The influx of NIL (which should stand for Now It’s Legal) money has altered almost everything about college sports. On Saturday, the changes wrought in college football produced two results on the final Saturday of the regular season that felt like momentum shifts in historic, and historically one-sided, rivalries.
Vanderbilt and Virginia flipped the script against long-time in-state does that have bullied and bludgeoned them for years.
Let’s start with Vanderbilt, which had lost 79 of 118 previous meetings with the Vols, then went into Neyland Stadium on Saturday and thwacked the Vols by three touchdowns at home. The Commodores lost 22 in a row in the series at one point, from 1983 through 2004. Vandy’s most recent win over UT was back in 2018. It’s hard to really emphasize how rare it is for Vanderbilt to beat the Vols, and much Vol fans hate hate hate losing to them. I was there for the 2005 slump-buster at Neyland Stadium. Even with two future pros on offense — QB Jay Cutler and WR Earl Bennett — and even with Tennessee playing out the string in what amounted to a lost season, the outrage at Vandy having the audacity to beat the Vols 28-24 was real. Eight years later, in 2013, a 14-10 loss in Knoxville was the last straw that got Derek Dooley fired. In 2017, Butch Jones already had gotten canned when Vandy came calling to Neyland, but the Commodores’ 42-24 victory helped send Tennessee to its one and only winless Southeastern Conference season. Things didn’t improve much the following year under Jeremy Pruitt, with a 38-13 loss in Nashville securing a losing record for Tennessee.
For Tennessee fans, it doesn’t matter that Vanderbilt is playing better football than it ever has in the modern era. It doesn’t matter that the Commodores went into the game with a 9-2 record, had a Heisman candidate in QB Diego Pavia, and had more to play for than the Vols as a program that still had a shot at the College Football Playoff. Nope. On Rocky Top, losing to Vandy is never acceptable. Especially by three touchdowns, and especially at home.
Then there’s Virginia, which aside from the 2022 meeting that got canceled after three members of the Cavalier football team were murdered, has played the Hokies every year in The Commonwealth Cup since 1970. Tech has dominated this rivalry for a generation. The Hokies went into the 2025 meeting having won 19 of the last 20 games, including 15 in a row between 2004 and 2018. To be fair, the Tech team that got thumped 27-7 Saturday night in Charlottesville probably represents the competitive nadir for a program that has struggled to find itself since Frank Beamer retired. Yes, James Franklin is on the way, and already flipping Penn State commitments to Tech, but this current Hokie season was lost back in September when Brent Pry got fired and the 3-9 finish marks the program’s lowest winning percentage for a season since the 1992 Hokies finished 2-8-1. Even given the current struggles of the program, considering the rivalry, losing always sucks for the team that comes up short. As a Virginia alum, I admittedly had a “fire everyone if it happens” stance if Virginia had lost that game.
So here we stand, with a Vanderbilt team that has never won much of anything in the mix for a CFP berth and a Virginia team that was picked to finish 11th in the ACC in the preseason poised to play Duke for the conference championship — and you can bet that everyone in the league who’s not tied to or rooting for the Blue Devils is pulling for Virginia, as a title win for Duke probably would mean that the ACC champion gets left out of the 12-team playoff. (The CFP is obligated to take five conference champions, and at least two likely champs from the Group of 5 likely would finish rated above the Blue Devils even with an ACC crown.)
The sudden ascent of Virginia and Vandy also speaks to the sudden turnaround in the sport. Programs that won before in part because of their name and legacy suddenly are struggling. Perennial powers like LSU, Florida, and Penn State went to hunt for new coaches. Preseason No. 1 Texas still might sneak into the playoff after beating Texas A&M on Black Friday (but shouldn’t), but was essentially out of national title contention by Columbus Day. Three other teams that made the preseason top 10 — Penn State (2nd), Clemson (4th), and LSU (9th) finished the season unranked. Throw in South Carolina (13th) and Florida (15th) and that’s six of the preseason top 15 — or 40% — that finished the season unranked or with losing records.
The quick change was sparked by, big surprise, money. The Cavaliers opened the faucet of funds to give the football program — just football, mind you — about $30 million to build the roster. Meanwhile, Virginia football has been the recipient of four multi-million dollar gifts, with a couple of those anonymous. The money is flowing for more sports than just football at UVa. New men’s basketball coach Ryan Odom reportedly received quadruple the NIL budget that his predecessor Tony Bennett received. Alexis Ohanian, an alum who co-founded Reddit and is married to tennis star Serena Williams, made a huge donation to Virginia women’s basketball last December that a press release from the school described as “transformational.”
Vanderbilt got the NIL ball rolling at the end of 2023 and has maintained that momentum, leaving heavily on individuals and businesses in the Nashville community for support. More money is coming. Before the UT game, Vandy announced a new six-year contract for coach Clark Lea, as well as asset commitments for his assistant coaches and facility upgrades. And yes, to be sure, more NIL money for players.
There also have been questions about whether Virginia and Vanderbilt — both strong academic schools — have relaxed their standards to make it easier for athletes to attend. (The official word on this is no…)
John Moorehouse is the Editorial Director of I-81 Sports. He spent eight seasons covering major college football before leaving newspapers’ to go write about mixed martial arts and circle back to writing about football some 15 years later. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky.