Tennessee's hand, foot and mouth offense dooms the day
Saturday night may not have been the nadir for Tennessee football, but it was the most ‘Murphy’s Law’ game in Neyland Stadium history culminating in another miserable chapter of a once storied series.
Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong against a mediocre Florida team, as the Vols (2-2) went full Yosemite Sam in a 47-21 disastrous defeat to their division rival.
“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” starting center Ryan Johnson said.
No kidding.
The Vols had six turnovers Saturday, including two deep in their own territory in the first seven minutes of the game as quarterback Jarrett Guarantano had a fumble and a pick. In a flash, UF was up 14-0 and Tennessee never recovered. The slow starts continue to haunt the Vols in 2018, as they have yet to score a first quarter offensive touchdown in the Pruitt Era.
“It is the best warm up we had all year. Best warm up. Best look. We were not the same team that went out in Charlotte,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said.
“I do not know what happened in the first drive.”
They didn't block anybody. The same thing that happened the dozen or so drives, too.
Tennessee, now losers of 10 straight conference games, trailed by 20 points at halftime with a first half drive chart that read like a horror movie script.
FUMBLE
INT
DOWNS
FG
SAFETY
FUMBLE
FUMBLE
KNEEL DOWN
It didn’t get any better after the break either, as Tennessee went fumble, field goal, interception and punt on its first four possessions in the second half. Turnovers, negative plays and penalties like a delay of game on 3rd-and-10 in the red zone pretty much summed up Tennessee’s night.
The hand, foot and mouth disease of poor playcalling, horrible execution and basic ineptness doomed Tennessee on Saturday. It was a sickness and the miscues didn’t stop all night.
"We have to give ourselves a chance," Pruitt said.
Offensive coordinator Tyson Helton was painfully conservative all night, but especially in the first half. The Vols ran the ball on 13 of 15 first downs before halftime, averaging just 2.6 yards per carry against a rush defense that ranked No. 101 nationally entering the game. Yet even when Helton called a great play — UF was totally fooled on the 4th-and-1 play action pass to Austin Pope and the Vols max-protected on their first fumble — Tennessee’s players bumbled the execution.
Guarantano had a really tough evening, finishing 7 of 18 for 164 yards and two interceptions before being knocked out of the game on a dirty hit in the third quarter. Helton did his signal-caller little favors and Tennessee’s offensive line let Guarantano get battered all evening, but the second-year starter was wildly inaccurate at times and checked into several bad runs.
“When you continue to let people run and hit the quarterback in the back when he’s not looking, eventually he’s going to drop the ball,” Pruitt said on Guarantano’s turnovers.
“I think he’s a guy that’s going to be a really good quarterback one day. I like the way he’s growing into it. But we have to give the guy a chance a little bit. He can’t take as many hits when he’s not looking.
Tennessee’s bowl hopes may have crashed and burned before the calendar even turns to October, but if the Vols have any hope of playing in the postseason their offensive line must find a way to take a step forward.
Against a bad run defense, UT averaged just 2.9 yards per carry. There were also several poor snaps and nine tackles for loss allowed.
"We've got to wipe (the performance) clear," Johnson said.
"As an OL, that's a motto I take that to heart because you can't focus on the past because you'll drown in it."