Tennessee football: Five biggest reasons for Vols turnaround this season

4. Quarterbacks dramatically reduced their proneness to interception. 

It’s clear that Tennessee football has had a quarterback controversy this year. The Vols have started three quarterbacks on the season and have played all three of them in a couple of games. But they began things with Jarrett Guarantano, and he was disastrous with his mistakes early on.

Guarantano threw an interception in the Vols’ first two games of the year, and the one against the BYU Cougars resulted in BYU’s only touchdown in regulation while being the only turnover for either team. So it was disastrous.

Then he threw two picks against the Florida Gators, and Brian Maurer came in and threw one. Before their bye week, they already had five interceptions as a team. Coming out of the bye, Maurer threw a pick against the Georgia Bulldogs, and he threw two against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. But a funny thing happened against MSU.

In that game, UT came away with three picks of their own. That represented a changing of the guard, and they became the team to get interceptions. Since the Mississippi State game, regardless of who is starting at quarterback, the Vols have only thrown two picks. Meanwhile they have come away with five picks. And they were good at forcing them before.

The point is, the Vols have maintained their ability to intercept the ball, and they have dramatically reduced the number of interceptions they have thrown. In this three-game winning streak, they only have one pick. That’s a pretty big difference.