For the first time since becoming Tennessee’s head coach, Jeremy Pruitt sounded and looked tired.

After a 37-point loss to his former school, Pruitt was naturally frustrated, sure, but the first-year head coach truly seemed exasperated more than anything.

How did Tennessee — Tennessee — get to this point?

“I think our guys have turned the corner on how they practice and how they compete,” Pruitt said. “But it takes more than seven on defense and five on offense.”

Over the last 10 months, Pruitt has mostly filtered his thoughts on the current roster, but getting waxed by No. 1 Alabama popped the cork. Whether it was halftime or postgame, Pruitt made it known this program needs a fumigator to get rid of the stench still lingering from the previous regime.

“There’s not a magical pill you take. Either you learn to compete hard every single play or you got to be replaced," Pruitt said.

"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.”

I’m not sure any team will look like Alabama anytime soon, but the more pertinent challenge right now for Pruitt is that he can’t just trade for 25 new guys tomorrow. To become bowl eligible, Tennessee is going to need (and rely) on some players who clearly don’t fit Pruitt’s preferences. Pruitt’s comments yesterday were biting yet true. He’s said his peace now, though.

A week ago at Auburn, this staff got more guys than not on this same team to “do it the right way.”

They need to figure out how to do that again.

Tennessee — its players and coaches — need to take a plunger to Saturday’s game and flush it, because if they let it linger it could spoil the rest of the 2018 season.

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: C-

WR: C

TE: D

OL: F

DL: D

LB: D

DB: D

ST: D

2. When you lose by 37 and allow the most points ever in Neyland Stadium, there’s not a lot of positives to be had. Still, here are five guys who I thought played pretty well Saturday.

A. Jauan Jennings

B. Keller Chryst

C. Baylen Buchanan

D. Emmitt Gooden

E. Chance Hall

Jennings was super reliable on 3rd and 4th down once again, while Chryst played fairly solidly in relief. I’ll be curious how the PFF grades shake out, but Hall looked like Tennessee’s best interior OL, per my eyes. He’s not the same player he was three years ago, but he looks the best option Tennessee has there. The question is, how many snaps can he hold up for?

Kyle Phillips had the splash play with the tipped pick-six, but the senior was pushed backwards in the run game and was non-existent as a pass rusher. However, Gooden routinely found himself near the football, especially in run support. He had more solo tackles (3) than starters Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Shy Tuttle had combined (zero). Finally, Buchanan is clearly a guy Pruitt likes and believes in. He’s limited physically, but he does what he’s asked to do. He played multiple positions Saturday, and was the team’s best defensive back, whether in coverage or as a blitzer.

3. Phillips’ interception return deserves another look. Again, the senior didn’t play particularly well Saturday, but this was an outstanding individual effort following Buchanan’s tipped pass.

4. Five guys who’d like to have a do-over Saturday.

A. Tennessee’s linebackers not named Daniel Bituli

B. Matthew Butler

C. Marquill Osborne

D. Ryan Johnson

E. Jerome Carvin

5. By my count, Tennessee played five different offensive line combinations on Saturday — and that’s with Trey Smith and Drew Richmond seeing all 56 snaps at left and right tackle, respectively. The Vols shuffled their guards constantly, with Hall, Jerome Carvin, Nathan Niehaus and Riley Locklear all seeing snaps. Everyone wants to know if Tennessee’s struggles are due to protection, missed assignments, simply getting whipped physically?

It’s all the above.

“We had seven blocking four sometimes and he still got hit, so I don’t know,” Pruitt said on Tennessee’s protection issues. “Either we didn’t play with good technique and block them, or they whipped us. One of the two.”

Tennessee was having issues max-protecting at times Saturday, and while we don’t know all the calls, it didn’t look like Jarrett Guarantano slid the protection the right way multiple times. It seems notable that Guarantano was sacked three times and hit on several other throws, while Chryst took just two real blows (one on his touchdown strike to Tyler Byrd). Guarantano has clearly improved this season, but he still seems to struggle to read the game and make quick decisions. He survived some big hits last week at Auburn, but he was knocked out of his second straight straight home game.

The sack-fumble was a very similar blitz look as the sack-fumble against Florida. Once again, Tennessee seems to slide the protection away from the quarterback’s blind side, even though the deep safety is tipping off the blitz with his alignment. Carvin goes the wrong way, but was that his bust or a mistake in protection?

6. With Chryst in the game, Tennessee certainly looked like it opened up the playbook a bit more. Even Pruitt acknowledged on his coach’s show that the Vols surprised Alabama with a couple looks in the second quarter. The flea-flicker was well-executed, but the touchdown pass to Chandler was a really well-designed play. Eli Wolf set a perfect screen without actually engaging the safety for a pick. Deontae Thompson had to take a merry-go-round route to the tailback, allowing Chandler a walk-in touchdown.

7. Mistakes were made.

“A lot of that had to do with Alabama, but a lot of that had to do with Tennessee, too.”

In the first quarter alone, Tennessee had six missed tackles, a busted coverage for a long touchdown, two missed assignments in pass protection leading to sack-fumble and three personal foul penalties. That won’t get it done against Vanderbilt, much less the best team in the country.

Tennessee had fixed its self-inflicted errors since the Florida game, but back home, the undisciplined mistakes returned. Yes, Alabama got away with multiple egregious penalties. That’s inarguable. But like Pruitt, I watched Alontae Taylor straight up hit a guy right in the helmet. That was stupid.

The errors weren’t limited to dumb penalties, though. Tennessee botched another onside kick. Ty Chandler messed up the opening kickoff of the second half, leading to a safety when Hall stepped on Chryst’s foot. Later in the third quarter, Tennessee finished a nice 14-play drive with zero points after it screwed up a tunnel screen to Chandler. The timing on the play was totally off between the OL and the tailback, and the ball ended up hitting Riley Locklear dead in the back. Brent Cimgalia missed the field goal on the next snap. Finally, Nigel Warrior dropped an interception for what seems like the fourth straight week.

I think this deserves mentioning, too, though: Tennessee’s coaches weren’t great Saturday, either. The team came out flat again (that's on them, IMO) and there were multiple instances where the play-call was sent in way too late. The Vols had to burn a timeout in the first half because Guarantano didn’t get the signal until there were less than eight seconds on that play clock. That’s poor management.

8. Pruitt lamented Tennessee’s lack of pressure during his coach’s show, but the Vols also allowed couple big plays just rushing three and dropping eight. I predicted on Friday that the Vols would play more zone against Tua Tagovailoa. They did, but it didn’t work. The four-man fronts weren’t any more effective either though.

Against a zone-look, Tua dropped an absolute missile to Jaylen Waddle for a 77-yard score. Nigel Warrior and Bryce Thompson were victimized on the play, but they got little help from their teammates, as Tua easily stepped up in the pocket and threw a dart to Waddle, running all the way across the formation.

9. A JJ Peterson sighting.

Pruitt said he’d play the freshman linebacker when he was ready, and that was Saturday, evidently. Peterson was on special teams and made his first-career tackle on kickoff coverage.

10. Tennessee has been fairly healthy this season, especially compared to previous years, but after a brutal gauntlet, the Vols are starting to get beat up physically. Jonathan Kongbo and Brandon Kennedy are the only two starters out for the season, but on Saturday, Josh Palmer (head), Jarrett Guarantano (ribs) and Shawn Shamburger (knee) all exited with injuries. Meanwhile, Dominick Wood-Anderson (hamstring), Micah Abernathy (ankle), Trevon Flowers (shoulder) and Jordan Murphy (undisclosed) didn’t play at all.

11. Tennessee will likely be more than touchdown underdog at South Carolina. Despite Saturday’s whipping, the Vols can still win that game and change the narrative of their season again. They plan on it, too.

“I think we can win out,” Kyle Phillips said. “And that’s what we’re going to try to do.”