All for Tennessee
Fansided

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
9 of 11
Next
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images /

3. 2019

7-5 (5-3)

*Gator Bowl

We don’t know how this season will end yet. But it has been oddly similar to what Tennessee football did in Butch Jones’s second season on the job. You could take either team at No. 3. This one is on here because it does have more experience, it has finished a bit stronger and it had one more win in the regular season. But things didn’t start out this way.

After a 5-7 season, there was tepid optimism surrounding Jeremy Pruitt’s second year. Sure, he overhauled his staff, including replacing Tyson Helton with Jim Chaney as offensive coordinator, bringing in Derrick Ansley to run the defense and luring Tee Martin home. But returning talent and more experience in the system would only be a good thing.

However, the team was still young entering the season. The leader of their defense, Daniel Bituli, had to miss the first two games. They also had two freshmen starting on the offensive line. Bryce Thompson was suspended. And they had to replace their entire defensive line. All of these issues resulted in a disastrous 0-2 start, home losses to the Georgia State Panthers and BYU Cougars.

All of a sudden, it looked like the Vols were done before the year even started. After beating the Chattanooga Mocs 45-0, the brutal part of their schedule was coming up. After all, the Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide are all top 10-caliber teams. And they all dominated the Vols.

Something happened, though, after falling to 1-4 with losses to Florida and Georgia. Pruitt pulled Jarrett Guarantano and started Brian Maurer against Georgia, and Maurer then started against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. But he got hurt in that game, so Guarantano came back in. At that point, Maurer had thrown two picks. Unlike other games, though UT responded with three picks.

That signaled them turning a corner. Guarantano had a key third down conversion and a touchdown pass to secure a 20-10 win. The Vols then fell to 2-5 at Alabama, a game defined by a horrible roughing the passer and Guarantano going rogue on the one-yard line, turning a touchdown that would’ve made it 28-20 into a defensive touchdown that made it 35-13.

But after that, it all came together. Despite the defense struggling early and J.T. Shrout starting the next week, Guarantano came in and built a 24-21 lead with two touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings before getting hurt. Shrout then had one himself, and Daniel Bituli blocked a punt for a TD to secure a 41-21 win.

After beating the UAB Blazers 30-7 thanks to a dominant defense, they fell behind at the Kentucky Wildcats 13-0. With Maurer starting, they were down 13-3. Then Guarantano came in again in relief and threw two second half touchdown passes, the defense got three fourth-down stops and a late goal-line stand, and Guarantano secured the win with a third down run.

Finally, Guarantano had his starting job back, and the next game, he threw for over 400 yards in a 24-20 win at the Missouri Tigers. All of a sudden, 2-5 was 6-5. Tennessee football closed things out by ending its three-game losing streak to the Vanderbilt Commodores, winning 28-10. That’s how they clinched this 7-5 record. It was the turnaround of turnarounds and belongs up here.

Home/Vols Football