It feels almost weird to come on
here and constantly praise Tennessee, because there really hasn’t been a lot to get
excited about in Knoxville over the last decade-plus, unless "Brick by Brick" was your thing. With their victory
tonight in Columbia, the Vols have won four in a row, their longest winning
streak since the Dobbsnail Boot, a sentence I never thought I’d be typing back
in September.
The Vols have rebounded
thanks to the best senior class they’ve had in years. Jauan Jennings (5
catches, 115 yards, 1 TD) and Marquez Callaway (6 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD) dominated
the Mizzou secondary, and Daniel Bituli and Nigel Warrior were all over the
field tonight defensively.
Jennings is slowly
working his way onto the list of most beloved Vols of the century. He was
already involved in two of the most famous plays in Tennessee history (the receiver
on the Dobbsnail Boot and his TD against Florida), but now, his leadership and
high level of play on the grittiest Tennessee team since the Fulmer era has pushed
him to another level. I never would’ve thought his Vol career would end this way
after he got booted off the team two years ago.
He’s not the only Vol on
a redemption tour; how about Jarrett Guarantano? 415 passing yards and 2 TDs
against Missouri, one of the best defenses in the SEC? A major (sometimes
deciding) factor in the last five Tennessee wins? The Vol receivers
(Palmer, Jennings, Callaway) were great tonight, but they don’t become the
first trio in program history to each have over 100 receiving yards in the
same game if JG doesn’t play like he did tonight. Sure, he missed too many throws tonight,
but he always seemed to rebound on the next play with a 20 yard laser in a place where only his guy could catch it.
The whole second half of
the year has been completely unexpected. After four weeks, Jeremy Pruitt was
going to get fired, Phillip Fulmer was going to take over, and Tennessee was
never going to win anything substantial ever again. Now, they’re bowl eligible and are going to beat the crap out of a horrible Vanderbilt team in Knoxville
next week, and then go to Capital One Bowl or the Outback Bowl or somewhere in
January.
Look, they were far from
perfect tonight, and there’s a ton they need to clean up, but dammit, it’s just
nice to win games again. I know, beating a 5-5 Mizzou team isn’t the same as
beating Florida or Alabama, but hell, I just want to enjoy this one and the way
the season is ending.
Yeah, it’s going to be difficult to replace the seniors.
Darrell Taylor is the best pass rusher on the roster, Bituli is the best tackler and the
leader on the defense, and Jennings is the most beloved Vol in years. But let’s
just appreciate what these guys have done for the program this season, a year where
they could’ve just packed it in after the horrific 1-4 start. These guys could end
up being the leaders of the team that restores the program into what the
fanbase has been clamoring for. Not quite the Sugar Vols, but close.
Pruitt and the staff just
need to keep recruiting well, coaching the guys hard, and never being satisfied.
Cole Cubelic basically had to beg Pruitt to get excited and praise this team on
the field after the game. Nick Saban’s post game comments always make it sound
like Alabama lost by two touchdowns. Pruitt sounds the same way.
Pruitt really seems to be
growing into the job, and I think he’s done a lot better with the CEO type stuff
that comes with running a big time program like Tennessee. I think he struggled
a lot with the off-field responsibilities that comes with the job earlier in the season (rats on the Titanic), but of course, it’s easy to botch that stuff when the
fanbase is turning against you and you’re losing to Georgia State.
Tennessee isn’t “back”
yet, but they appear to be on the way. This has been a nice season for a team that
looked dead two months ago. Let’s hope they don’t need a five game warmup in
2020.
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