To begin his Monday press conference, Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel quoted legendary Vols coach Robert Neyland.

"General Neyland probably said it best," said Heupel. "'The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.' We did obviously not play to that standard on Saturday. Everybody in the building is disappointed. You can still sense it from the players today, the disappointment and hurt."

Coming off the loss to Florida, mistakes have been the key topic of discussion. It's one thing if you lose a game to the better team, but Tennessee believes that it beat itself.

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After every game, Heupel and his staff count these mistakes. They look for self-inflicted wounds coming in multiple forms. Whether it's simple plays that need to be made or penalties, the team looks to erase as many avoidable errors as possible.

Over the past two weeks, Tennessee hasn't been satisfied with its production in this category, though.

"You look at, offensively in particular, we total self-inflicted wounds, that can be penalties, that can be unforced errors, that can be communication," said Heupel. "Our percentage is way too high. It was on Saturday and it really was the week before, too. So, that's why you move the ball at times but you don't have very many points. We've got to clean that up. Can't beat yourself."

Who is to blame for this lack of discipline, though?

Heupel isn't afraid to point fingers at himself and his coaching staff, but he also is looking for his players to step up.

By the end of the match, the Vols had racked up 10 penalties for a total of 79 yards. Many of the infractions came on avoidable pre-snap penalties due to a lack of communication.

"You can't let one play affect another," said Heupel. "That certainly happened during the course of the first half in particular. Communication, things can't transpire that way. That's us coaching being better, that's players being better, it's better up front. At the end of the day, we've got to find a solution to it.

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"I told the players this today, too. It's not the big things. Those are big things don't get me wrong, but it's the subtle details in everything that we're doing. Everybody can't take their turn of being off. We've got to become a unit that plays 11 together all the times. Defensively, too, particularly in the first half. We're fully capable. We need to take a step forward quickly."

An area that the avoidable errors were prevalent were in the red zone. The Vols did a solid job marching the ball down the field but stalled out on the Gators' half.

With less field to work with, ensuring that communication is on point and you're not hurting yourself is even more important.

While Heupel's teams are typically extremely efficient when knocking on the door, this year has been different.

"The efficiency in the red zone, the lack of it, and it's been a huge part of our success since we've gotten here, directly correlates to the self-inflicted wounds I was talking about," said Heupel. "You can't beat yourself. You're playing a good opponent. In a boxing match, they're going to hit you once in a while. You've got to hit back. You can't just give them free reign. When you put yourself in those types of situations, man, it's really tough to overcome."

Now, Tennessee will face UTSA in an out-of-conference match before facing even more strong SEC opponents. Despite their slow start to the year, the Roadrunners can't be overlooked, though.

If the Vols continue to beat themself and don't take advantage of the breaks in the game, they could find themself in another early hole.

"It's not a game of unlimited opportunities," said Heupel. "You've got to maximize them. You can't put yourself in 1st-and-20 and try to play ball."

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