Tennessee football media guide has vacated wins under Jeremy Pruitt, but there's a catch

Tennessee revised its 2023 football media guide on Monday to note it was ordered by the NCAA to vacate two seasons of wins from fired coach Jeremy Pruitt's era. But those victories haven't been completely erased.
The scores of those 11 wins are still listed with an "Editor's Note" in bold type, which says victories were "vacated by the ruling of the NCAA Committee on Infractions penalty in July 2023."
And throughout the guide, there are two categories of results: On-field record and NCAA record.
UT is following an NCAA mandate as part of its five-year probation handed down on July 14. The Vols' official athletics website and all publications must reflect vacated victories, and the media guide is the most permanent representation of those changes.
The 2023 media guide originally was released at SEC Media Days on July 16. But it was submitted to the SEC office before UT received a decision from the NCAA Committee on Infractions. So this version, released just before the start of preseason practice on Wednesday, reflects the NCAA penalties.
All 11 wins in the 2019 and 2020 UT football seasons have been wiped from the NCAA record books because ineligible players appeared in those games.
How vacated wins change Jeremy Pruitt's record
In UT's media guide, the Vols' record has changed from 8-5 to 0-5 in 2019. And it changed from 3-7 to 0-7 in 2020. The games don’t change from wins to losses. And opponents don’t get to count them as wins. Instead, it’s as if they never happened.
Pruitt’s record at UT dropped from 16-19 to 5-19.
UT acknowledged that 16 players competed while ineligible in those wins because they were involved in any of the 200 infractions committed during Pruitt's tenure from 2018 to early 2021. The players' names were not included in the NCAA report, and they were redacted from UT's investigation documents.
Some of those players later had their eligibility reinstated, including a few as part of an immunity agreement in exchange for cooperation with the NCAA investigation. But any wins are vacated in which those players competed from the time they became ineligible through the time they were reinstated.
Wins still on the books if you look closely
Those victories aren't completely deleted from Vols history. The 2023 media guide lists UT's "on-field" record and NCAA record.
For example, UT's all-time record, according to the NCAA, has dropped to 856-410-53 because of vacated wins. That ranks No. 11 in college football history. But UT's all-time record on the field, the media guide notes, is 867-410-3, tied with Southern Cal for No. 10.
The Vols' record at Neyland Stadium and in bowl games have two versions, as well. Their win over Indiana in the 2019 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl was among the vacated victories.
UT's record versus specific opponents also has two versions. Under Pruitt, the Vols beat Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt in 2019 and 2020. Those six wins are reflected in the on-field records but not the NCAA record.
Opponents are not required to adjust their all-time record versus UT in their media guides.
The 2023 UT media guide lists both versions of results. Media outlets can choose how to make distinctions between the two in their coverage. And fans who witnessed those wins can remember them as they were or forget them all together.
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