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Upon Further Review: Fire and fury

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jeremy Pruitt might be a ‘Bama boy, but Tennessee’s head coach managed to galvanize his team and Big Orange Nation in a 22-point loss on Saturday night against his alma mater.

College football is weird sometimes.

A year after allowing the most points ever inside Neyland Stadium, the Vols headed to No. 1 Alabama as a five-touchdown underdog and were down 7-zip in a flash. Following a pair of self-inflicted errors, they handed the ball immediately back to Tua Tagovailoa, and it looked like Katy, bar the door time for Tennessee once again.

But maybe, just maybe, Pruitt’s teams will prove to be different than his predecessors.

Unlike most of the last 12 Tennessee squads to lose to the Tide, Pruitt’s bunch punched back. They weren’t afraid of the big, bad elephants in Crimson and White. Tennessee didn’t always play smart. It didn’t always execute. But the Vols are getting closer. They’re getting better.

After last season’s 37-point loss to Alabama, Pruitt said, “There’s not a magical pill you take. Either you learn to compete hard every single play or you got to be replaced. If they’re not in our program now, then we got to go get them. When we get a team full of guys who want to play the right way all the time, then we’ll look like that team.”

They didn’t look all that different for stretches Saturday night. When’s the last time Tennessee did *this* to Alabama?

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The Tide are still deeper, faster, and better overall than the Vols. Clearly. But they also looked much more human without their straw that stirs the drink. Tennessee knows all too well what that’s like, too. They’ve been sipping that sour cocktail for years now.

It goes without saying that Tagovailoa's absence had a huge impact on the game, but moving forward, Tennessee's quarterback play will determine whether or not the Vols ultimately climb out of their 2-5 hole and go bowling.

The moral victory cup has runneth over. The rest of the slate is manageable.

This isn’t the team that no-showed against Georgia State. The Vols traded blows with the No. 1 team in the country, and they don’t face another Alabama the rest of the season.

Pruitt’s sideline fire and fury drew plenty of ire, but if the Vols are truly turning the corner and mad about the missed opportunities to upset one of the best program's in college football history, then Saturday night should be the ignition for Tennessee’s turnaround to end Year 2.

THE STARTING 11

Each week, I’ll rewatch the tape so you don’t have to. Here’s a skinny dozen of quick-hitters, analysis and final thoughts…

1. Rapid report card grades!

QB: C

RB: B+

WR: C

TE: D

OL: B

DL: C

LB: C

DB: B

ST: C

2. Five guys (or units) who played well Saturday night

A. LG Trey Smith

B. FS Nigel Warrior

C. RB Tim Jordan

D. NT Greg Emerson

E. C Brandon Kennedy

Once again, Smith was Tennessee’s best player on Saturday night. I thought Kennedy was strong in the run game as well. After gaining fewer than 32 rushing yards total in two of the last three meetings against Alabama, the Vols eclipsed that total on one run to the left (Jordan’s 33 yard rush) and finished with 137. Smith and Kennedy’s play also opened up some cut back lanes that both Chandler and Jordan took advantage of.

Jordan ran with vision and power, churning out 63 yards after contact — the second-most by a Tennessee tailback this season. Pruitt is looking for a tailback to move the pile forward and Jordan did that Saturday.

Defensively, Warrior had the key goal line interception (although not scoring on that play was a shining example of the divergence of team speed), while Emerson was Tennessee’s most disruptive defensive lineman, in my opinion. Before getting dinged up, Darel Middleton had a solid night, too.

3. Five guys (or units) who’d like Saturday night back

A. QB Jarrett Guarantano

B. P Joe Doyle

C. Tennessee’s inside linebackers

D. DE Matthew Butler

E. Tennessee’s tight ends

The goal line fumble will be the hammer clip in Tennessee’s Yosemite Sam in memoriam montage from the last 12 years. But that wasn’t Guarantano’s only poor play of the night. He missed Jauan Jennings on a gotcha-double move on 3rd-and-20 for a would-be touchdown.

You can't miss that throw. Guarantano was late on several other throws, including a shot play to Tim Jordan on a wheel route.

It’s 1-on-1 coverage here, with the safety rotating late. Two Tennessee receivers run into each other, and that’s where Guarantano was looking, instead of the matchup on the perimeter. Jim Chaney did a nice job going empty and the flexing into various formations forced Alabama to show its hand. They generated several explosive plays out of similar looks, yet here, Guarantano doesn’t even look Jordan’s way.

Doyle was benched after another shaky punt, while unsurprisingly, Tennessee’s inside linebackers had issues against Alabama’s passing game. Quavaris Crouch ran to the ball hard, but he was lost in space, both as a tackler and in coverage. Alabama completed four of five targets on Crouch. Daniel Bituli was ejected on a bang-bang play, but he also had difficulties getting the defense lined up in the first half. There were multiple instances when Alabama was already running downhill (see: second TD drive) when Tennessee wasn’t ready at the snap. The play after the targeting call, Alabama caught the Vols completely confused with Bituli off the field. Henry To’oto’o didn’t make a significant impact after halftime and JJ Peterson showed why he’s been buried on the depth chart despite the unit’s lack of bodies.

Talk about being frozen in coverage.

I didn’t include Darnell Wright here this week, as the freshman did create some nice cut-back lanes in the run game, but Tennessee’s right tackle did commit several false starts and was abused twice for sacks.

4. A final word on Guarantano and the goal line fumble that will live in infamy: Tennessee ran the identical play on back-to-back downs. That isn’t up for dispute, despite the postgame rhetoric.

Upon review, it’s clear that Guarantano made a hot-call for the same play. The Vols don’t actually huddle. The offensive line sprinted to the ball … and then for some reason, Guarantano didn’t run the play he had just called. Simply inexplicable.

And yet, Pruitt opted not to two throw Guarantano under the bus postgame because I believe No. 2 will likely start against South Carolina. Brian Maurer has suffered two concussions in eight days. It would seem irresponsible to play the freshman next week. The staff does not have any faith JT Shrout can run the offense (or even get the plays off on a consistent basis). Despite conventional wisdom, we probably haven’t seen Guarantano’s final snap for the Vols just yet.

As for Pruitt's sideline interaction with Guarantano, I don't have a strong opinion. Tennessee's head coach overstepped there, but it wasn't egregious and the aftermath simply allows folks to sprint to their corner and die on whatever hill. It was notable on Twitter how many ex-NFL players did take exception with Pruitt grabbing the facemask, including ESPN's Marcus Spears, who I know really likes Tennessee's head coach.

5-8. I wrote about the shoddy officiating late last night, so I won’t belabor the point too much, other than to highlight four completely strange calls — or no calls — that had a key impact on the outcome of the game.

The Phantom of The Capstone: A play in four acts

ACT I

ACT II

ACT III

ACT IV

And curtains!

Todd McShay, who took plenty of heat postgame for smoking a cigar, did have a great quote during the broadcast when he was asked why the officials inexplicably stopped the clock just before Tennessee was going to run a trick play.

“Because we’re in Tuscaloosa.”

It’s as good an explanation as any.

There was no hold on Wanya Morris, although perhaps the official meant to say Tim Jordan, who might’ve hooked the defensive back.

Taylor gets flagged for footballing, while the no-call on Jennings was particularly bad because of the way the refs had called the rest of the game. Both sides were penalized for pass interference, including much-less handsy plays than Carter being drapped on Jennings’ back.

Again, I am not of the opinion that the officials were the reason Tennessee lost, but critical decisions by the refs did have a hand in various turning points of the game.

9. A couple interesting defensive personnel notes from Saturday. I noticed live that John Mincey was in the rotation a bunch, but the sophomore end easily played a season-high in snaps with Latrell Bumphus out. I thought Mincey was effective at times, too.

Theo Jackson appeared to get benched in favor of freshman Jaylen McCollough. ‘Tank’ delivered a smashing sack on a perfectly-executed blitz.

Once Matt Jones entered the game, the Vols were able to get much more aggressive, leading to several QB hits and some TFLs.

Elsewhere, Kenneth George got a lot of run as Bryce Thompson was ineffective (he allowed four receptions) and was later banged up.

10. I call this the Red Rover defense...

...Tennessee has seven guys 10 yards off the ball, and yes, Alabama got a first down on this play.

11. The last word: Pruitt's new anthem: Waddle with me, waddle with me, waddle with me.

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