Pruitt Says Vols are “100 Times Better” than this Time Last Year

At this point in the season last year, Tennessee held a 2-2 record after blowout losses to West Virginia and Florida and a win over FCS opponent ETSU and Conference USA foe UTEP. This year, the Vols have a worse record through four games than last season, and their only win has been over an FCS school (UT-Chattanooga).

Still, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt believes the win/loss record isn’t indicative of just how much improvement his team has made from his first year to his second.

During Pruitt’s media availability on Wednesday afternoon, he was asked if he believed his roster had enough talent to compete in the SEC and what he and his coaches have to do to get that talent to express itself better. According to Pruitt, the Vols’ inability to win the turnover battle has hindered them from winning, and those turnover problems have hidden UT’s true growth.

“It’s not hard to figure out. In the three games that we’ve lost — y’all have watched the games — we had an opportunity to win two of them,” Pruitt said on Wednesday. “The first game, we had five turnovers, it was three turnovers and two turnovers on downs, and we only got one. That leaves us minus-four in the turnover margin. It’s hard to win that way. We probably left some plays out there on both sides of the ball.

“Our football team is 100 times better than it was this time last year. Our guys are working hard. We’re stronger, more physical. But when it comes to having success and winning a football game, we can’t turn the ball over, and we have to create turnovers. That’s something that has hampered us in our three losses.”

Tennessee’s three losses have come against Sun Belt Conference opponent Georgia State, BYU in double-overtime, and on the road against No. 9 Florida. The Vols led against both Georgia State and BYU in the second half only to see those leads evaporate and eventually turn into losses. And despite decent play from UT’s defense early against the Gators, Tennessee never could strike back against Florida and trailed the entire game.

Not to mention that the Vols’ loss to Georgia State marked UT’s first ever loss to a Sun Belt school, and it was Georgia State’s first win over a Power Five program in their school’s 10-year history of collegiate football.

Last year, the Vols were 2-2 heading into their road match-up with Georgia. This year, Tennessee is 1-3 and looks to be on the brink of a disastrous season. Yet Pruitt maintains that UT is better than they were at this point last year, and losing the turnover battle has been a big reason why that hasn’t manifested more in the win column.

“Through four games, we’ve given up either 11 or 13 (big plays). For a team that’s 1-3, that’s not a whole lot,” Pruitt continued. “We’ve not given as much in chunks as we have in 7-14 yard plays. That means we need to be a little stronger when we tackle folks. Maybe our coverages aren’t tight enough in some scenarios. We’ve created some negative plays, but we have to develop more pass rush when we rush just four guys so there’s not as much stress on the back end.

“All of these things are what we’re looking at to try and improve.”

Taking out Tennessee’s five takeaway performance against FCS opponent UTC, the Vols have yet to win the turnover battle this season. In terms of pure takeaways — counting only interceptions and fumbles, not turnover on downs, blocked punts, etc. — the Vols are minus-four in turnover margin on the season against FBS opponents. Tennessee has turned the ball over a grand total of eight times this season, which is tied with Arkansas and Kentucky for the second-most turnovers among SEC teams.

As Pruitt noted, Tennessee’s defense actually hasn’t given up a bunch of huge plays. The Vols have allowed only nine plays of 20 or more yards on the year, which is the third-fewest in the SEC, and they’re tied with Texas A&M for fewest plays of 30 or more yards allowed this season (3). But the Vols have given up 57 plays to opponents that have gone for 10 or more yards, which is tied with Kentucky for the sixth-most in the SEC.

Not only that, but UT’s defense has only been able to force four turnovers in three games against FBS opponents, and three of those came on Saturday against Florida while facing a quarterback making his first career start. The Vols are also allowing teams to convert on third down 44.1 percent of the time this season, the second-worst rate in the SEC.

It’s hard to argue that the Vols are better than they were this time last year through four games, let alone claiming they’re “100 times better.” But Pruitt knows his team better than any media member or fan, and he sees them on a daily basis at practice, on campus, and in the football complex. So if someone is going to know that for a fact, it would be him.

While there’s been improvements in areas from this time last year, the one area that matters most is the win/loss record. And right now, it’s tough to say that Tennessee is better than they were at any point last season given how the first four weeks have played out.