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Tennessee football: 2019 Vols similar to last time they won Gator Bowl

By Caleb Calhoun

JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Eric Gray #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after a 16-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead in the fourth quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Eric Gray #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after a 16-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead in the fourth quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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They have more things to be excited about this time around. But the 2019 Tennessee football team isn’t so different from the 2014 Volunteers.

It may not be popular right now to compare Jeremy Pruitt to Butch Jones. But his most recent Tennessee football team had an eerily similar season to the one the last Vols team that won a Gator Bowl had.

That team was back in 2014. And just like Pruitt, it was playing under a second year head coach. Also, just like Pruitt’s second year, Jones entered his second year coming off a 5-7 inaugural campaign as he tried to reinstall his offense.

Now, the personnel and systems were completely different. But when you look at those specific situations, it’s already clear things were indeed similar. Then there’s the finish, which marked Tennessee football’s first two bowl seasons under Jones.

Don’t forget that the Vols started three different quarterbacks in 2014, just like they did this year. By the time Joshua Dobbs became the starter, they were 3-5 and desperately trying to stay in the bowl race. However, they went 3-1 in November, only losing to the SEC East Champion Missouri Tigers, to get to 6-6 and reach a bowl game.

Their win to reach bowl eligibility was against the Vanderbilt Commodores. At the time, it ended a two-game losing streak they had to the program. In 2019, the Vols beat Vandy to complete another dramatic November, this time going 4-0 in the month and going from 2-5 to 7-5 rather than from 3-5 to 6-6. That win over Vanderbilt ended a three-game losing streak.

Both teams then beat Big Ten teams in bowl games and finished the season above .500 unranked. The 2014 blew out the Iowa Hawkeyes, while the 2019 team came back to beat the Indiana Hoosiers. Here’s where a few more parallels come into play.

For Pruitt and Jones, the notable turnaround game came in a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. Under Jones, Dobbs had his breakout game against S.C. with five total touchdowns, and he led a 14-point comeback with less than five minutes to go to send the game into overtime.

Meanwhile, Tennessee football blew out South Carolina in 2019. However, we already mentioned their comeback over Indiana, which was a 13-point comeback to win with just over six minutes to go in the game.

So both teams got their turnaround started against South Carolina, but they swapped out their blowout and their comeback, as the 2014 had its blowout in the Gator Bowl and its comeback at South Carolina. That’s another connection.

Of course, as we say this, lots of things are different about both programs as well. For starters, the 2019 Vols finished one game better at 8-5 despite losing two home games to Group of Five schools. The 2014 Vols didn’t lose to any Group of Five schools.

Also, as we said, this team was running a pro-style offense and 3-4 defense, while that team was running a spread and a 4-3. Pruitt switched up his quarterbacks due to ineffective play at times and finished the season with the quarterback who started it. Jones, in 2014, did it due to injuries, finishing with Dobbs, who launched the end to that season into a great college career.

So it doesn’t make sense to compare Pruitt to Jones right now. Given the fact that Pruitt was an underdog in his first 15 SEC games, it’s clear he inherited a bigger mess overall. However, we can’t ignore that Tennessee football’s 2019 season had numerous similarities to its 2014 season.

It’s worth noting that Jones still improved the team in 2015, leading them to nine wins and a top 25 finish. It was the underachieving the next year, 2016, that started to get fans nervous. We have a long way to go before knowing what happens with Pruitt in that regard.

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