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Tennessee football: Five key moments that defined Vols turnaround for 2019

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 26: Jauan Jennings #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks after the game at Neyland Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 26: Jauan Jennings #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks after the game at Neyland Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /
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Lots of great plays brought Tennessee football back to 5-5 after a 1-4 start. Here are the five moments that defined the turnaround for the Volunteers.

Even the worst Tennessee football seasons had some memorable plays that happened in them. This season is no different. But they don’t always have defining plays. And as the Vols turned an 0-2 start into 1-4, there would have to be defining moments to get them back to where they are now, at 5-5 with a chance to reach a bowl game.

Jeremy Pruitt’s second team didn’t just improve, get healthy and cash in on an easier schedule. They also had to gain some confidence to get to where they are. But how were they able to do that after the way things began?

Well, there were specific plays throughout this stretch of winning three straight, winning four of five and going 5-0 against the spread. Each of them had a hand in giving Tennessee football just a bit more confidence.

In this post, we’re going to break down those plays responsible for helping to be the turning points in the Vols’ turnaround. Some of them were simply key to winning games, and we aren’t going go ignore them. Others, however, were moments they needed to believe they could win. And those plays may not even be on our top plays list at the end of the year for this season.

That should give you an idea of the type of plays we’ll be looking at. These required a level of mental toughness and also helped develop the mental toughness of the program. Football is a game of inches and sometimes forgettable plays. But with what UT has done so far, not all of those plays can be forgotten.

So which ones are we talking about? Who was responsible for them? Let’s break that down here. These are the five key plays for Tennessee football that defined the Vols’ turnaround to get from a 1-4 start to now 5-5.

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