Admittedly, it feels
strange to come on here and praise Tennessee after watching them in a conference
game, but they were outstanding today in what was their best start to finish
performance in years. The Vols scored twenty unanswered points in the second half (before an Auburn garbage time TD), and they forced three Jarett Stidham turnovers on the way to
Jeremy Pruitt’s first signature win on Rocky Top.
Tennessee struggled to
run the ball all day (only 68 yards on 36 attempts), but it didn’t end up
mattering because Jarrett Guarantano played the best game of his
career (21-32, 328 yards, 2 TDs) and carried the Vols to their first 30
point scoring conference game since 2016.
It was incredible to
watch the explosion that this team had today on offense, considering the utter lack of fire
they’d shown on that side of the ball all season to this point. Why did this happen? Probably because the offensive line, who were nothing more than average today, put in their best performance of the season. The run blocking was atrocious, but their passing blocking was good enough that Guarantano wasn't running around for his life from the instant he got the snap, which enabled him to stand back
there and bomb the ball down the field all game. The Vols had to have picked up like six
or seven third and longs today solely because of this. Sure, he took his lumps on a couple of throws (especially his third quarter TD pass to Jauan Jennings), but they were able to keep the pocket clean for the most part, or at least better than they had all season.
This team has the right quarterback, as well as enough speed and playmakers, to win games consistently in this conference, they just haven’t had
the offensive line play to showcase any of that until today. Again, they scored 30
points against one of the better defenses in the SEC despite the fact that they couldn’t even run
the ball. Imagine what they could’ve done so far this season if the O-line hadn’t
been awful for the first month and a half.
I made fun of Jeremy
Pruitt multiple times over the last two weeks after he got choked up at the
podium over Tennessee’s effort after Georgia beat them by 26 points, but
with how the team has trended so far this season, it looks like he’s got a
chance to be the coach we’ve been searching for since Fulmer resigned. Sure, I’m
not saying he’s going to win the SEC or a national title because he beat this
Auburn team that might end up being 6-6, but winning a conference road game
against a ranked team when you were two touchdown underdogs is a good “brick”
for the program he’s trying to build. I also liked how he handled himself after
the game; very Saban-esque, not overly excited, talking about how they still
needed to get better, almost like he expected to win. Like he’d done this before even
though he hadn’t.
They’ve improved every week on both sides of the ball and it seems
incredible that this team is the same one that lost by 26 at home to Florida less
than a month ago. I don’t know what’s going
to happen the rest of the year with this team, and next week against Alabama
could get ugly, but if this is the Tennessee we’re going to get the rest of the
season, there’s no reason they couldn’t run the slate the rest of the way, or
at least win 7 games and make a bowl game and go into next season with the
entire offense coming back.
Guarantano has come a long way from the kid who was
pouting on the bench in Atlanta at the beginning of last season because he wasn’t
playing. I’m a huge fan of him as a player; he’s fearless, he’s got a strong
arm, he’s accurate, and when given even a modicum of time, he typically doesn’t
make mistakes with the football.
They were far from
perfect today; there’s some things they need to tighten up, and Auburn gave them
a ton of chances with the mistakes they made, but give credit to Tennessee for
capitalizing on those opportunities. This program is assuredly trending in the
right direction.
Man, it feels good to win
one of these. There’s nothing better than a big Vol victory on a Fall Saturday.
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