Upon Further Review: Perfunctory with a dollop of progress?

Sometimes, the scoreboard lies.

Plenty of folks leaving Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon had the same concerns.

Only three touchdowns against UTEP? No takeaways? Didn’t UNLV put up a 50 burger on the Miners?

Yes, Tennessee’s 24-0 shutout was ugly but certainly not uninformative.

The Miners never threatened the Vols on Saturday, and the margin of victory didn’t equate the disparity on the stat sheet — 512 total yards to 134 — because of self-inflicted errors by Tennessee.

A goal line fumble and chop block wiped away two touchdowns. The Vols also muffed a punt and dropped two interceptions.

Through three games, this is Tennessee’s identity in 2018: Inconsistency.

The Vols flashed for a quarter against West Virginia, but whited after halftime. There were mostly highs a week ago, but the offensive line still struggled to generate continued push against an FCS front.

On Saturday, they Vols got in their own way over and over. Penalties, turnovers and sloppy missed assignments turned a blowout in a shoulder-shrugging snoozer.

“We wouldn’t beat many SEC teams playing like that,” head coach Jeremy Pruitt said.

The Vols aren’t expected to beat many SEC teams anyways, but they certainly won’t if they won’t learn to quell the mistakes.

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: B+

RB: B+

WR: B

TE: B

OL: C+

DL: B+

LB: B+

DB: A

ST: B

2. Tennessee has been mostly vanilla offensively this season, but Saturday it teased a few new wrinkles throughout the game. The Vols constantly shifted personnel groupings, running more than a dozen different sets on their first 19 plays of the game.

Here’s a quick look at the personnel units in the first quarter alone…

10 Personnel — 1 snap (flexed into empty look)

11 Personnel — 9 snaps

12 Personnel — 3 snaps

21 Personnel — 3 snaps

22 Personnel — 1 snap

Wildcat — 1 snap

Tyson Helton remains uneven as a play-caller, but there’s little doubt that Tennessee’s offense is much more multiple with more window dressing this year. With the way the Vols use Austin Pope and Dominick Wood-Anderson, they have the ability to be very versatile in various formations.

At times, they lined up in 12 personnel (1, RB, 2 TE, 2 WR), only to flex to an I-formation look. Other times, they’d line up bunched with both tight ends on the edge.

Tennessee also went empty once in the first quarter, sending Ty Chandler to the slot, and ran two Wildcat plays vs. the Miners. All these different looks will give the Gators extra things to prepare for this Saturday.

3. “We have an offensive team that can produce offensive plays when everybody does what they’re supposed to do.”

Yup.

The Vols do have some playmakers. In three games, they already have more plays over 50 yards (5) than they did all of last season (4). While they don’t have a true burner at wideout, Marquez Callaway, Josh Palmer, Jauan Jennings and Brandon Johnson are all capable route runners and receivers. Ty Chandler provides SportsCenter ability, and Jeremy Banks, Madre London and Tim Jordan are all solid between-the-tackles tailbacks.

The issue with the offensive production right now is execution, mainly by the OL.

“You’d be shocked how many times you don’t find 11 guys that do it exactly right all the time,” Pruitt said postgame.

Not if you regularly watched the Vols, though.

Too often, Tennessee’s bad plays come in bunches. On Saturday, multiple drives stalled due to blown assignments or missed plays.

Up 10-0, the Vols took the ball from their 20 and marched right into UTEP territory, only to come up with zero points because they gave a bad sack on 2nd down (complete confusion here from Trey Smith and Jahmir Johnson) and then Drew Richmond got manhandled on 3rd down. Missed opportunity and a punt.

That can’t happen against SEC teams, especially if the Vols want to go bowling this year. Pruitt has said it over and over: This team has a very small margin for error. They have to start executing more consistently because …

4. When 11 all guys do their job on a single play, it looks pretty darn good.

Jarrett Guarantano’s 53-yard completion to Josh Palmer is a picture-perfect example. Same for Ty Chandler’s 81-yard touchdown run. Now, you’re not going to hit home run plays like that all the time, but Tennessee is leaving lots of chunk play opportunities on the field due to poor execution.

On the long completion, the Miners send six on a play-action deep shot, but center Ryan Johnson does an excellent job to pickup the A-gap blitz and Guarantano moves ever slightly in the pocket to create a lane to launch the football. UTEP actually had decent coverage on the play, but it was a great pitch and catch.

“That’s a good pocket in there by the o-line,” Pruitt said.

“We’ve got guys that can stretch the field. We’ve got to give the quarterback time to set his feet and deliver the ball.”

5. PFF tweeted out Guarantano’s impressive stat line against pressure on Saturday: 7-of-8 for 113 yards and a touchdown.

The numbers are a tad misleading, as three of the completions were off RPOs. And yet, that’s real progress from Guarantano. The staff wants him to take advantage of those opportunities outside the numbers more.

He had two easy 10+ yard completions to Brandon Johnson off RPOs, and Jauan Jennings’ touchdown came off an RPO. There were other chances for similar easy throws, too, but miscommuncation between Guarantano and the receivers negated those opportunities. On the second play of the game Saturday, it looked initially like Tennessee had called its first designed quarterback run of the season.

Nope.

Upon replay (and then hearing Pruitt talk about it afterward), Jennings “had a mental error” and didn’t look back for the football, forcing Guarnatnao to tuck it and run.

6. Bizarre strategery.

I didn’t understand the decision in real time, and I don’t get it anymore upon review. The Vols want to develop backup quarterback Keller Chryst. That makes sense, but inserting him into the game with 90 seconds before halftime and not letting him throw until 3rd down?

I can't explain that.

Overall, Chryst attempted just three passes for -1 yards. He played 19 total snaps and handed off 16 times. Pruitt said postgame that they wanted to get Chryst an opportunity to play before halftime, but it seems like it would’ve been prime to get Guarantano some reps in a 2-minute offense, especially since he has limited work in that area (South Carolina 2017) in his career.

7. I’ll be curious what the PFF stats say … but Tennessee seems to be telegraphing its play-calling when Tyler Byrd enters the game. The junior wideout is a physical blocker and had a couple more nice seals on the edge, but by my count, Byrd played 19 snaps Saturday (including plenty in the first half with the 1s) — and Tennessee ran the ball 18 times on those plays.

8. Tennessee’s specialists have had a really strong start to the 2018 season. Joe Doyle averaged just 39 yards a punt Saturday, but he pinned UTEP inside the 20-yard line four times. He would have had a fifth, but Alontae Taylor couldn’t find the football. “I think our punter’s done a really good job all season,” Pruitt said.

The kickers have been good, too, as Paxton Brooks had four touchbacks and Brent Cimaglia drilled his only field goal. Special teams could be huge in a close game Saturday, as the Gators have blocked three kicks already this season.

9. UTEP’s offense is a paradise for punter enthusiasts. This is what defensive dominance looks like …

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

Halftime

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

PUNT

In 12 drives, the Miners crossed midfield twice. They made a few plays on their opening possession, but otherwise, Tennessee’s defense was suffocating against a very, very bad offense. The secondary did its job against the least efficient passing attack in the country (Kai Locksley finished 9-of-32 for 39 yards), but more impressively, the defensive line finally forced some real pressure Saturday. Jonathan Kongbo was put on skates a couple times in open field, but the outside linebacker did hit the quarterback twice. Darrell Taylor was even better, recording three pressure by my count.

In Tennessee’s DIME look, Daniel Bituli whipped a tackle with a quick swim move as a BUCK rusher for his first sack of the season. The question now is can Tennessee replicate this against UF next Saturday?

All in all, the Vols did a nice job containing Locksley on the edges while collapsing the pocket and forcing pressure. The next step is getting the quarterback on the ground. Kongbo and Taylor were close twice … but couldn’t finish the play. Alexis Johnson had a similar opportunity. Still, baby steps.

10. By my eyes, Tennessee tackled much better — even moreso than the ETSU game — on Saturday. Again, Kongbo had two bad misses, but the only other missed tackle I saw was Trevon Flowers on the edge in garbage time in the fourth quarter.

11. Lastly, story time with Pruitt.