Jacksonville, FL – A late fourth-quarter charge, where the Vols scored 14 points in the final quarter propelled Tennessee Vols football team to a 23-22 win over Indiana in the 75th TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in TIAA Bank Stadium.
With the victory, UT finishes the season 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the SEC to give second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt his first bowl win.
Freshman running back Eric Gray scored the game-tying touchdown on second and 10 after recovering an on-side kick to give the Vols the ball back at 46 yard line with 4:19 left on the clock.
Gray paced the Vols with 86 yards on the ground and 34 receiving yards.
Redshirt junior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano came back into the game to lift the Vols behind 221 yards through the air, going 18-31.
True freshman Henry To’o To’o led the defense with eight tackles and a pass breakup. Junior Shawn Shamburger collected his first career interception, and had a sack and pass breakup.
A scoreless first quarter was highlighted by Shamburger’s interception. Offensively, Ramel Keyton collected 60 yards through the air on a pair of catches.
UT opened scoring with a 23-yard field goal from Brent Cimaglia in the second quarter. The Vols drove 67 yards on 12 plays to go up 3-0 with 5:53 left in the first half.
Shamburger sacked IU’s Peyton Ramsey for a loss of 10 yards to force a punt. The sack set up a 14 play, 50-yard UT scoring drive. Cimaglia hit a 32-yard field goal to put Tennessee up 6-0.
Indiana ended the half with a 24-yard field goal to make it 6-3 UT going to the intermission.
IU opened the second half with a 12 play, 69-yard touchdown drive to put the Hoosiers up 6-10.
Ty Chandler returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards. IU scored on an interception, but missed the field goal to make it 6-16.
Brian Maurer replaced starting quarterback at 8:26 in the third quarter, replacing starting quarterback Guarantano. Maurer went 1-3, gaining 17 yards through the air and eight yards on the ground in his opening drive. Cimaglia hit a 43-yard field goal to make it 9-16 with 4:11 in the third quarter.
The Vols scored their first touchdown of game with 4:21 left in the fourth quarter. Quavaris Crouch scored on a 1-yard touchdown to make the score 16-22. Guarantano and Jauan Jennings connected twice for 27 yards to set up the score.
IU missed a field goal with 2:12 left in the game to give the Vols the ball back, where they would run out the clock until time expired.
The Vols would follow their scoring drive, recovering their first onside kick since 2011 to get the ball back on their 46. The recovery would set up a 20-yard Eric Gray touchdown followed by a Cimaglia PAT to put the Vols up 23-22 with 3:51 left in the game.
In the 2019 season, Tennessee had five players earn All-SEC honors and three players earn SEC All-Freshman honors. UT’s five players named to the All-SEC teams by the coaches were the most since also having five in 2012.
