TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Know Your Opponent: Tennessee Volunteers
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Image: AthlonSports.com
Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)
Athletic Director: Phillip Fulmer
Head Coach: Jeremy Pruitt
Overall: 2nd Season, 12-12 (.500)
Bowl Appearances at Tennessee: 0
2019 Record: 7-5 (5-3, SEC East)
Bowl Appearances Since 2000: 12 (6-6)
Mascot: Smokey X
Colors: Orange and White
Outfitter: Nike
Bowl Record: 28-24 (.538)
National Titles: 6
Conference Titles: 16 (13 SEC, 2 Southern, 1 SIAA)
Heisman Winners: 0
Consensus All Americans: 40
Band: Pride of the Southland Band
Fight Song(s): Down the Field, Rocky Top
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Jarrett Guarantano (134-226, 59.3 Comp %, 1937 Passing Yards, 16 TD, 6 INTs)
Rushing Ty Chandler (123 attempts, 620 yards, 5.0 avg, 3 TDs)
Receiving Jauan Jennings (57 receptions, 942 yards, 8 TDs)
Tackles Daniel Bituli (82 TKLs, 4.5 TFL, 1 FF)
Tennessee’s Talking Points
1. Tennessee hit their stride in the second half of the season.
After starting the season with an embarrassing home defeat against Georgia State and a heartbreaking overtime loss against BYU, the Volunteers seemed to find their footing in the second half of the season. The Volunteers, who started the season 2-5, finished the season on a five-game win streak with wins over the inferior opponents of the SEC and Alabama, Georgia, and Florida in the rearview mirror. They had a couple close calls, including coming back from a 13-0 deficit against Kentucky to win on a goal line stand 17-13, and a 24-20 win over Missouri two weeks later.
Unlike Indiana, starting the game at quarterback for the Vols will be the same quarterback that started the first game of the season, Jarrett Guarantano. Guarantano did lose his starting job for a couple games in the middle of the season to freshman Brian Maurer. However, concussions have plagued Maurer and put Guarantano back in charge. He was better in the second half of the season and finished with stats similar to those of Indiana’s Peyton Ramsey.
2. Jauan Jennings will be suspended for the first half of the game.
The Volunteers top receiver was suspended by the SEC for the first half of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl after appearing to intentionally stomp on a Vanderbilt player’s head in the Vols’ final regular season game. After a Vanderbilt player was tackled out of bounds, while getting up and turning away from the player, Jennings’s cleat directly contacted the Vanderbilt player in the face. Whether or not it was intentional was argued about, but either way the SEC opted to suspend Jennings for the first half of the game.
This is a huge loss for the Vols. Putting Jennings’ impact in terms of Whop Philyor, he has had just 50 fewer receiving yards on 12 fewer receptions and has tallied 3 more touchdowns. Losing Jennings will be a huge break in the first half for the Indiana defense.
3. Most initial analysis of this game shows it will come down to one factor.
Most experts see this game playing out the way one question is answered: can Indiana’s defense stop the Tennessee offense? This will be the biggest thing to watch heading into the Jacksonville showdown.
Tennessee will certainly have SEC-level athletes on both sides of the ball, but this will likely be most obvious when Indiana is on defense. The defensive side of the ball has been the weaker side for Indiana, as the offense has flourished and competed with the nation’s best under soon-to-be Fresno State head coach Kalen Deboer. Indiana’s youth has shown much more often on defense, with poor tackling performances sprinkled throughout the year. Indiana’s defense will have to tackle well in space, and hope to force a couple takeaways, for the Hoosiers to leave victorious from the Sunshine State.