Pruitt likes the onside kick. Something that the last 3 UT coaches rarely if ever used and when used, without success. If you go back and look at Pruitt's previous onside attempts, the only failed by a gnat's eyelash. I thought then, he's gonna have this work someday.
The locker room interviews with Tim Priest added more information. They interviewed both Eric Gray and Paxton Brooks. Both said they work in it every Thursday in practice. Paxton's interview was interesting in that he said (paraphrasing) - there is a lot of luck involved in an onside kick. The ball has to take that hop up in the air and sometimes it doesn't happen. Also said that as a kicker, you have to start the motion as if you are going to kick deep to get the element of surprise, and the hard part is, adjusting the stride to do the onside. They saw a gap in the way IU lined up and the call was on . Not sure if it was recognized on previous kicks and they had it in there pocket to use, or if it was called real time.
Thing is- it worked. And it worked about as perfect as could be expected. We blame Pruitt and coaching when things go wrong, but how about giving him coaching credit when things go right. This didn't just happen without a ton of practice going into it. Bottom line, it changed an L to a W. I'll take it.
