It’s easy to just rattle off Butch Jones’ career record while head coach at Tennessee. But Jones’ 21-17 record has some very interesting splits, and a further inspection into his three-year record at Tennessee reveals where he’s had trouble and where he’s flourished so far at Tennessee.
Of course, it’s worth noting that when Jones took over at Tennessee, he had a very talent-deficient roster. The Vols were in need of a rebuild, and Jones appears to have done that job so far.
But numbers are numbers, and they don’t generally lie. He’s a breakdown and analysis of Butch Jones’ three-year record at Tennessee.
Breakdown
All-time: 21-17
Road games: 5-9
Home games: 13-8
Neutral site (regular season): 1-0
Bowl games: 2-0
vs. Top 25 (road/home): 3-13, 0-8, 2-5
vs. Top 15 (road/home): 1-10, 0-7, 1-3
One-score games (road/home): 6-9, 2-3, 4-6
SEC games (road/home): 10-14, 5-7, 5-7
Power 5, non-SEC opponents (road/home/neutral): 2-3, 0-1, 0-2, 2-0
vs. Teams with winning records: 9-15
vs. Teams with losing records: 5-1
vs. Teams with .500 records: 7-1
OT games: 1-2
Games w/ Worley as starter: 7-7
Games w/ Dobbs as starter: 14-8
Games w/ Peterman as starter 0-2
Analysis
The first thing that pops out is just how many difficult games the Vols have had on the road in Jones’ first three seasons. Half of their games against top 25 opponents have been on the road, but then seven of their 11 games against top 15 competition have been on the road. As a whole, the Vols have had bad luck on the road, floundering to a 5-9 overall record under Jones on the road.
But Jones has had very good success in neutral site games and bowls, going 3-0 in neutral site games (including bowls) and 2-0 in bowl games with two blowout wins.
It’s also worth noting just how many difficult games the Vols have played under Jones. Of Jones’ 38 games as head coach of Tennessee, 24 have been against SEC opponents and another five have been against Power Five schools. That leave just nine games against non-Power Five schools. Overall, the Vols have gone 12-17 against all Power Five schools including conference games, and they’ve never lost to a non-Power Five school, going 9-0 against those schools.
One stat that will also pop out is Tennessee’s record in one-score games under Jones. Tennessee is just 6-9 in one-score contests, and that record took a big hit last year when the Vols went 2-4 in close games. Two of those six wins in one-score affairs have been against ranked opponents (South Carolina 2013, Georgia 2015).
Just over 42 percent of Tennessee’s games under Jones have come against teams ranked in the AP top 25. And the Vols have only won three of those games (South Carolina 2013, Georgia and Northwestern 2015). That means 18 of Tennessee’s 21 wins with Butch Jones as head coach have come against unranked opponents.
Jones also has a losing record against teams with winning records at the time Tennessee played them. Tennessee is just 9-15 against teams with winning records the last three years, but they have just two losses to teams with losing records or .500 records. The loss to a team with a losing record came against Arkansas last year, while the loss to a .500 team came against Florida in 2014.
Another fun stat is looking at the breakdown of starting quarterbacks under Jones. Without Josh Dobbs as the starter, Tennessee has gone 7-9 over the last three seasons. The Vols are 14-8 with Dobbs at the helm, including six-straight victories to end the 2015 season.
Rarely do the Vols lose to teams they’re not supposed to under Jones. In fact, the Vols haven’t been truly upset at any time under Jones. They need to keep that up in 2016 and find ways to win pivotal road games and close games, something they’ve not done so far under Jones.
But with an improved roster and solid coaching staff, this could be the year Jones’ and Tennessee’s records begin to swing upward.
