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Ranking Tennessee football’s 10 years after coach’s first bowl game

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

8. 2010: 6-7 (3-5)

Music City Bowl

Coming off Lane Kiffin’s first bowl game

Technically, this was a season after a head coach’s first bowl game. However, Lane Kiffin wasn’t there for it. Remember, Kiffin was Tennessee football’s head coach for one year, 2009, and he bolted after that for the USC Trojans. Derek Dooley was his replacement, and Dooley had to deal with a massively depleted roster.

With such a young team, expectations were low from the start, and for good reason. The Vols got blown out by the Oregon Ducks in the second game of the year, and then they lost to the Florida Gators before needing overtime to beat the UAB Trojans. At 2-2, they went to the LSU Tigers and nearly pulled off an epic upset but lost 16-14 on a last-second touchdown.

That game was the 13-men on the field penalty, and the Vols were mentally drained from such a heartbreak. As a result, they lost three more games in a row to fall to 2-6. Dooley then threw in all the freshmen, most notably Tyler Bray at quarterback. The new energy combined with an easier schedule allowed the Vols to win their final four games to get to 6-6.

At this point, all the signs were there that Dooley had the program going in the right direction. He then lost another heartbreaker in the Music City Bowl to fall to 6-7, and that set things back some, but given the state of the program and what he inherited, Dooley gave fans lots of reasons to be excited at least after this first year.

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