Tennessee football vs. South Carolina: 10 keys for Gamecocks and Vols

10. Effect of Will Muschamp 

Yes, there is a Will Muschamp effect for Tennessee football. The weirdest thing in the world is the fact that the Vols are 0-7 against this guy, who has been a staple of mediocrity in the SEC ever since he became a head coach in 2010. It simply doesn’t make sense, and you have to wonder if its in some players’ heads.

The Vols have had three different head coaches lose to Muschamp while he was at two different schools, and Butch Jones managed to lose to Muschamp twice with the Florida Gators and twice with the South Carolina Gamecocks. By the way, when you look at how things have ended each season, it makes no sense to say Muschamp has just had better teams.

UT was on Florida’s level outside of the matchup between them in 2013 and 2014. They finished three spots ahead of South Carolina in the SEC East in 2016. And they have choked away games to Muschamp in ridiculous ways. Worst of all was their 10-9 loss to the Gators in 2014, when you didn’t know if the curse was against Muschamp or Florida. Turns out, it’s both.

What type of effect does this have on the veteran players in this game, who know about this issue? Does it have any impact on Jeremy Pruitt himself, who probably knows about it as well? Well, we won’t know until Saturday. But for whatever reason, Muschamp owns the Vols in the same way that they owned him when he was a player with the Georgia Bulldogs.