We’re just going to get this out of the way up front: Regardless of what happens the rest of this season, Jeremy Pruitt is the real deal.
Tennessee finally has a football coach who eats, breathes, and sleeps football. He doesn’t just talk circles around knowing the game; he actually knows it. That’s evidenced by the way this UT team is always in position to make plays whether it makes them or not and by just how much the Vols have improved in every facet of the game this year.
The talent level is nowhere near where it needs to be, yet there Tennessee was on Saturday, doing Tennessee things to Kentucky in a 24-7 win at Neyland Stadium despite that “No. 11” by the Wildcats’ name in the national rankings.
It was — from start to finish — the most dominant, complete, strong effort in every phase of the game that Tennessee has played since the 2016 win over Georgia that culminated with the Joshua Dobbs Hail Mary heroics to Jauan Jennings. Yes, UT beat Kentucky and Missouri that year, but we’re talking about strong efforts against good teams.
Make no mistake: Kentucky is a good team. The Wildcats aren’t great, and they are one-dimensional, which allowed the Vols to hone in on Benny Snell Jr. and the rushing attack on Saturday, but you don’t get to be 7-2 and playing Georgia just a week ago for a place in the SEC Championship Game if you aren’t a good team.
The Vols were just better on Saturday, and this was an even better outing than UT’s upset of Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
You want special teams?
The Vols hit a field goal and blocked one of its own when Shy Tuttle surged through the line and got his mit on a kick for his second swat of the year. Though Joe Doyle didn’t have his best punting effort, netting 38.7 yards per punt, he did have a 52-yarder and also pinned UK inside the 20 once.
How about defense?
Without question, this was the best effort of the Pruitt era. This team has taken on the no-nonsense approach of its coach, and the level of intensity was elevated from the very first snap of the game. Up 24-0, the Vols let up a little and started playing soft coverage, but other than a couple of lapses in those drives, it was a brilliant effort.
Darrell Taylor proved once again that when he is playing at a high level, the Vols are at their best up front. He had four sacks off the edge, just 0.5 short of Corey Miller’s single-game team record [also set against Kentucky]. The defensive tackles played their best game of the season, holding their own against UK’s strong offensive front and shutting down run lanes. And Marquill Osborne grabbed a pair of interceptions in relief of Bryce Thompson, who went out when it looked like he got his bell rung.
The Vols were in Snell’s head, and they most importantly got in quarterback Terry Wilson’s face for much of the game, causing the JUCO transfer signal-caller to simply throw the ball away more often than not. The Wildcats never could generate anything in the passing game, and UT was able to pin its ears back and get after him. There were blitzes from all different directions, several diverse looks in the front seven, and strong coverage on the back end.
It was an ideal effort when the Vols had to have it. Even when the offense struggled in little lulls and when UT turned the ball over with two late fumbles, the defense rose to the occasion.
So, how about that offense?
Yeah, it was excellent, too, after a slow start. While you may argue quarterback Jarrett Guarantano’s stats were better in the Auburn game and he made more of a difference with the deep ball, Saturday actually was a comparable effort.
Entering the game, the Wildcats had allowed just four big passing plays all season. Tennessee had five against them in one game.
None was bigger than the end-of-the-first-half Hail Mary after the Vols got in launching position for Guarantano. On the play, he stepped up in the pocket to avoid a pass rusher, lofted the ball up perfectly to Marquez Callaway, who high-pointed the ball by using his high school basketball skills and coming down with it to give the Vols a walk-off 17-0 lead entering the break.
When it came to the rushing attack, UT’s performance came from nowhere as the Vols piled up 215 yards on the ground. Sophomore Jordan Murphy’s 59-yard scamper on an end-around was a massive play, and then Ty Chandler and Tim Jordan had several moments of brilliance, too.
More on Murphy: the kid has the kind of speed Tennessee doesn’t have much of, and he caught a long pass and had that long run against the Wildcats. Getting him more involved moving forward would be a great idea for a UT team that could use a game-breaker.
As far as the offensive line goes, Guarantano took a few more hits again than you’d like, and Drew Richmond had a couple of costly false start penalties. But this was the best performance since UT had moments of neutralization against Auburn’s defensive front. Kentucky has a bunch of good linemen, but the Vols held their own. Guarantano had more time to throw, and it was evident by how well he played.
All over the field, Tennessee found stars.
Now, with Missouri and Vanderbilt remaining on the schedule, finishing 7-5 seems a little more possible than going 5-7, which says a lot about just what Saturday’s win did for this program. A week ago after a 14-3 sleepwalking win over Charlotte, nobody felt like the Vols were getting stronger.
But when they elevated the intensity, the entire team fed off one another.
Going 6-6 with this team and this roster would be a big accomplishment, especially after the blown opportunity against South Carolina and the Vols taking themselves out of any chance to beat Florida early in the year because of turnovers. Next week’s home game against Missouri is a very bad matchup for a UT team that doesn’t seem like its best-equipped to win in a shootout, and Drew Lock is capable of throwing the ball all over the place.
That game looks more winnable now, though. Tennessee threw it around a little, too, this week, and the running game could find some lanes against Mizzou’s front seven. Even though last week’s win over Charlotte was unimpressive, the defense played extremely well, so this is two weeks in a row that side of the ball has looked good. That’s called momentum, and, against UK, Micah Abernathy returned from injury and made his presence felt while Theo Jackson was inserted at the other safety spot and looked very good at times, too.
Next week, the Vols should get freshman star safety Trevon Flowers back, too, just in time to help combat the Tigers’ passing attack as Derek Dooley returns to Neyland as Mizzou’s offensive coordinator.
The Vanderbilt game could go either way, too, considering the Commodores are on a two-game winning streak over UT and that game is in Nashville.
But there’s one big difference between those Tennessee teams and this one: Pruitt is on the sideline instead of Butch Jones.
You can’t underestimate just how much these players are buying into Pruitt’s way of coaching, into playing for four quarters and approaching each play with a level of toughness. This isn’t spouting some cute phrase like “63 effort.” It’s actually going out there and putting it on the resume of a football field.
These Vols did that against Kentucky on Saturday, and it bodes well not only for the rest of the season but the future of the Pruitt era.
Is it possible UT drops the final two games of the season and all these good vibrations fade away? Sure, it is. This team has shown that, while it can play at a high level against good teams, it also has a narrow margin for error. Make mistakes and kill drives, and it can get ugly for the Vols in a hurry. Whether they win anymore this season hinges on just what Tennessee shows up.
The simple fact that we’re seeing the team that arrived at Neyland Stadium on Saturday and stayed for the outset is proof that the buy-in is coming for these players, and when Pruitt gets more of “his guys” who do it “his way” in there, the Vols are going to start winning. Obviously we can’t predict whether UT will start winning big, but any wins would be welcome for this program in the state it’s been in.
The Vols won Saturday against the nation’s No. 11 team. They dominated Kentucky, winning in Neyland Stadium against UK for the 17th straight time dating all the way back to 1984.
This was a good matchup for Tennessee because Kentucky can’t fling the ball all over the field and had shown an inability to be a consistent offensive team at times throughout the year. The Vols took advantage of that, doing everything they were supposed to do to make it difficult on UK. But Vegas had still installed Kentucky as a 5-point favorite by kickoff; the Vols won by 17.
The matchup won’t be as favorable next week, but Pruitt and Co. have to feel pretty good about this win, and unlike the huge upset of Auburn earlier in the year, Alabama doesn’t loom the next week to crush that momentum. Instead, it’s Missouri, then Vanderbilt. Two winnable games for a team that is now getting used to winning.
That’s a testament to Pruitt, his staff and these players for turning away from the infestation of losing that oozed from the end of the Jones era, taking the tough love from their new coach and responding with some moments that can make us all proud to be Tennessee Vols.
Saturday was one of those days.
