Midweek Updates

Photo Credit: Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics

These Midweek Updates preview the upcoming matchup at Vanderbilt and review what Jeremy Pruitt said in his press conference this week.

It's Win or Go Home Against Vanderbilt

The Vols travel to Nashville for their regular season finale on Saturday. The scenarios are simple. If Tennessee wins, they head to a bowl game and end Vanderbilt's season. If the Vols lose, Jeremy Pruitt's first season comes to an end with a record of 5-7. Tennessee has lost 4 of their past 6 meetings with the Commodores. The Vols don't face pressure to make a bowl game, because not many predicted them to do so, but there is definitely pressure to beat Vanderbilt. Losing 4 of 6 is terrible, so that trend needs to end. Be sure to tune into the SEC Network at 4:00 on Saturday, because it's winner take all.

Pruitt's Monday Press Conference

Pruitt began his weekly press conference by stating, "When you go back and look at the tape from Saturday's game, lots of things that we've done in games that we've won. We made mistakes in this game, didn't give us a chance. We turned the football over. We only got one turnover. Had a chance a couple times in the red area to get off the field, to hold them to field goals and didn't do that. Probably the first two times we threw the ball Saturday, had mistakes. One time in the seven-man protection, the running back picked up the wrong guy. Another time we had another seven-man protection and a miscommunication up front led to negative plays that contributed to us starting off slowly."

He later previewed the upcoming regular season finale, saying, "This week we have Vanderbilt. This is a very important game for everybody in this state. They have an experienced team offensively. Quarterback has been playing there forever, coach's son, makes very few mistakes. They have good runners, take care of the football. Defensively, have a lot of ball hawks on the defensive side of the ball, give you multiple looks. I think probably in the turnover margin in our league, they're up there at the top and solid on special teams. So, we need to find a way to improve our team this week, eliminate mistakes, tackle better, find a way to be able to run the football and create some explosive plays."

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Pruitt was asked about what he is thankful for this year. He said, "I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have here at the University of Tennessee, the staff that's here that works with us, our players, our administration, our fanbase. I told the kids Saturday during the Vol Walk, I wanted them to look around and see so they had an understanding of what the passion is for the program that we all represent and the obligation that we have to the people that came before us and the people that are going to come after us."

Pruitt was also asked about how beneficial a bowl game would be this season, commenting, "I think it's important for our players. It's going to be important for our senior class to end with a win against Vanderbilt. I think it's important for everyone associated with our program to raise our level of play. We've had opportunities to do that a couple of times this year and in my opinion have not necessarily played at our best. That's on us as coaches to get everybody in our program to be at their best. It's a great opportunity for us. It's a chance to possibly have a winning record and anytime you have positive things going on, I think it's going to help you in recruiting."