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Tennessee football: Vols 10 most improved years after missing bowl game

By Caleb Calhoun

Andy Kelly #8, Quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southwest Conference Cotton Bowl Classic championship college football game against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on 1 January 1990 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas, Texas, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31 - 27. (Photo by Joe Patronite/Allsport/Getty Images)
Andy Kelly #8, Quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southwest Conference Cotton Bowl Classic championship college football game against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on 1 January 1990 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas, Texas, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31 - 27. (Photo by Joe Patronite/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images /

10. 2009: (7-6, 4-4)

2008 record: 5-7 (3-5)

This improvement was a bit of a drop-off from what many fans expected, but the splash Lane Kiffin made his one year in Knoxville was fun at the time. Kiffin’s arrival represented the start of a new era on Rocky Top.

He replaced Phillip Fulmer, who had been Tennessee football’s head coach since 1992. Also, 2009 was the first time the Vols had a head coach who didn’t graduate from Tennessee since Bill Battle in 1976, and it was the first time since 1969 under Doug Dickey that they had a head coach with no ties to the South.

Immediately, Kiffin made headlines by trash-talking Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators during their Tim Tebow years. Despite a close loss to them that year in The Swamp, the energy he generated had fans on board.

But as far as the season went, early on, it looked similar to the one before that got Phillip Fulmer fired. Jonathan Crompton struggled to throw the ball, and close losses to the UCLA Bruins and Auburn Tigers had hurt fan interest.

A dominating win over the Georgia Bulldogs changed everything, though, and the Vols finished 7-5 after a 2-3 start. That included a close road loss to the eventual national champion Alabama Crimson Tide, the famous black jerseys on Halloween in a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, and an overtime road win over the Kentucky Wildcats.

This was a big improvement, and the offense took a huge leap that second half of the year compared to what it did in 2008. A Peach Bowl loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies soured the season a bit, but what really wrecked the memory of this year was a couple of weeks later, as Kiffin departed for the USC Trojans.

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