GAINESVILLE, FLA — Tennessee fell victim to self-inflicted wounds once again on Saturday night in the Swamp, losing to No. 11 Florida 38-14 in Josh Heupel's first SEC game as head coach.

The Vols only trailed by three at halftime, 17-14, but were out-scored 21-0 in the second half as the Gators tallied 292 yards of offense. Florida averaged 9.8 yards per play over the final 30 minutes.

Tennessee had plenty of opportunities to make it a close game in the fourth quarter, but penalties and dropped passes prevented them from doing so. The Vols handled communicating in the hostile environment early on. They then went on to commit 10 penalties for 85 yards.

"Extremely disappointing that the second half unfolded the way that it did," Heupel said following the game. "Thought we competed and responded extremely well in the first half, all three phases of the game.

"Didn’t take advantage of certain opportunities. Didn’t play smart football down the stretch. Not a question of wanting to as we came out of the tunnel for the second half. But obviously not being good enough competitors, smart enough competitors to go play the way we need to against a good football team.”

Drops were an issue throughout the contest. It caught Heupel off-guard, stating that he didn't "anticipate" drops being an issue because it's not something that had been an issue in practice.

Penalties, however, continue to be an issue. It played a significant role in the loss to Pittsburgh and did so once against in Gainesville.

“The two (penalties) on special teams, disappointing," Heupel said. "Hitting the guy that is catching the football early. And the unsportsmanlike conduct during the course of the play. Two things that you can’t do. Can’t take away from the effort of what everybody else on the football team is doing.

"Couple penalties on offense that hurt you in situational football. Had some moving parts up front that played a little bit of a part of that. But at the end of the day, you have to go execute. Didn’t do a good enough job of that in the second half.”

Emory Jones did whatever, whenever

Tennessee couldn't contain Florida quarterback Emory Jones. The signal-caller for the Gators threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns on 21-for-27 passing. He added a team-high and career-high 144 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Jones joined Tim Tebow as the only two quarterbacks in team history to throw for 200 yards and also rush for 100 yards in a game.

"I think you're seeing him really settling down," Florid coach Dan Mullen said. "He did a great job of managing our offense and getting us into our plays."

"Every game I'm getting more confident and trying to build that," Jones added. "I'm just warming up, honestly."

Vols a different-looking team?

Dan Mullen thinks so.

“That was a different-looking team than I saw last year, to be honest with you,” Mullen said. “How they played, the intensity, the toughness, the physicalness they played with, you know, I give them some credit. I think they’re a much-improved football team."

There's definitely evidence to support Mullen's theory. Tennessee made plenty of plays throughout the first half to prove to be more than competitive. And the Vols even moved the ball at times in the second half as well until the previously mentioned self-inflicted wounds doomed them.

“I think you look at them as a physical group, physical on both sides of the ball,” Mullen said. “Some good athletes. Their quarterback, I thought, played really well today — hit some shots, creating big plays. They're an explosive type of offense, and you can see that the improvements they've made in one year and what Coach Heupel's doing with them in how those guys play.”

How can Tennessee close the gap?

So how does Tennessee close the gap between itself and the Gators? In everything the Vols do according to Heupel.

“There are plenty of plays out there for us as coaches and players to close the gap tonight," Heupel said. "It’s who we are and continue to develop as we build this program. It’s in recruiting too. But we have to continue to grow. We’re in a race against ourselves. I said it last week. I said it the week before that. There are things for us to do that we can be better than what we showed in the second half, in particular.”

Other Tidbits

- Heupel's clock management before halftime was a point of controversy last night. He admitted afterwards that he regretted staying in tempo just before the half.

“Wanted to stay in tempo," Heupel explained. "That was just a choice by me. They got the ball spotted a little bit sooner than I anticipated. But felt like we had a chance to hit a shot down the seam on them and catch those guys out of position. Didn’t hit it. Felt like we had to go kick the field goal at the point of where we were at. Had a couple of issues with our snaps and that type of thing. You’re right on the fringe of his range and chose to take the field goal at that point.”

- Hendon Hooker started at quarterback for the Vols. He completed 13 of his 21 pass attempts for 221 yards and two touchdowns, while not turning the football over. Heupel said he saw a "ton of positives" in Hooker's performance.

"I thought Hendon played hard, competed," Heupel said. "Made some big-time plays inside of the pocket. Used his feet. Opportunistic. Had a play or two down the field that we didn’t connect on. I thought he handled the noise and the communication, for the most part, in a really positive way during the course of the game. Handled the ups and downs and continued to fight and compete and do it in a positive way, on the sideline and in the game too. Ton of positives there."

- As for Joe Milton, Heupel said that they wanted to avoid playing the Michigan transfer if he could.

- As for Jimmy Calloway's crucial drop on a fourth down in the third quarter, Heupel explained that if you want to beat a team like Florida, you simply can't allow that to happen.

"“You’ve got Calloway on a simple drag route that has a chance to pick up the first down and maybe go the distance," Heupel said. "We’re in a fourth-and-short, in a unique situations having moved centers, and end up in a delay of game there. Feel like you have to punt the football. Some unique things that unfolded that you can’t do. If you want to win against a really good football team like this, you just can’t do it as a program. So we have to get better.”

- Heupel was pleased with Tennessee's running game for the most part. Jabari Small, who returned from injury, averaged 5.4 yards per carry, while Tiyon Evans averaged 4.5 yards, respectively. The duo combined for 109 rushing yards on 22 carries.

“I thought (Jabari Small) played and competed hard during the course of the game tonight," Heupel said. "Got a lot of production out of him. Again, the second half on those drives, I thought we did a great job consistently running the football and picking up nickels and really more than that at times. Thought they ran with great pad level and strain and effort. Thought we moved the line of scrimmage in the second half. Thought we didn’t do it consistently enough in the first half. A couple of those drives where we didn’t get it started. But we’ll go back and watch the video and see more.”

- Vols senior defensive back Alontae Taylor promised after the game that this team isn't going to fall apart after a 2-2 start to the season like last year's team did.

"We won't fall apart this year," Taylor said. "You can quote me on that."

Stats to know

- Saturday’s attendance at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium: 88,478

- Saturday was the 51st meeting between Tennessee and Florida. With the win, the Gators improved to 31-20 against Tennessee and 16-5 in Gainesville.

- Hendon Hooker has now throw two touchdowns in three straight games for the first time in his career.

- Alontae Taylor's forced fumble was Tennessee's first of the season and also was the first fumble recovery for the Vols.

- Jimmy Calloway made his first career start against Florida. He's the 11th first-time starter for the Vols this season.

- Tiyon Evan's 47-yard receiving touchdown in the first quarter was the first of his career and his longest catch in four games at Tennessee.

- Cedric Tillman finished with a career-high three catches.

- Trevon Flowers (15), Jeremy Banks (8), Aaron Beasley (6), Ja'Quain Blakely (5) and Roman Harrison (4) all finished with a career-high in tackles.

Box Score

Post Game Interviews

Up Next

Tennessee now turns its attention to Missouri. The Vols will travel to Columbia next Saturday for a 12 p.m. ET kickoff on the SEC Network. Mizzou (2-2, 0-1 SEC) is coming off of a 41-34 loss in overtime at Boston College.

Missouri has opened as three-point favorites over Tennessee.