postponed.
Vanderbilt (0-7) will pivot and play Missouri on Saturday (noon ET, SEC Network) in Columbia, Missouri, in a game originally scheduled for Oct. 17. That game had been scheduled to be made up Dec. 12.
The SEC announced the schedule adjustment on Monday.
The Tennessee-Vanderbilt game was postponed in conjunction with Missouri’s game against Arkansas being postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining within the Arkansas program.
The SEC postponed Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt to facilitate the rescheduling of the Vanderbilt-Missouri game. The shuffling of games allows for the opportunity for all 14 SEC teams to play all 10 regular-season games.
Tennessee previously had its Nov. 14 game against Texas A&M postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the Aggies’ program.
Rescheduling of Tennessee at Vanderbilt and Arkansas at Missouri will be evaluated, according to the SEC.
As it stands, Tennessee (2-5) is scheduled to host Florida on Dec. 5 and Texas A&M on Dec. 12. The SEC has said that teams will be allowed to play regular-season games on Dec. 19, which is also the date for the SEC Championship in Atlanta.
“As we continue to adapt to the current realities, it important to remain flexible as we move forward in the final weeks of the season,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a news release. “Contact tracing continues to be the biggest contributing factor to game interruptions. We will continue to manage the remaining weeks of the football schedule to allow for as many games to be played as possible.”
Tennessee does COVID-19 testing for the football program on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt said during his Monday news conference that he was awaiting results from Sunday’s round of testing.
The Vols lost 30-17 at Auburn on Saturday, and they did not practice on Sunday for precautionary reasons.
“Just if you look within our conference, it seems like some of the teams that haven’t traveled the week before, we’ve been fortunate this year,” Pruitt said, “but from a precautionary standpoint, we didn’t practice yesterday so we could get this testing back (Monday).”
Entering Sunday’s round of testing, Tennessee had not had a football player sidelined for a positive test during the season. The Vols had multiple false positives in an early November round of testing.
It’s unclear how many Vols football players have tested positive since the pandemic began. Positive tests and contact tracing significantly hampered Tennessee’s preseason. Tennessee had 23 players test positive between mid-June and mid-August, Pruitt said before the season. Tennessee had to nix a preseason scrimmage on Sept. 5 because more than 30 players were unavailable because they had either tested positive or were quarantining because of contact tracing.
Vanderbilt has had at least 10 players opt out of the season because of concerns over COVID-19. Along with injuries and transfers, that greatly depleted its roster around midseason.
The Commodores’ original date with Missouri was postponed because they lacked 53 available scholarship players. In the ensuing bye week, coach Derek Mason said that number dropped to the “high 40s.”
Vanderbilt then had 58 scholarship players available for both a 24-17 loss to Mississippi State and a 38-35 loss to Kentucky. In 38-17 loss to No. 5 Florida last week, the Commodores appeared to have a better total number of scholarship players available than past weeks, though the team did not confirm a number.
In the postgame Zoom press conference, Mason acknowledged depleted depth at running back and the defensive secondary.
The SEC recommends a minimum 53 available scholarship players per team to play a game. That must include seven offensive linemen (which includes one center), one quarterback and four defensive linemen. Each school has the option to play the game with fewer than 53 scholarship players or fewer than the minimum number of position players required if it elects to do so.
