A strange and at times frustrating season for Tennessee football has come to a close. The Vols round things out with a Music City Bowl loss to Illinois, 30-28, thanks to a made field goal as time expired for the Illini.
Here are four quick takeaways on the loss.
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Tennessee Was Lucky To Trail By Only Three At Halftime
Heading into halftime, Illinois kicked a late field goal to go up 10-7. Tennessee was lucky that was all the margin was, though.
Offensively, the Vols played with fire on all three of their full possessions. On the opening drive, which resulted in the Joey Aguilar touchdown run, UT was backed up for a third-and-long after taking a sack on the first play. However, Aguilar connected with Braylon Staley to move the chains.
After a three-and-out on the second drive, Tennessee again found itself in a third down, this time from eight yards out. It took a physical run from Aguilar to convert that time. That thin margin is all that separated UT from a trio of first-half three-and-outs.
Defensively, Illinois had four drives and got inside the 33-yard line on each. It was a pair of fourth-down stops that kept the Illini off the scoreboard, though. You have to give credit for those stops, but field goals could’ve given Illinois a bit of a cushion after strong drives.
Joakim Dodson Was Almost The Hero
If I told you a freshman wide receiver stepped up and was nearly the hero of the game, you’d surely think I was referencing either Radarious Jackson or Travis Smith Jr. making a big play in the place of Chris Brazzell, who opted out of the game.
Nope. It was Joakim Dodson, who hasn’t gotten much offensive run this season, making magic happen on a kick return. After not handling the kick, he collected himself and scooped it up. With the help of strong blocks from Star Thomas and Justin Baker, he tip-toed down the sideline (very Kick Six-esque) all the way to the end zone.
This put Tennessee up 28-27, its first lead since jumping out to a 7-0 advantage in the first quarter. With just 4:58 left to play, it couldn’t have come at a much bigger moment.
This easily could’ve been enough to win, but the defense couldn’t get off the field down the stretch and allowed the game-winning kick.
MUFFED KICK RETURNED FOR A TD🤯🤯 #libertymutualmusiccitybowl #illini #volunteers #collegefootball pic.twitter.com/nL7ta4MA3j
— Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl (@MusicCityBowl) December 31, 2025
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Left A Lot To Be Desired On Both Sides
That game didn’t inspire a lot of confidence on either side of the ball for Tennessee. Defensively, as detailed with its first-half issues, the score didn’t tell the whole story. Nearly every time Illinois touched the ball, it drove into UT territory. Just one time in the entire game, in fact, the Illini were stopped short of midfield.
There were plenty of opt-outs that played a big role, but that didn’t change the fact that Tennessee couldn’t get off the field defensively for large portions of the game. With a chance to seal the game with a stop after Joakim Dodson’s kick return for a touchdown, the Vols were gashed and let Illinois march right down the field to win.
Offensively, Tennessee couldn’t keep Joey Aguilar upright. Not only did the offensive line give up far too many pressures, but receivers were struggling to get open down the field to give Aguilar options to get rid of it. With a hit-and-miss run game, there were bursts of an effective unit and stretches of truly painful offense.
The good news? That’s it for the season. There were flashes of great moments and standout players, but overall, it was a lot of frustration on both ends. This one encapsulated it pretty well to round out the season. If you’re a Vols fan, now you just have to hope lessons were learned and a step back in the right direction is taken in 2026.
DeSean Bishop Caps Off A Great Season With A Great Game
One of the bright spots from this season was absolutely running back DeSean Bishop. The redshirt-sophomore cemented himself as the primary running back option and a great option going forward, as well. Coming into the game, he had 983 yards and 14 touchdowns on 163 carries.
Against Illinois, he recorded 93 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. He could’ve upped this number, as well, but Tennessee didn’t get the ball back on offense after his final touchdown with over seven minutes remaining.
This now puts Bishop over the 1,000-yard mark on the year. He is the third-straight back at Tennessee to do so, joining Dylan Sampson and Jaylen Wright.
Having Bishop back next year should give some needed offseason optimism, given his production and two remaining years of eligibility.
