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Tennessee football: Ranking every Vols team in 2010s decade

By Caleb Calhoun

ATHENS, GA - OCTOBER 1: Jauan Jennings #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers rides the shoulders of Gavin Bryant #36 after making the game winning catch against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on October 1, 2016 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GA - OCTOBER 1: Jauan Jennings #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers rides the shoulders of Gavin Bryant #36 after making the game winning catch against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on October 1, 2016 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

5. 2010

6-7 (3-5)

Lost Music City Bowl 

Again, from a talent perspective, this team is probably below a few others. But they overachieved and showed a lot of mental toughness not seen in a lot of other teams this decade, and they appeared to provide false hope. Tennessee football was wounded in 2010. The Lane Kiffin disaster wrecked them in many ways.

Kiffin replaced Phillip Fulmer and bolted after one year. In that one year, he gutted half the roster to make room for his recruits. Then half of his recruits turned out to be a bust. After leaving, he took another large group of recruits with him to the USC Trojans. So when the Vols hired Derek Dooley, who wasn’t even in their top five of choices, they were in trouble.

That level of attrition left the roster severely depleted. Dooley decided to go with the experience to start the year and turned to Matt Simms at quarterback. After losing to the Oregon Ducks in a blowout, the Florida Gators in an ugly affair and beating the UAB Blazers in overtime, this program looked to be in trouble.

But at the LSU Tigers, the Vols played a disciplined game and forced four turnovers to be up 14-10 late. They allowed two fourth down conversions on a final drive, though, and as LSU was imploding on the final play with time running out, they appeared to win. But while celebrating, it turned out they had 13-men on the field on the final play.

With no time left, LSU scored a game-winning touchdown from the one. The heartbreak of that loss turned to disaster, as the Vols were then blown out by the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide before falling behind early to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Finally, Dooley gave in and threw in all the freshmen. UT lost to S.C. and fell to 2-6.

However, with a bunch of new freshmen and an easier back end of the schedule, they had a chance to turn things around. That’s exactly what they did. Tennessee football blew out the Memphis Tigers, then they shockingly dominated the Ole Miss Rebels. To end the season, they continued their dominance over the Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats.

As a result, this team went from 2-6 to 6-6. They secured a bowl bid. That was an amazing turnaround for this young team, and fans bought into what Dooley was selling. Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter, Da’Rick Rogers and others provided lots of hope for the future.

Now, they lost the Music City Bowl to the North Carolina Tar Heels because UNC intentionally had a 13-men on the field penalty to stop the clock and get a chance at a game-tying field goal, which they converted and won in overtime. That forced the 10-second runoff rule the next year. But even at 6-7, Tennessee football appeared to have a future under Dooley after this year.

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