All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Return of orange pants on road may bring good luck

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee offensive lineman Jerome Carvin (75) is seen before a game between Missouri and Tennessee in Columbia, Mo. Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019.Mizzoutennessee1123 278
Tennessee offensive lineman Jerome Carvin (75) is seen before a game between Missouri and Tennessee in Columbia, Mo. Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019.Mizzoutennessee1123 278 /
facebooktwitterreddit

A key part of the six-game winning streak Tennessee football enjoyed to close 2019, the one that made fans think Jeremy Pruitt was heading in the right direction, was two road wins over bowl-caliber teams. The Vols came back from 13-0 down to beat the Kentucky Wildcats 17-13, and two weeks later, they beat the Missouri Tigers on the road 24-20.

What stood out about those wins was the fact that they brought back the white jerseys with orange pants, something that hadn’t been worn in years. Inexplicably, though, they abandoned the orange pants in 2020, and we all saw what happened that year.

Well, it looks like Josh Heupel read the tea leaves. Tennessee football is bringing back the orange pants and white jerseys for its first road game of 2021, at the Florida Gators Saturday. The uniforms were revealed Thursday on Twitter.

Could this be the good luck the Vols need? It might. Of course, orange pants alone aren’t good luck, as they wore all orange two weeks ago against the Pittsburgh Panthers and lost. That wasn’t the case in 2019, when they won the one home game in which they wore all orange as well, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Orange pants just always worked that year.

Still, those two games with the white jerseys and orange pants are two of Pruitt’s top five wins on Rocky Top. Jarrett Guarantano seemed to supplant himself as the starter with his play in those games, coming off the bench to lead the comeback at UK and then throwing for over 400 yards in the win at Mizzou.

Maybe that’s what the orange pants do. They allow the quarterback to thrive. To be fair, the Vols did win two road games last year, but they were against the South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores, the two worst teams in the SEC.

Next. Vols' five best wins of Jeremy Pruitt era. dark

This year, Mizzou and Kentucky are road games once again, as are Florida and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It seems like bringing back the orange pants on the road is a good luck move for Tennessee football. We’ll find out how much good luck it is Saturday.

Home/Vols Football