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Tennessee football: Vols top 10 greatest games 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 /

10. Nov. 27, 2010

Kentucky Wildcats at Tennessee Volunteers

14. 833. 24. 839. Final

This is more about what the win meant. Despite what happened the next couple of years, this win represented an amazing accomplishment for Tennessee football. Derek Dooley had taken over in 2010 amidst an insane amount of attrition. Phillip Fulmer was fired in 2008 and let the program go stale, and then Lane Kiffin bolted for the USC Trojans after just one year in 2009.

While in Knoxville, Kiffin got rid of half the roster from an already-stale program to make room for his players, then he took half those players with him to USC. Oh, and a huge portion of his 2009 class was made up of busts. Add in the NCAA sanctions, and Dooley walked into a complete mess that nobody could have fixed.

With all these issues, UT had fallen to 2-6, part of which was the 13-men on the field penalty in the loss at the LSU Tigers. But Dooley threw in a bunch of freshmen, including Tyler Bray and Justin Hunter, and they cashed in on an easy schedule to get to 5-6. But here, they had their final test: a bowl-eligible opponent with a chance to reach bowl eligibility themselves.

The game itself had a rough start with a missed field goal by UT and a 7-0 Kentucky lead. But UT got two touchdowns from Bray in the second quarter and a great Senior Day from their two senior receivers, with Denarius Moore getting 205 yards and a TD and Gerald Jones adding 77 yards and a TD.

Things got interesting in the second half, though, as UK tied it up and then got an interception. But the defense held, and a touchdown run by Tauren Poole and then fourth-quarter field goal completed the Vols’ amazing turnaround season. They lost the Music City Bowl and went 5-7 the next two years as Dooley got fired, but this game seemed to indicate a program on the rise.

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