Tennessee football: How similar is Vols Mississippi State win to 2018 Auburn?

One day after Tennessee football beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs was the year-anniversary of them beating Auburn. They are similar for the Volunteers.

Last Saturday was almost one year to the date that Tennessee football beat the Auburn Tigers for its first SEC West win since 2010. It was Jeremy Pruitt’s signature win in his first year with the Vols. Then, on Saturday, the Vols pulled off another big upset, beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs 20-10.

These wins are similar in numerous ways. For starters, they are upsets over SEC West teams in games that had noon kickoffs. On top of that, they came on the heels of back to back losses for UT to the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs, and the Vols had a losing record. Finally, they rejuvenated Rocky Top after such a rough start.

But do the similarities stop there? They actually don’t. Last year, against Auburn, Jarrett Guarantano finally had his coming out party, throwing for two touchdowns and over 300 yards in a huge win.

This season, Guarantano was put back in the game after being benched earlier in the season for poor performance. All he did was complete six-of-seven passes for over 100 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. So both wins were breakout performances for Guarantano.

Also, Tennessee football’s defensive line stood out in both games. Last year, the veterans in Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Shy Tuttle allowed for total domination, which included a strip-sack defensive touchdown.

Last Saturday, the Vols had a coming out party up front after the defensive line had struggled significantly over the past few weeks, largely due to their need to replace the veterans from last year. Against MSU, they had 10 tackles for a loss and seven sacks.

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So where are they different? Well, for one, Tennessee football one last week’s game coming off a bye. This time, they beat Mississippi State with the Bulldogs coming off a bye. So the degree of difficulty on that front favors this win.

However, last year’s win was on the road against a top 25 caliber team. This year’s win was at home against a very young team that is still developing with now a 3-3 record. So in that case, last year’s win has the advantage.

What about the standing of UT? While they came off losses to Florida and Georgia in both games, they were only 2-3 heading into the game last year, and they were 1-4 in this one. That record is despite the fact that they had a much easier schedule this year.

Remember, they started off the season losing at home to the Georgia State Panthers and the BYU Cougars. Last year, they started off the season losing on a neutral field to the West Virginia Mountaineers, who were better than both, and then beating the ETSU Bucs, similar to the UT Chattanooga Mocs, before beating the UTEP Miners, on par with GSU.

As a result, Tennessee football entered Saturday’s game in worse shape than they did last year. The win still rejuvenated them. Their path to a bowl is still a little rougher than it was last year, but at least it got them on the right track. Maybe they can respond better than last year, as they only ended the season with a 5-7 record.