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Tennessee football: Five seasons Vols made bowl despite losing record entering Halloween

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Teammates Darren Myles Jr. #3 and Nyshier Oliver #12 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate with teammates against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Teammates Darren Myles Jr. #3 and Nyshier Oliver #12 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate with teammates against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

3. 2010

Record on Halloween: 2-6 (0-5); Final record: 6-7 (3-5)

Music City Bowl vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (Lost 30-27 2OT)

While 2014 and 2015 were seemingly turnaround years for a program on the rise under Butch Jones, the same was true for Derek Dooley in 2010. And this one involved a brutal start to the season with a horrible record on Halloween. Thanks to the amount of attrition that came with Dooley being the third head coach in three years, Tennessee football was a wounded program.

They started 2-2 with home losses to the Oregon Ducks and Florida Gators and an overtime win over the UAB Blazers. Then came the disaster. After playing their hearts out at the LSU Tigers, they lost at the end because of the infamous 13-men on the field penalty. That began a four-game losing streak that included blowout losses to the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide.

However, a silver lining began to show against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Dooley made the switch from Matt Simms to Tyler Bray, and he threw in lots of other freshmen as well. They still lost the game, though, and entered Halloween the next day with a 2-6 record.

But then November came along. And with a crop of freshmen and a much easier schedule, a turnarond started with a blowout win over the Memphis Tigers. Then they dominated the Ole Miss Rebels. Finally, they had their usual wins over the Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats. All of a sudden, a team that was 2-6 finished 6-6 and appeared to have a future.

A Music City Bowl loss in overtime thanks to North Carolina taking advantage of no runoff at the time resulted in a losing season. And things only got worse from there for Dooley with back to back losing seasons. But at the time, this was a dramatic rebound, and there was excitement thanks to a turnaround that came after Halloween.

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