Has Tennessee's football program turned the corner?
The Tennessee Volunteers aren’t at the elite level in the SEC. That platform can only support so much weight, and right now Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU are up there, waving to their adoring fans from above. But this season the Vols showed signs that they are a few steps closer to joining them.
Look at what happened in the Gator Bowl. The Vols yet again struggled to score in the red zone. They turned the football over multiple times. They were flagged for costly penalties. They trailed Indiana by 13 points with under 5 minutes remaining.
And they found a way to win.
That brought back memories of the good times. Back when Phillip Fulmer was Tennessee’s head coach (1993-2008), there was often criticism about the conservative nature of play-calling, both on offense and on defense. But those teams also knew how to close out games and overcome adversity on days in which they didn’t play their best football.
There’s something to be said for a group that is mentally tough. The Derek Dooley (2010-2012) and Butch Jones (2013-2017) teams were not mentally tough. During crunch time, those teams didn’t play to win. They played not to lose. In particular, Jones’ 2015 and 2016 teams had more than enough talent to win the SEC East in each season. Yet rarely under Dooley or Jones did the Vols get the big stop, pick up the game clinching 1st down, make the big kick or come up with the correct play call.
During the second half of the 2019 season, Tennessee showed their fans that they would not shy away from such stressful situations. Against Kentucky, the Vols’ defense stood tall, stopping Kentucky inside the 2-yard line in the final 2 minutes. Then the offense was able to move the chains to seal the deal. Against Missouri, when the Vols needed to get a couple of 1st downs late in the game, they did so. Those were games they could have easily lost, but they didn’t play or coach scared.
At the end of the Gator Bowl, some over-coaching and an easily avoidable penalty forced the Vols to punt the football back to Indiana with a minute to go, when Tennessee’s worst-case scenario scenario should have bled the clock down to around 30 seconds. Then, the Hoosiers drove within about 10 yards of field-goal range with time remaining. These situations led to a Tennessee loss in the recent past. But the coaches corrected the mistake of rushing only 3 men early in that drive, bringing pressure on Hoosiers quarterback Peyton Ramsey. The Vols forced a turnover on downs, and won their 8th game of the season.
In the first 2 years of the Derek Dooley era, Tennessee went 11-14 with a bowl game loss. In the first 2 years of the Butch Jones era, the Vols were 12-13 with a bowl game victory. In the first 2 years of the Jeremy Pruitt era, UT had a 13-12 record, with a bowl game victory.
From a purely numbers point of view, you can see the marginal improvement. When watching the way the Pruitt teams play, the eye test has to give Vols fans even more reason to feel good about the direction of the program, especially after the 1-4 start to the 2019 season.
The Vols closed with 6 consecutive wins. They owned November, as Fulmer almost always did.
“We owned who we were and worked hard to improve,” Pruitt told reporters after the Gator Bowl. “I think that says a whole lot about our assistant coaches, everybody associated in our program, and the players on our team. You know, no quitters on that team.”
The next step that the Vols need to take will be to put those quality performances together against the elite teams on their schedule. The wins over nationally-ranked Auburn and Kentucky in 2018 were not matched with positive efforts against other SEC foes. And as encouraging as the season-ending 6-game winning streak was this year, none of those victories came against top conference opponents. In fact, in Tennessee’s 6 combined games against Alabama, Florida and Georgia under Pruitt, they’ve been outscored 255-83. Only the Bama game this season was competitive into the 4th quarter.
The 2019 season was successful for Tennessee football, but they have more work to do. Will the Vols figure out a way to hang with the best in the conference in 2020?
We’ll find out in about 8 months.
I am at least optimistic now. good coaching shows and also highlights the bad coaching of previous coaches. We are on the right track but I still think we are 1-2 seasons from legit east championship contenders. If we had a better QB coming back next year I might feel differently. I love G. He is tough as nails and has matured so much and loves being a Vol. We are all hoping for the improvement to come next season but am afraid there is little optimism he will improve where he needs to the most, throwing late so much. A bonehead decision from time to time will happen with every QB but he has to offset that with other, better play.
I think Pruitt is ultimately going to reach the 8 win plateau. With UGA, FL, and Bama on the schedule every year I just don’t see the 9 win ceiling getting broken.
That said, he may be the guy that sets the table for a higher-caliber hire later. JMHO: definitely a good coach for TN, but ultimately Pruitt won’t take them back to elite status.
Insightful, fact-based comment. Really refreshing to see someone doing something other than pure conjecture on a web forum.
He got them to 8 wins this year, and it could have been 10 if not for the first two weeks, which they should have won. very impressed with the job Pruitt did
It’s funny I say this all the time, and I get attacked in Knoxville by all the hopefuls
Seems like UT has at least righted the ship. Next step will be tougher, but the fans have to be happy with their competitiveness. Didn’t quit in that game vs IU.
The culture seems to be turning and that’s a great thing. With a winning culture, you can overcome your own mistakes, hang in there, and win even when you don’t really have the horses to do so.
Without a winning culture, you can be wildly talented, but still lose when it matters. (see Lyle Jones). Instead, you can claim Life Championships.
Without either, you’re losing to Kentucky with kids that don’t care that they’re losing to Kentucky. (See Derek Dooley.)
When you have both the culture and the kids, you can work towards contending for Championships. Pruitt seems to have the culture headed in the right direction. Recruiting is going that way as well, but it’s done one class at a time. It will take a few years to overcome the hole that Jones put us into.
Stoops has UK playing well now too. SEC East is coming on.
I know and as a fan of a team in the West A&M gotta pick it up, same with MSU OM and Arky, otherwise the East teams gonna win every time
No doubt that Pruitt has turned things around. Year 3 is probably when we’ll have an idea of what sort of ceiling he might have going forward.
As Vol fans…we were pretty much chirping the same old song after year two with both Dooley and Jones. I do indeed believe we will know more about both the Vols and Pruitt once we can see the body of work for next season. The Ga State game will always mystify me. A game that should have never been allowed to have played out the way it did – that is on Pruitt. And for that reason, along with an obvious challenge to manage the QB position, I reserve judgement. If Pruitt goes 0-4 next fall against the real “meat” of the schedule – then I think we will have our answer. He ultimately will fare no better than Jones or Dooley. If he can manage to win one or two of those tough ones and still maintain wins over everyone else he should be beating, then maybe we can say the program is moving forward. Right now, all I have is ‘Meh.” We all thought 7 wins this season was a possibility. Throw in an 8th with another win over an overmatched Big 10 team and we got what we thought we would/could get. I am not drinking any of the Pruitt Kool Aid at this point. We shall see.
Mark
Please quit feeding this false hope into our fans! Stop with the media hype. Just because they had some luck doesn’t mean the team, players. or “coach” are any better. They aren’t.
Nice bowl win, Vols! A little UT trivia and what that bowl win meant. Tennessee has been playing football since 1891 and has never experienced a losing decade. Only a handful of CFB teams can say that. Going into the bowl game – the last UT game of this decade – the Vols’ record was 62-62. A loss would have given UT their first losing decade ever, but the streak remains intact. Congrats!
Who is Mark? Vols definetly improved this year. Ga state game aside( I am alum) you guys finished strong and should be very optimistic for 2020.
Nope. They got creamed by every ranked team they played, and their 8 wins come from a collection of teams whose combined record is under .500. Next season they’ll be lucky to make a bowl.
You obviously did not watch the Alabama game. UT was within one score of the Tide deep into the 4th quarter before a bonehead play by our PTSD QB. It was competitive – not a blowout and was indicative of how the rest of the season would play out. Time will tell but Pruitt seems to be building his program around establishing a stellar defense. Next year will tell us much more with Oklahoma adding to the usual SEC gauntlet. I am biased, but I certainly don’t think we are an automatic “nope” moving forward.
Midwestvol corch is a long time dumba$$ vol troller. Don’t waste words trying to reason with him.
This is going to be a 5-7 year rebuild. He’s on track in year 2 given that he’s made a bowl and was 3rd in the SEC east without a decent qb. He’s building defensively and inside out first, which are the most important pieces to gather first. A well-coached and developed inside-out team will get you 8-9 wins and put you in position to compete and gather the elite skill position guys.
If won’t take seven years, not with a competent qb. With Harrison Bailey coming in as an early enrollee I’m hopeful we will have way more than just a “competent” qb on the roster next fall.
Next season’s schedule is brutal. They will need to score some major upsets. . i.e. Oklahoma , Florida , Georgia , Alabama. They showed a lot of resolve and grit. Program on the upswing.
Exactly!
But we play 3 of those 4 EVERY year, so what? At least Auburn hasn’t moved to SEC East – that would be MUCH tougher division. At Chokelahoma? That game is an unknown…
Being Consistent is sign of progress,,so time will still tel in the long run.. Progress this season can’t be denied… But still nice gap I believe between us and the top tier teams I the league.. After the start of season,, until improbable comeback against Indiana,,, the team itself,, leadership and resolve is obvious.. Proud of my Vols… Now the long off-season!!!! LSU Clemson should be a battle for it all,, I say 50/50 dead even match , either team can win it all!!! Bring it home LSU, SEC nation is backing you
I think Pruitt’s success mostly comes down to recruiting. He’s got to be able to convince kids that they can come and play and be part of returning the program back to it’s glory days. So far he’s doing pretty well with that with the Vols class ranked 16 in the nation this year.
Comparing Pruitts record in his first 3 years to those previous coaches is as irrelevant as comparing Kirbys first years to Richts first years. Perhaps interesting but with totally zero correlation. That was then. This is now.
I believe Pruitt is a better coach than DD or Sgt Carter were and has a lot better chance to succeed than they did. Their similar records at this point signify nothing.
Thanks for all the kind words guys, we are working hard for you. Much like Donald Trump is making America Great Again, I am here in Knoxville will full intentions of Making Tennessee Football Great Again.
Go Big Orange
UT’s realistic goals for next year are:
1. Win their three “easy” non-conference games and play Oklahoma competitively (realistically going to lose that game).
2. Beat all mid and lower level SEC East teams and Arkansas (this is a year-in year-out must do if UT is ever to regain prominence).
3. Play UGA, Florida, and Bama competitively and avoid getting blown-out. UT must show improvement against the SEC elites (show the recruits things are getting better). Maybe steal a game against one of these three.
4. Finish the regular season with 8 or 9 wins. Win their bowl game.
5. Get get better consistent play at quarterback to springboard into 2021.
6. Pruitt and staff continue to grow, mature, and improve as SEC coaches.
Long-term – UT passing UGA, Florida, and Bama will be very difficult especially as all three have legitimately good coaches at present. Sooner or later Saban will retire and Bama will regress (at least slightly). Kirby is good but not infallible. People complain about the recruiting but Mullen is an excellent game day coach. It will be tough to get past UGA and Florida. Hopefully Pruitt is the man for the job. Time will tell!
If Pruitt could get that Signature win next year the progression could speed up.
There’s an interesting change in the TN / SEC schedule for 2020: The last few years FL is followed by GA, with Bama looming two games later. All those losses seem to suck the wind out of the team early. In 2020 FL is followed by MO, and GA is in Nov. Much more balanced, hope that continues for a couple of years…