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Tennessee football: Turning points in Vols’ 20-10 win over Mississippi State

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Tyler Byrd #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates his thirty-nine yard reception for a touchdown during the second half of a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Tyler Byrd #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates his thirty-nine yard reception for a touchdown during the second half of a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images /

Lots of big plays happened for Tennessee football against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here are the key moments in the UT Volunteers’ victory over MSU.

A defensive struggle that ends with a 20-10 victory for one side does not seem like it would have too many key moments. But the exact opposite was true for Tennessee football as they proceeded to beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday.

In a noon home game on the SEC Network, the 1-4 Vols got their first FBS win of the year, against a Power Five foe in the conference at that. They have now moved to 2-4 and 1-2 in the league, while MSU falls to 3-3 and also 1-2 in the conference.

Despite controlling much of the game, the Bulldogs definitely threatened at times. And in the process of switching quarterbacks, they had plenty of chances to make this a game. But Tennessee football pulled away in the end.

How did they do it? Well, they came through with a defense that withstood a quarterback change and then the loss of one of its best players, inside linebacker Henry To’o To’o. Meanwhile, they withstood the loss of their starting quarterback.

Jim Chaney and Jeremy Pruitt devised a conservative game plan to avoid turning the ball over as much as possible. Then they had to get more conservative given the flow of the game, and it ended up being a huge advantage for them.

Also, a team in Mississippi State that was one of the best at forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball ended up making more mistakes than UT, a team known for the opposite, in this one. Maybe it was the nature of a noon game off a bye week. It could be that this team is just not ready for the road in general.

Either way, though, the Vols pulled off a shocker. And that has dramatically altered the outlook of their season. Here are the key moments and turning points from the Tennessee football’s 20-10 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. As usual we’ll pick the five most important plays and list them in the order they occurred.

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