Tennessee football: Remembering Jim Chaney’s 5 games vs. Vols, Jeremy Pruitt

1. 2018: Tennessee Volunteers at No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs

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This is the only game in which Jim Chaney went up against Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee football. It also happens to be the only time Chaney beat Pruitt. But, to anybody with an eye, the programs were in completely different places in 2018.

Chaney had a loaded offense with the Georgia Bulldogs, and Kirby Smart’s program was rolling. Pruitt, meanwhile, was starting from scratch with the Vols, and his team was already 2-2 and a week removed from a blowout loss to the Florida Gators in which they gave the game away with six turnovers and a safety.

In this match-up, though, the Vols had their opportunities. They forced four fumbles in the game, but they couldn’t recover any of them. And one of the fumbles was recovered by Isaac Nauta of the Bulldogs and returned for a touchdown.

After going up 24-0, the Vols fought back and made it 24-12 with two touchdowns and two failed two-point conversions. But Georgia used a long touchdown drive and then forced a turnover to set up another one and pull away.

Grading Jim Chaney’s performance: A-

Jim Chaney’s offense did have four fumbles and was lucky to recover all of them. One was run in for a touchdown. So he got some breaks here. But at the same time, his offense put up over 440 total yards and had 251 rushing yards, which was what he wanted to do against the Vols. He wanted to play conservative and let the bad offense implode. The minute UT made things interesting with two touchdowns, Chaney came right back and orchestrated a 13-play, 75-yard drive to put UGA ahead 31-12. That’s exactly what was needed, and he delivered. So you couldn’t criticize much about his play calling here.

Grading Jeremy Pruitt’s performance: B

Jeremy Pruitt is graded on his defensive play calling and head coaching duties here with the Vols because of the fact that he assumes both roles. And he gets a B+ for his defensive play calling because he used his strengths to try to get the best of Georgia. Pruitt knew his front seven was his best asset and that the Dawgs had issues on the line, so he sent Darrell Taylor a lot and forced four fumbles, even if he wasn’t lucky enough to recover them. His defense was thin and outmatched, but they played their hearts out. As head coach, however, he was still solid by having his guys motivated to play. But a 4th and 1 punt in the first half and numerous illegal formation penalties forced us to give him a B- for overall coaching. And that’s why he gets a B here.

Since leaving Rocky Top, Jim Chaney is 2-3 against Tennessee football or Jeremy Pruitt. He’s 2-1 against the Vols and 1-2 against Pruitt, but his one win against Pruitt comes when Pruitt was head coach of the Vols. Now that he has returned to Rocky Top to coach under Pruitt, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do. But he can certainly help the Vols against UGA in 2019.