Tennessee routed Northwestern 45-6 in the Outback Bowl on Friday, so you’d think the Vols haters would be quiet for a day.

You’d be wrong though.

Haters never sleep and the Vols needed some defense.

Who came to their aid?

None other than top ESPN personality Scott Van Pelt:

@slmandel why are people doing this? They lost 4 games this year by 7,1,4 & 5. Maybe they're actually just pretty good? — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

So he pretty much took down Fox Sports writer Stewart Mandel with one Tweet, but he wasn’t done with his Vols defense.

@slmandel if they had better luck/clock management, they could have been in playoff discussion. Just don't see them as overrated candidate — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

@Andrew263 @slmandel they lead in your place late & lost to ou in a game they should have easily won. That's half the playoff, buddy — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

@Andrew263 team this close to winning a bunch of games with ton of returning talent being described as a candidate to be overrated is dumb — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

@MochaTruck beat the snot outta you last year. They're good. — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

@MochaTruck they blew big lead to OU & lost in ot. Lead Bama in Ttown with 3:00 to play. That's half the playoff. Not even mentioning UF — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

@MochaTruck with some luck, they'd have been trendy team. They lost the games. They could be good next year. That's it. — Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) January 1, 2016

Obviously, Van Pelt’s brave defense of their team pleased Vols fans: