Tennessee's 41-34 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon inside of Neyland Stadium was as maddening of a loss as a team could experience.

The Vols committed 13 penalties for 134 yards, marking the first time they surpassed 100 penalty yards in a game since they played Texas A&M in the 2005 Cotton Bowl. Personal foul calls, a block in the back, holding, false start, a celebration penalty — Tennessee committed every penalty imaginable.

“Ton of things that had an opportunity to change the football game," Vols head coach Josh Heupel explained following the game. "From communication side to turnovers to opportunities in the red zone that we didn’t take advantage of.

“We talked about it all week long. Understanding who Pitt is as a football team and where they’re at as a program, we didn’t want to look at the scoreboard until it ticked to zero. We’re going compete to the very last tick. I am proud of our football team. I think they did that. They weren’t perfect in how we competed. But we did compete."

As if the penalties weren't enough, Tennessee also turned the football over on three occasions.

Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker both fumbled as they were being sacked, and Hooker threw an interception on Tennessee's last possession of the game with the Vols down by just one score.

“It’s not who we’ve been,” Heupel said. “Taking our helmet off for a celebration early, changing the field position a little bit. Showed them things that happened across the country during our Monday meeting. 1st-and-7 on the goal line, not going in. Had a couple things transpire and kick the field goal. Had a bunch of things that we’ve got to be better at as competitors. Better composure. We talked about it before the game. Obviously we were not good in those moments. Personal fouls.

“The things that you can control, though, you can’t do. It changes the way the game is played. You add up all those little things, there are a lot of opportunities that change the scoreboard on both sides of it, offensively and defensively and special teams too. It’s disappointing we didn’t take advantage of some of those opportunities.”

Vols sophomore wide receiver Jimmy Calloway put it best when asked about the self-inflicted wounds, saying that when Tennessee wanted to move the ball, it did. The Vols were just behind the sticks far too often.

"Given how many mistakes we had last week, which was low, and this week, which was very high, it's not like us at all," senior defensive back Theo Jackson said. "We really have to lock in and just be more focused on the field and just play.”

"It's obvious what plays we left out there," senior tight end Jacob Warren added. "There are a lot of things you don't see that happens; not just quarterbacks over throwing people or people dropping the ball. There’s a lot of stuff on the interior and on the outside that people don't see. People are making mistakes, so we just have to clean that up and play better.”

Despite being frustrated with the end result and how things played out as the Vols dropped their first game of the season, there are silver-linings to takeaway as Heupel looks to continue to build.

Outside of the second quarter in which Tennessee allowed Pittsburgh to score 27 points as a result of the offense putting the defense in compromising positions, Tim Banks' unit contained the Pittsburgh offense, including several stops in the second half when they absolutely had to have one.

Offensively, despite being without Tiyon Evans, Cooper Mays and Jalin Hyatt, Heupel's unit had plenty of opportunities on the day and put up nearly 400 yards of offense.

It even appears the Vols may have found something at the quarterback position in Hooker after Milton left the game because of an injury late in the second quarter.

"Told them this, that this defines today, it doesn’t define the journey this football team is on," Heupel said. "I think it’s really important that they understand that. It’s just who we are in Week 2 against Pitt. There are a lot of things that are controllables, that we have an opportunity to get a whole lot better at. If we do, we can take better advantage of the opportunities we have in the future in the games that we have.

“We’re going to go back and watch the tape and evaluate everybody. We’ll evaluate the quarterback position as well. Evaluate everybody and how they played. Some of that may mean more opportunities for other guys. Some of it may be just cleaning up some things they can control and be better at.”