The last time Indiana played a nonconference opponent was in week four, when senior left tackle Coy Cronk went down with a season-ending injury. Now, as the Hoosiers prepare for a non-Big Ten opponent in Tennessee, there's a lot to learn about the Volunteers before the Jan. 2 Taxslayer Gator Bowl.

These are 10 things to get us started.

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Tennessee fifth-year wide receiver Jauan Jennings is, by far, the best offensive player on the team, and he has been suspended by the SEC for the first half of the Gator Bowl. Near the end of Tennessee's final regular season game against Vanderbilt, he stepped on the face of a Vandy returner after the returner’s helmet came off.

This will cost Tennessee quite a bit, as Jennings was nearing the end of the best season of his career – 57 catches, 942 yards and eight touchdowns.

Jennings has had an interesting path through Knoxville, as he entered the Tennessee program as the No. 6 dual-threat quarterback in the nation. He switched to wide receiver, though, once he reached campus and started the 2015 Tennessee season opener as a wide receiver.

As a sophomore in 2016, he caught 40 balls for 580 yards and seven touchdowns and then injured his wrist in 2017, warranting a medical redshirt. His redshirt junior year was similar to his sophomore year, but his redshirt senior year, in 2019, has been his breakout year. He is regarded as one of the best receivers in the SEC.

For the second consecutive season, Tennessee missed out on the Associated Press Top-25. That’s a reasonable result after Tennessee lost to Georgia State and BYU to kick off its season and then beat weaker (or fringe) opponents – South Carolina, UAB, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt – to end its season on a five-game winning streak.

Some analytical polls have been kind to Indiana, particularly ESPN SP+ ratings, which currently have Indiana ranked No. 24 in the country. ESPN FPI ratings have Indiana at No. 36, and CBS college football power rankings list Indiana at No. 31. These all excel expectations coming into the year and previous performances in each poll.

Tennessee tends to find itself trending just behind the Hoosiers, ending the year at No. 32 in ESPN SP+, No. 32 in ESPN FPI and No. 41 in CBS’ power rankings.

Tennessee seems to be in good hands after the end of the Butch Jones Era left the program in flux. Second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt finds himself in the biggest position of his career, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in unchartered territory. He’s been a part of five national championships since 2009.

He began his career as a quarterback at Middle Tennessee State but quickly shifted to defensive back before eventually transferring to Alabama, which would plant the seed to the beginning of his coaching career, after he was welcomed onto the staff as a graduate assistant in 1997.

He would move on to the high school ranks for eight seasons before returning to Alabama as director of player development, learning under Nick Saban and then-defensive coordinator Kirby Smart until he was promoted to coach the secondary after the 2009 championship. He was the secondary coach at Alabama for three seasons before taking the defensive coordinator job at Florida State after Alabama’s 2012 championship. He won a national championship at Florida State in 2013, the only year he coached in Tallahassee.

After a couple years as the defensive coordinator at Georgia, Pruitt went back to Alabama to replace Smart as the defensive coordinator and won his last national championship in 2017. He took the Tennessee head coaching job the next season.

Since then, he's gone 12-12.

Tennessee was already bringing in classes that hovered around the top-20 mark of each cycle before Pruitt entered the picture, but he bumped up those marks in his first full class in Knoxville, as the Volunteers welcomed in a top-15 class in 2019.

In comparison, Indiana’s 2019 class is regarded as the best recruiting class the Hoosiers have ever signed, and it places in the top-40.

Given the location of the university, its history and the conference it plays within, it would be concerning if Tennessee wasn’t attracting five- and four-star recruits. And once recruits are on campus and being developed, individual and class ratings are arbitrary, but Indiana has seen what stacked classes can offer in terms of depth – Ohio State, Michigan, etc.

Jeremy Pruitt is a defensively minded coach, so it makes sense that Tennessee wins its games because of its defense. But even in its defense, there are flaws.

Tennessee is in the easier half of a struggling SEC, and it was crushed by Alabama. Tennessee also lost, 34-3, to Florida and 43-14 to Georgia, and both of those offenses are rated outside the top-50. Indiana’s offense is No. 31 nationally.

But the strength of the Tennessee team is its secondary. The Volunteers are tied for 16th nationally with 14 interceptions on the season – fourth in the SEC and would be third in the Big Ten. They also limit teams to fewer than 200 yards passing per game, which is good for fourth in the conference. Led by Second Team All-SEC safety Nigel Warrior, who has four interceptions and five pass breakups, Tennessee has a stable of talented, proven contributors in the passing defense.

To get around passing into the Tennessee secondary, teams were running the ball on the Volunteers early in the season, but in the last five games, Tennessee has tightened up its rushing defense, allowing 3.2 yards per carry in that span and forcing teams to pass.

Tennessee had a handful of players named to the All-SEC teams after the regular season came to a close a couple weeks ago.

The only player that made the First Team All-SEC for Tennessee was left guard Trey Smith, who has been a staple along the line all season. When Tennessee runs the ball between the tackles, it typically won’t find much success unless it’s behind Smith. In the gaps on either side of his shoulders, the Volunteers have rushed for 4.9 yards per carry, and no two other gaps combined for more first downs (28) or rushes of 10 or more yards (11).

The linebacking duo of Second Team All-SEC senior Daniel Bituli and SEC All-Freshman linebacker Henry To’o To’o have anchored the Tennessee defense all season. Both linebackers lead the team in tackles and are third and fourth in tackles for loss. Bituli is more effective in pass rush, as he pressures the quarterback on about half of his pass rushes. Bituli has about 20 pounds on To’o To’o too, but both linebackers play similar styles in the middle of the defense, which will cause the running game some troubles, especially if Stevie Scott or Sampson James have lingering injuries.

As mentioned before, safety Nigel Warrior is the most consistent playmaker on defense. Playing as a free safety who can crash in run stoppage, Warriors has the highest grades on the team on defense and is one of the best coverage safeties in the country. According to Pro Football Focus, when quarterbacks throw in his direction, they record a lowly 61.9 NFL quarterback rating. He also leads the SEC in defensive backs who have been targeted at least 20 times in snaps per reception, not allowing a reception before 25 snaps have passed.

Outside of Jauan Jennings, who will only be allowed to play half of the Gator Bowl, there aren’t a lot of other options left for Tennessee in the passing game. Only three other receivers have at least 20 receptions this year.

The fact is that Tennessee’s passing attack isn’t very good. It rates third-to-last in the SEC.

Marquez Callaway is a legitimate threat in the passing attack. He averages just over 21 yards per catch and has a similar skillset to Michigan’s Nico Collins, who burned Indiana for three touchdowns in mid-November. But without a stable of receivers like Michigan has, smothering Callaway can be done.

Tennessee doesn’t use its running backs in the passing game either. The three leading ball carriers total 26 catches this season, and 6-foot-4 tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson has just one touchdown out of 20 catches.

If Indiana wants Tennessee’s passing attack to remain a non-factor, it must jump out to a lead while Jennings is sidelined.

Tennessee’s quarterback position has been a lot like Indiana’s and several of IU’s opponents this season – filled with injuries and unknown starters from week to week.

Redshirt junior Jarrett Guarantano’s situation has actually been a lot like Peyton Ramsey’s. He played in nine games as a redshirt freshman and then started as a redshirt sophomore in 2018. He was heralded for his ability to take care of the ball (three interceptions last year) and complete passes (second-best single-season completion percentage all-time at UT). He started 2019 as the starter but was replaced by freshman Brian Maurer, who has passed for 524 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions before suffering a concussion and being replaced for the rest of the year.

At one point in October, Guarantano broke a bone in his wrist and underwent surgery to repair it. He came back to play with a splint on his hand. Behind Guarantano and Maurer, there isn’t much. Redshirt freshman J.T. Shrout made his first career start against UAB this season, and during that game, wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who played quarterback in high school, had to take a snap.

It’s unknown which of Muarer or Guarantano will play in the bowl game, but Guarantano seems like the most likely option.

When Jeremy Pruitt needed offensive linemen, he went out and got them. Now, both 2019 five-star recruits are starting along his offensive line. Both Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright were named to the SEC All-Freshman team.

Both freshmen have seen their share of struggles this season, as freshmen are ought to do at the SEC level, but both have seen quite a bit of time at left and right tackle. Wright moved into right guard for a game, and Morris played both left and right tackle in the same game against South Carolina.

As has been noted several times since the end of the regular season and the bowl assignments were made, this year’s Taxslayer Gator Bowl will be Indiana’s first bowl experience in Florida. The Hoosiers have never played at the Gator Bowl. But Tennessee has several times – six times to be exact.

Its first appearance dates back to 1957 and its last was 2014, when the Gator Bowl was briefly referred to as the Taxslayer Bowl for four seasons. Tennessee is 4-2 in this bowl.

The 2014 appearance worked in Tennessee’s favor over Iowa, as the Vols won, 45-28. Joshua Dobbs was named the MVP, and that was the season before eventual Indiana offensive coordinator Mike DeBord jumped on board in Knoxville.

The following are the results for Tennessee’s other five appearances in the Gator Bowl:

- 1994: Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 23

- 1973: Texas Tech 28, Tennessee 19

- 1969: Florida 14, Tennessee 13

- 1966: Tennessee 18, Syracuse 12

- 1957: Tennessee 3, Texas A&M 0

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