Road warrior mentality proving elusive for UT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For all the obvious gains the University of Tennessee football program has made in the past two seasons — and they are momentous in comparison to where it was before that — the next step forward is most likely the biggest.
It’s certainly the most important.
And as Saturday’s second-half meltdown proved once again, it’s also going to be the toughest.
The 2022 season proved the Volunteers can compete with the top teams in the Southeastern Conference so long as it’s inside the cozy confines of Neyland Stadium, where more than 100,000 fullthroated supporters are packed in to assist.
For the Vols to return to the status of legitimate championship contender — which every player, coach and orange-clad fan so desperately wants — they must first learn how to eliminate the lapses in focus and intensity or just plain ol’ spirit-breaking mistakes that continue to plague them on the road.
Whether it was the offense’s disappearing act at Georgia or the complete debacle at South Carolina last season, getting shook inside the Swamp for a nine-minute span of the first half earlier this season or sleepwalking through the second-half Saturday inside Alabama’s BryantDenny Stadium, the Vols have yet to shake the Jekyll-andHyde personality traits that continue to hold them back.
Simply put, when Tennessee travels, it does not resemble the confident and complete team that is able to both deliver a blow as well as withstand one back in Knoxville.
“We didn’t come out as physical as we did in the first half,” Vols linebacker Elijah Herring said after No. 17 Tennessee’s 20-7 halftime lead eventually became a 34-20 loss to the No. 11 Crimson Tide. “We didn’t come out with that get it done mentality. That win the line of scrimmage mentality. We let go of that rope. Got comfortable. Felt like we won the game already.
“Guys have to snap and clear, and it didn’t seem like we did that today.”
The cracks began to show in the first half when the Tennessee offense was handed the ball on Alabama’s 23-yard line via Vols defensive lineman James Pearce Jr.’s stripsack. But three plays netted just 2 yards, and UT had to settle for a field goal that
pushed the lead to 13-0 when a touchdown would have provided a three-score cushion and intensified the pressure on a Tide offense that had sputtered to that point with three punts and the turnover on its first four possessions.
Even after answering an Alabama touchdown with one of its own just before halftime to reclaim a 13-point lead, major leaks emerged for Tennessee’s defense on the Tide’s opening possession of the second half, which took just two plays to find the end zone and cut the lead to six.
On the ensuing kickoff, officials ruled Tennessee had called for a fair catch at the 4-yard line, forcing the offense to begin from there as the Alabama crowd sensed the momentum shifting. With no room to operate, Tennessee was forced to punt, and the Tide did what they have done for so long under coach Nick Saban: pounced on the opportunity, sandwiching a short Jace McClellan touchdown run with two field goals.
And just like that the dam burst, and the Vols, whose six second-half possessions ended in three punts, two turnovers on downs and a lost fumble, found themselves unable to recover.
“That’s when you have to take a deep breath. Just breathe,” UT quarterback Joe Milton III said. “Understand where you’re at and embrace the moments. We all prayed for moments like this when you’re younger, so being able to embrace the moments and do your job, that’s all that matters.
“We need to come out swinging early. Put a guy to sleep early. If you do that, I feel like all the momentum will be on our side for the whole game.”
Milton was part of an offense that did come out swinging early, scoring points on three of its first four possessions. By halftime, Milton had completed 16 of 22 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, and he added 43 rushing yards.
But the offense wound up absorbing more punches than it dished out in the second half as Milton added just 96 passing yards in the deciding final two quarters, and Tennessee was stopped on a crucial fourthand-1 play for a second time, which added to Alabama’s gaining momentum.
“Momentum did shift during that series of events,” UT coach Josh Heupel said of the third quarter’s first three series. “They flipped the field on us with field position there. You start backed up, it changes what you’re doing on your opening drive because of situation football.
“The communication is the only thing that’s more difficult (on the road). Today it was a good football team, talking about Alabama, and we didn’t reset and refocus on making the plays in the second half. At the end of the day, we weren’t good enough in the second half. And that was the end result.”
And until the Vols find a way to overcome their road woes, the end results will remain the same.