Nashville, TENN–Saturday felt different for a second.

As Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill took back the opening kickoff to the house, it felt as if the 35 wins Tennessee racked up in the teams’ last 41 meetings no longer had power over Vanderbilt. It felt as if the 149-45 scoring differential between the two teams in Clark Lea’s tenure was nothing but history.

For the first time in five years, there was hope that the script that has long defined this rivalry could be rewritten. Instead, that flame of hope that Vanderbilt held was extinguished and Tennessee continued the recent theme of the rivalry; dominance.

Saturday likely shouldn’t be defined as complete dominance, but had stretches of it. Long stretches. Vanderbilt was outscored 17-0 in the second quarter and allowed a 36-3 run in the second half. Saturday also saw Tennessee hit its season-high in points against an SEC opponent.

Despite Sherrill’s early heroics and Vanderbilt getting out to a magical 14-0 lead, this one ended in a way that’s become all too familiar in this series. On Saturday, Tennessee proved that sometimes magic isn’t enough to overcome College Football Playoff aspirations and a team that deserves to be in it.

Vanderbilt was outgained 538-212 on Saturday, it threw for just 108 yards on a 47% completion percentage and was outscored 29-6 from the second quarter on.

Even before that second half, it felt as if the magic had run out. Vanderbilt forced an interception as well as a fumble in the first half and also returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but it still trailed when the break came.

It wasn’t a matter of Vanderbilt not getting a break on Saturday–it felt like it got plenty–it was a matter of it not having enough. Vanderbilt didn’t have enough on the perimeter and as a result it felt the pain of what Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia described as a “life or death” rivalry game.

As Vanderbilt's seniors--and the majority of its program-changing transfer class--looked to find one last hoorah at FirstBank Stadium, they were instead reminded of how this rivalry normally goes around here.

Vanderbilt has now lost three-straight games as well as four of its last five and is left searching for how it evolves moving forward.

The magic has run out for Vanderbilt and can no longer carry it. It now sits without momentum and without much proof of concept since its loss to Auburn.

It's back to bare bones for Lea's confident group. It believes that it has more inside of it, but it's got just one more opportunity to overcome the disappointment of its November.

Regardless of how this ends Lea's team will always have their legacy as a result of what it did early in the season, but it could end with a losing record.

Bigger than all, they've now lost what many around these parts deem to be their most important game and will now see their biggest rivals play in the College Football Playoff. The gap seemed to be smaller than it had been, but it's still there.

That means something.