All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football report card: Grading the Vols in win over Mississippi State

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers calls out the play 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: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers calls out the play 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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images /

In a team win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Tennessee football had lots of players step up. Here are the grades for the UT Volunteers against MSU.

One of the hardest parts about the type of win Tennessee football had Saturday is picking out the best performers. After all, so many players stepped up and made big plays that it’s almost impossible to narrow the list down.

However, that makes it easier when you’re actually grading what the units did. UT did everything collectively, and it showed in a big way with a 20-10 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium Saturday afternoon.

They may be just 2-4 on the year and 1-2 in the SEC. That might have been their first win over an FBS school. But it showed marked improvement among units across the board, and that’s more than enough to please Vol Nation. It’s all they’ve been asking for in Jeremy Pruitt’s second season on the job.

So Tennessee football has some life. Things clearly are getting better. Considering the fact that two of their losses on the year are at home to Group of Five schools, beating any Power Five school, especially an SEC team that could make a bowl game, shows marked improvement.

We’re not going to discount that in any way. And as we get set to break down the units based on how they played, there’s nothing about playing Mississippi State that will skew their grades. The improvement was real and tangible, unlike what happened when they beat the Chattanooga Mocs, an FCS program, 45-0 earlier in the year.

As usual, well will grade each position unit and the three phases of the game as a whole. Then we’ll close out with a look at how the coaches performed. In this instance, it will actually be hard for us to be critical of the group. So let’s get started. This is our Tennessee football report card in the Vols’ win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Home/Vols Football