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Tennessee football: 5 reasons Vols loss at Gamecocks is a moral victory

By Caleb Calhoun

COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 27: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to the sidelines against the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 27: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to the sidelines against the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Williams-Brice Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

Tennessee football’s 27-24 loss at South Carolina was a heartbreaker. But there are a few things that make it a moral victory for the Volunteers.

They say there’s no such thing as a moral victory. On principle, that’s true. And Jeremy Pruitt likely wouldn’t, nor should he, treat any game as such. However, if Tennessee football ever had a moral victory, it was last Saturday against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Vols have numerous things working against them that day and still managed to take a two-score lead in the first half, go up by 12 in the second half at one point and barely lose in the end. When you consider the circumstances, it was impressive for them to even be in this game.

Yes, South Carolina was only 3-3 at the time. And yes, with the loss, Tennessee football fell to 3-5 on the season. So we understand that there are plenty of negatives to take away from this game, most notably the way the defense played in the second half.

But we also know the shortcomings of Pruitt’s first team. As a result, it’s easy to see why the Vols would have lost this game and to even be impressed with how they played on Saturday. There is no way to deny that these guys have been improving over the course of the season.

So now, at 3-5, we have every reason to believe in this team heading into their November stretch. And that’s based on how they played against South Carolina, which is part of a trend dating back to the Auburn Tigers coming off their bye week.

In this post, we’re going to look at everything the Vols were up against when facing Will Muschamp’s team to show you it was a moral victory. These are things that are on top of all the issues already facing this team, from lack of depth on defense to new systems on both sides of the ball under a first-year head coach.

Those things are given. But when you have to mix those in with other major issues against a decent SEC team, you could be in trouble. And that’s what happened Saturday. The Vols still almost won. Here are five reasons Tennessee football’s loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks is a moral victory.

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