One day, “Champions of Life,” “Five-Star Hearts” and “Leadership Reps” will be etched into Butch Jones’ coaching tombstone, but it’s two perfectly benign slogans — Own It and D.A.T. Way — that ultimately exemplify Jones’ current undoing at Tennessee.

A head coach who takes responsibility? Details and Accountability?

Uh, Bueller?

After Saturday’s 15-9 loss to South Carolina, Jones remains the Volunteers’ head football coach. For how much longer is unclear after Jones dropped a game many of note deemed critical for his future.

The Vols are 3-3. They haven’t scored a touchdown in 10 quarters. They’ve dropped seven of their last nine conference games and are staring at a date with the Bama buzzsaw next Saturday.

What’s Coughlin’s Law from Cocktail? “Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn’t end.”

There’s a joylessness around this football team right now, and it starts with Jones. Three weeks ago, Tennessee suffered a 41-0 beatdown at home to No. 5 Georgia, but hysteria on Rocky Top has hit its crescendo because Saturday’s loss was arguably worse.

For the second straight year, Tennessee had two weeks to prepare for a mediocre South Carolina team … and lost.

Effort wasn’t the issue. Execution, especially by the staff, was once again the problem.

Failing to call a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty inside the red zone? That’s coaching.

Zero halftime adjustments for the third straight week? That’s coaching.

Calling two obvious under-center, play-action rollouts that killed drives? That’s coaching.

Not spiking the football with a new quarterback and less than 30 seconds on the clock? That’s coaching.

And yet, afterward, it was the players — redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, senior offensive lineman Brett Kendrick and junior defensive end Kyle Phillips — who took responsibility for the defeat.

Earlier this week, Jones praised his team’s improvement during the open date and called it “one of the best bye weeks we’ve ever had.” Prompted postgame on how the preparation didn’t translate to the team's performance Saturday, Jones snapped back, “Did we not play a good football team? That’s a good football team.”

No South Carolina is not a good team, and clearly, neither is Tennessee.

Own It.

Details. Accountability. Toughness.

Those are nothing but empty expressions right now.

THE STARTING 11

A skinny dozen of quick-hitters and final thoughts…

1. The Dead Zone. Tennessee’s red zone numbers this year are ghastly. They entered Saturday’s game No. 112 nationally in red zone offense and that ranking will drop even further following another disastrous performance.

Tennessee’s already bad offense craters once it crosses opponents’ 20-yard line. The Vols had four drives inside the red zone and came away with just three field goals.

Worse, the Vols ran eight plays inside the six-yard line and had two penalties for -10 yards, two rushes for -2 yards, an 8-yard sack and three incompletions.

The lone positive play was a pass interference in the end zone that put the ball at the 2-yard line.

The Vols could’ve — should’ve — jumped out to a nice halftime lead but inexplicable calls — like a sprint-rollout to the boundary — thwarted scoring opportunities.

Guarantano should've thrown the ball out of bounds there, but that play was doomed from the start. And that was a theme throughout Saturday.

And yet, Tennessee somehow gave itself a chance to win late in the game, as Guarantano engineered a one-minute drive down to South Carolina’s goal line. The Vols raced down to the Chicken’s 14-yard line when Marquez Callaway caught a quick slant for first down on 3rd-and-2.

Then everything unraveled. Again.

Instead of immediately spiking the football with 22 seconds remaining, Tennessee opted to line up and call a play with a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first-career start. Jones said afterwards they “thought about spiking the football” but didn’t because “we only lost a few seconds because we lined up so fast.”

Few? The tape says otherwise. Tennessee lost between 8-9 precious seconds, not snapping it again until the 12-second mark. Guarantano threw a fade for an interference call but the decision cost Tennessee two plays.

The calls thereafter were just as bad.

On first down, Guarantano narrowly avoided a sack that would’ve ended the game. He felt immediate pressure and had just a single receiver running a true route. Callaway is only a decoy here. Once again, this play had no chance from the snap. A fade to one of your smallest receivers from the far hash?

On second down, Guarantano gets lucky that the ball is tipped or otherwise the game probably ends on a normal incompletion. The clock operator deserves an assist for giving Tennessee a final opportunity, too.

Lastly, Tennessee runs a wide-side, sprint-rollout on the final play of the game. They run a pick-play (where the wideouts don't align properly) instead of giving John Kelly the football. Jones said they considered it, but opted to keep the ball in Guarantano’s hands. Did they give Guarantano a run-pass option? No.

South Carolina stacked the box daring Tennessee to throw the ball against its combo-coverage on the outside. The Vols obliged.

Guarantano made a great effort throwing across his body but football slipped through Brandon Johnson’s hands.

Game over.

2. Guarantano showed some promise in his first-career start. He was 11-of-18 for 133 yards. He was sacked seven times, several due to holding the football too long. He was fortunate to avoid a couple turnovers on fumbles.

Still, the redshirt freshman’s legs did provide an added element to the offense. Discounting sacks, Guarantano had 10 rushes for 44 yards. He escaped the pocket on several 3rd-downs for 1st-down conversions. He displayed his arm talent with this rocket throw on the move.

Playcalling and continued struggles by the receivers did Guarantano few favors, though. JG had mostly one or two read throws every time, and it can’t be overstated how bad Tennessee’s receivers are right now.

I wish we had the All-22 film because on the TV-tape they’re in the Witness Protection Program. You can’t find them. Tennessee’s quarterbacks — Quinten Dormady at first and now Guarantano — are being asked to make perfect throws into tight windows because the wideouts cannot routinely get separation.

3. In the first quarter, Tennessee had eight first downs, 100 yards rushing and six points. The decision to try a trick-play when the offense was actually working was particularly odd, especially considering the unit was having success running the ball at that point only to be stuck in the mud for the majority of the next three quarters.

After the opening period, the Vols had eight first downs and just 20 rushing yards the rest of the game combined. Milk toast playcalling certainly didn’t help matters.

4. Kelly ripped off a 24-yard run where he George Foreman’d a South Carolina defender.

The junior had 46 yards on his first four carries, only to gain 12 yards on 12 carries the rest of the afternoon. Kelly touched the football just four times after halftime. Ty Chandler dazzled on one play Saturday, but the offense’s inability to stay on the field once again limited the freshman’s touches.

5. Tennessee had a 10-play stretch in the first half where the offense gained: 0, -2, -10, 1, 0, 0, 0, -5, 8 and 2 yards for a net of -6 yards. Before the final drive of the game, the Vols went 3-and-out, effectively 3-and-out (a five-play drive saved by a penalty on a sack), 3-and-out and 3-and-out.

6. From the start of the third quarter until its final drive, Tennessee’s lone first down was the result of a penalty. The Vols had five total yards of offense. Seriously, which unit is worse?

7. Brent Cimaglia deserves praise for stepping up and hitting all three field goals on short notice. Tennessee’s kickoff team didn’t miss a beat without Aaron Medley, either, as the freshman booted three of four kickoffs for touchbacks.

8. Let’s talk Tennessee’s defense.

On a day like Saturday, it’s kind of like an “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” topic, but Bob Shoop’s unit had a nice afternoon overall. Jake Bentley couldn’t get anything going and was forced to rush lots of throws (15-of-24 for 129 yards) due to pressure. Jonathan Kongbo forced one sack with an assist from Kahlil McKenzie.

Quart’e Sapp and Rashaan Gaulden were constantly around the line of scrimmage and Nigel Warrior did a nice job helping bottle up tight end Hayden Hurst. Kyle Phillips flashed a lot before admittedly running out of gas in the second half.

South Carolina was 0-for-6 to start the game on 3rd-downs, and Tennessee stoned the Gamecocks on a 4th-and-1 just across midfield late in the second quarter.

9. And yet, as it has been repeated each week, depth remains a burden for Tennessee’s defense. They play hard, but Shoop simply doesn’t have the bodies or trust in younger players to rotate much at all.

Phillips rarely left the field, playing defensive end on all standard downs and sliding in to tackle on 3rd downs or in Tennessee’s dime defense. Matthew Butler got caught flat-footed on South Carolina’s lone touchdown, and a lack of speed at the second level couldn’t erase the mistake.

With its starting tailback injured early in the game, South Carolina’s No. 122 rushing attack still had 149 yards in the second half as Tennessee’s defense tired. After controlling the line of scrimmage in the first half, the Vols couldn’t get off the field on 3rd downs, allowing SC to convert five straight at one point in the second half.

With a gassed unit, Quay Piccuo actually got a couple snaps at DT and Shoop tried to create plays with pressure, calling three straight boundary blitzes to no avail.

Twice, the calls were perfect but Tennessee’s defense simply didn’t make the tackle.

10. Gaulden remains Tennessee’s best player not named John Kelly. Period. He finished with a team-high 10 tackles, 1 TFL and was great in coverage.

11. Lastly, Jones is clearly on the precipice of the firing line. John Currie most certainly did not enter this season wanting to hire a new football coach. Even after the blowout loss to Georgia, Jones’ job remained fairly secure.

But you know what’s worse than “Fire Butch Jones” T-shirts, websites and Twitter avatars? Opponents’ fans wearing “Keep Butch Jones” shirts in your own stadium mocking your head coach.

It’s time to dial up that 1-800 Life Alert number. In my opinion, it’s over. I don’t see how Jones recovers from this start. The Vols were a fringe Top 25 to open the season and now folks are questioning bowl eligibility.

Perhaps Jones will be given every opportunity to right the ship, but it sure seems like the Vol Navy has already gassed up a boat for him to leave town.