NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Tennessee scored 42 points in the first 2 1/2 quarters in a 56-0 rout of Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium on a rainy Saturday night.

Tennessee running backs Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright each rushed for two touchdowns in a game where the outcome was never in doubt. The Vols ran 31 times for 362 yards.

Vanderbilt (5-7, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) saw both its season and a two-game conference winning streak end, while the Vols (10-2, 6-2) await a bowl game.

The Commodores benched starting quarterback Mike Wright (7-of-13, 28 yards) midway through the third quarter, but it made little difference. It rained from the opening kickoff and got worse throughout the evening, with thousands in a partisan Tennessee crowd hitting the exits before the start of the fourth quarter.

After Vanderbilt turned it over on downs to start the second half, Tennessee's Small cut back to his left on a run that was going right and found all kinds of room up the middle for a 52-yard scoring run.

The Vols added Wright's 50-yard touchdown run and Joe Milton's 7-yard scoring strike to Brentwood native Walker Merrill before the third quarter was over.

Tennessee out-gained Vanderbilt 200-96 in taking a 21-point lead at half.

It took the Vols all of 55 seconds to score. Vol receiver Jaylin Hyatt got behind Ja’Dais Richard for a 61-yard catch down to the Vandy 3, then, Small scored on the next play on a 3-yard run.

The Commodores got nothing going offensively and the Vols converted a fourth-and-goal from the Vandy 1 on Princeton Fant’s second effort in a run play over center. Chase McGrath’s point-after made it 14-0, Vols, with 1:57 left in the first quarter.

After Vanderbilt's Joseph Bulovas missed a 39-yard field goal and then another Commodore drive stalled, the Vols’ Dee Williams found a ton of room up the middle of the field and raced almost untouched for a 73-yard score with 8:09 left before half.

- Has a team ever suffered three losses of 50 or more and also won five games in that same season? Paging a research department somewhere...

- Secondary recruiting and development has to be an offseason priority. The Vols, playing without Heisman Trophy candidate Hendon Hooker and their second- and third-best receivers (in some order) in Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy, got whatever shots they wanted throughout the first half. Fortunately for Vanderbilt, Milton over-threw them time and time again, begging the question of what might have happened had Hooker played.

Of course, this isn't new. Between finding better cover corners and a pass rush, this is the biggest area of weakness coach Clark Lea must address this offseason.

- So does speed. The Vols gashed Vanderbilt for four rushing touchdowns of at least 50 yards and two of 80 or more, winning footraces in which the Commodores had no chance.

- What were the Commodores trying to accomplish with their offensive game plan? Of note: it rained all night and that made throwing tricky, plus, the Commodores didn’t do a good job in pass protection. But with a Vol offense that scored right off the bat and a secondary having trouble covering, Vandy chose mostly to hand it off and throw short passes rather than challenging a beaten-up Tennessee secondary downfield or taking advantage of Wright’s speed.

The result was an offense that was too easy to stop and a hole too big to climb out of by half, the plan made all the more questionable by the fact that the Vols--who have struggled to defend good passing attacks--were without several starters in the secondary.

Then, down 21-0 coming out of halftime, the Commodores got the ball at their 43 following Jayden McGowan's nice kickoff return. Vandy didn't attempt a pass and then turned it over on downs near midfield four snaps later.

- Vanderbilt waited too long to go to AJ Swann. Vanderbilt didn't really throw a ball downfield until midway through the third quarter, when Swann came in for Wright with Vandy down 35-0.

- The wheels came off where the Commodores have recently played well. The run defense was atrocious and special teams, a strength, was awful as Vandy allowed a punt return TD, lost a fumble on a fake punt and had a missed field goal.

- Vanderbilt didn’t start well, again. A mis-handled snap cost the Commodores 13 yards and wound up forcing a punt on the first drive, and an end-around to McGowan on second-and 3 1/2 ran right into Wesley Walker in the backfield. Vandy netted 19 yards on those two drives. Meanwhile, the Vols scored on their first and third drives to bookend those possessions and had 157 yards of offense to that point.

- The crowd was embarrassing. When the Vols ran out onto the field, it was the loudest I’ve heard the stadium all year. When the Vols scored 55 seconds in, a deafening rendition of “Rocky Top” (easily heard through closed press-box windows) broke out in the stadium, one of many times one could hear the visiting crowd in the first half.

I know… this is nothing new. But it’s time the school came up with some plan to build and market to a season-ticket base and tonight showed how short Vanderbilt is in that department.

- In Vanderbilt's most creative play of the night, punter Matt Hayball converted a 21-yard run from the Commodore 29. Hayball then fumbled at midfield, Tennessee recovered and the Vols Wright got loose for an easy 50-yard touchdown a play later.

- CJ Taylor was carted to the locker room midway through the third quarter. The only scenario that could have made Saturday worse was the Commodores getting perhaps their best player defender hurt.

- Ray Davis ended the season over 1,000 yards rushing. Davis carried 21 times for 60 yards.

- Vandy's best chance at a third-quarter score was snuffed out by replay. The Commodores' Will Sheppard hauled in a long pass from Swann near the end of the third quarter, but the play was overturned on review.