Remembering Tennessee football’s last game vs. Tennessee Tech

It was only five years ago, but things were vastly different for Tennessee football the last time they were facing the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. However, there are a few parallels to that season and this season.

For starters, it happened in 2016, and that was the last time the Vols also opened up the season on a Thursday, just as they did this year. Also, they were coming off a loss to an unranked team when facing TTU, just as they are this year.

In 2016, UT faced TTU on Nov. 5 with a 5-3 record. At the time, Tennessee football had Butch Jones as head coach and Joshua Dobbs as its senior quarterback, and it was in the midst of a severely disappointing slide.

Rocky Top started the season 5-0 with wins over the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs, the last time it beat either team. It was a preseason No. 9 ranked team and was there at that point too. Then the Vols lost at the Texas A&M Aggies and to the Alabama Crimson Tide, but that was expected. The SEC East was still in their hands, and winning it was the expectation.

However, coming off a bye week, they turned in their worst performance of the year. Against Jake Bentley when he was still 17 and Will Muschamp’s first South Carolina Gamecocks team, the Vols suffered a huge upset loss 24-21. Jalen Hurd transferred out of the program in the middle of the week. All of a sudden, the East was out of their hands, and the chance at the playoff was gone.

This was all hanging over the program when the Vols took on TTU that Saturday. However, the Florida Gators were losing to the Arkansas Razorbacks as this game kicked off at 4 p.m. ET. That breathed new life into the Vols. If UF lost to the Hogs and the LSU Tigers, UT could win the East by winning out.

With that new life, Tennessee football absolutely dominated its FCS opponent. Dobbs hit Josh Malone for two first quarter touchdowns, and John Kelly had a 73-yard touchdownrun. In the second quarter, Dobbs hit Jauan Jennings for a score, and Carlin Fils-Aime had a touchdown run then. Aaron Medley had a field goal, and the Vols were up 38-0 at halftime.

A Fils-Aime score in the third quarter put them up 45-0, and they went up 48-0 in the fourth with another field goal. Then Marquez Callaway, a freshman at the time, had his breakout play, as he ran back a punt 62 yards for a score. That was it for UT, and they won the game 55-0.

On defense, Nigel Warrior had his breakout game, leading the team with seven tackles, six of which were solo, and coming away with a tackle for a loss. Dobss had 183 yards passing and no picks along with those three scores, Kelly had 104 yards rushing and Malone had 112 yards receiving. Alvin Kamara, the new star without Hurd, was held out of that game.

As the game was played, Florida did end up losing to Arkansas. The excitement returned to Rocky Top. It didn’t last long. Two Saturdays later, after the Vols put on an offensive clinic against the Kentucky Wildcats and were set to do so on Senior Day against the Missouri Tigers, Florida upset LSU and clinched the East.

Jones then gave his dreaded Champions of Life quote just as UT lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores the next week, costing it even a chance at a New Years Six bowl game. A year later, the Vols slid to 4-8, and Jones was fired.

When Tennessee football faced TTU the last time, it was in the midst of the program in a major downward slide, but it was a day of brief hope. Vol fans are too experienced now, and they know not to have hope for long.