Tennessee Shows Improvement Despite Loss to Georgia

     Nobody expected the Vols to upset Georgia, and they were unable to, losing to the Georgia Bulldogs 38-12. However, this game was way closer than the score indicates. The Vols’ defense took a massive step up from last week when they gave up 47 points to the Florida Gators.

     Tennessee’s Darrell Taylor had 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, and is viewed to be the player of the game for Tennessee. Starting QB, Jarrett Guarantano went 13 for 21 with 143 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ty Chandler lead the Vols in rushing and receiving yards, with 27 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards. 

    In the first half Georgia took a 17-0 lead, however, the Vols battled back and never quit. The Vols scored 2 back to back touchdowns and forced a 3 & out, to make the score 24-12. Pruitt decided to go for 2 on both touchdowns, and the Vols were unable to convert. 

    Jeremy Pruitt got emotional in his post game press conference as he said, “I learned we’ve got fight in us, that we’re not going to quit, it kind of gets me excited. I’m proud of them and the way they fought. It isn’t easy. That team in red today tried to change the way we fought. That’s the way they’re coached, that’s the way they play. They play the right way. Our guys kept fighting which means we’re headed in the right direction and that excites me. That’s why I’m getting a little bit emotional.” When a reporter asked Pruitt about the 2nd half, he said, “I thought offensively we finally got going and made some plays. We converted a couple of third downs and created some explosive plays. We made three first downs the first half, you can’t do that. You can’t put the defense out there that much. We’ve got to make some first downs, you may not score, these guys have a good football team. What’s the difference in the second half from the first half? We put some scoring drives together and had a couple other ones going. Defensively, we’ve got to find a way to get some stops. I don’t think we were good today on third down.”

    In the end, the Vols are improving and doing it faster than we expected, Jeremy Pruitt will get Tennessee back, its just a matter of when.