STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop will see familiar faces Saturday when the Bulldogs visit Tennessee.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's last game before opening Southeastern Conference competition gives Volunteers quarterback Jarrett Guarantano a chance to catch up with his former position coach.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee fans finally won't need a cheat sheet to keep track of the score at this year's spring game.
New Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has vowed to make Saturday's Orange & White Game as close to a normal game as possible. He's dividing his team into two separate squads and is having them play an exhibition game with typical football scoring.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt's track record suggests the Volunteers eventually should have a dramatic improvement from their defense.
Among the many emails former Tennessee athletic director John Currie received when he began to search for a coach to replace Butch Jones was one from an Alabama athletic department staffer with the subject "Head Coaching Analysis."
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's pro day featured some prominent figures in spectator roles, including NFL head coaches, highly rated prospects fresh from the combine and a former Southeastern Conference head coach expected to join the Crimson Tide staff as an analyst.
NEW YORK (AP) — Peyton Manning says he takes his role as an ambassador for the University of Tennessee seriously and looks forward to supporting the Volunteers' next football coach.
Tennessee's search for a replacement for Butch Jones has resulted in turmoil, with fan protests, the firing of athletic director John Currie and the hiring of former Vols coach Philip Fulmer as AD. After being turned down by several coaches, Tennessee is still searching.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina State has announced that it has agreed to a new contract with football coach Dave Doeren.
A person familiar with the situation says the five-year deal came after Doeren talked with Tennessee officials about their coaching vacancy. The person spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because neither Tennessee nor N.C. State had publicly discussed details of the Volunteers' coaching search.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — This isn't the way Tennessee and Vanderbilt planned to finish the regular season.
Both teams are winless in Southeastern Conference play heading into their rivalry game Saturday at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee (4-7, 0-7 SEC) has lost six of its last seven games and fired coach Butch Jones last week. Vanderbilt (4-7, 0-7) has dropped seven of its last eight.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has just launched its fourth coaching search since its last Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title.
So that comes to four coaches in a 10-year span.
Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley and now Butch Jones. That trio couldn't rejuvenate a program that hasn't won a division since 2007 and hasn't captured a conference title since its 1998 national championship season.
But athletic director John Currie is looking at the glass being half full.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee interim coach Brady Hoke isn't worrying about his own future. His focus is on the Volunteers' seniors.
Hoke, who has rejoined the head coaching ranks for at least a couple of weeks, said Monday that his his major concern is making sure those upperclassmen get the best possible finish to a disappointing season.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee began the season in the Top 25 and is ending it with a coaching change.
The Volunteers fired Butch Jones on Saturday as they enter their final two regular-season games searching for their first Southeastern Conference victory, a stunning fall for a team that had won bowl games each of the last three seasons.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lost its fifth consecutive game on Oct. 15, a 53-28 defeat at Georgia that sent the Tigers to 1-5 halfway through the season.
Four weeks later, Missouri owns a three-game winning streak and has put itself in bowl contention. Its final three opponents — Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Arkansas — have a combined Southeastern Conference record of 1-14.
Before hitting the road for their final two games, the Tigers will take on Tennessee (4-5, 0-5) on Saturday at home.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The magnitude of the injuries decimating Tennessee's offensive line is perhaps best exemplified by Devante Brooks' improbable emergence as a starter.