Vols’ open date follows 1-3 start
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A lot of attention has been paid to Tennessee’s struggles on offense during Saturday’s 34-3 loss at ninth-ranked Florida.
But the Volunteers had trouble on the other side of the ball, too.
Starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano’s mistakes have been highlighted often during the team’s 1-3 start, and they were so evident against the Gators (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) that he was benched to start the second half as freshman Brian Maurer took over for the Vols’ next three possessions.
However, it wasn’t Guarantano who allowed 204 passing yards in the first half. The Gators threw for 62 yards on the first drive, including a 19-yard touchdown toss from Kyle Trask to a wide-open Kyle Pitts, and they passed for 62 more yards on the last drive of the second quarter to set up running back Lamical Perine’s touchdown plunge from 1 yard out on the last play of the half.
“I thought our defense at times kind of persevered a little bit, but the last touchdown before the half making it a three-score game was tough,” Pruitt said. “We made too many mistakes on defense.”
It led to Tennessee going into the locker room down 17-0 on the way to a loss in its SEC opener, and while the Vols have an open date this week, they have plenty of work to do before hosting No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0) on Oct. 5.
The Vols’ Theo Jackson and Alontae Taylor each had an interception against the Gators, and a first-quarter sack by Daniel Bituli resulted in a fumble that was recovered by fellow Tennessee linebacker Henry To’o To’o. The Vols were unable to create a pass rush with their defensive line,
though, and that allowed Trask time to throw for 293 yards and two touchdowns.
Pruitt said that lack of pressure led Tennessee coaches to call more blitzes, which led to Florida receivers running free in the secondary and resulted in Trask’s second touchdown pass, a 29-yard strike to Freddie Swain.
“When you’re playing against a good team, you have to make them earn it,” Pruitt said. “Again, whether we’re not exactly doing a technique right, I feel like we’re going to the right spots. But one time we got them in a second-and-15, they throw the ball out in the flats. We give up a 1-for-1 out there. Should probably be a third-and-13 but instead it’s a first down. It’s the little bitty things like that.”
On a number of occasions this season, Pruitt has pointed to those little things the Vols were unable to nail down that made a big difference in the outcome of the game. On a number of occasions this season, Tennessee players have agreed.
Saturday was no different. “There wasn’t really anything out there that we haven’t seen all week,” Bituli said.
Said Jackson: “They weren’t doing anything we didn’t prepare for. We’ve just got to execute.”
That has been a problem, at times, from the start of the season. The Vols had trouble lining up properly on defense in the opener against Georgia State, allowing 24 points in the second half and 213 rushing yards overall in the 38-30 loss.
In a 29-26 double-overtime defeat to BYU the following week, Tennessee never trailed during regulation, with the only touchdown the Vols allowed during those first four periods set up when Guarantano threw an interception. A defensive breakdown on the last drive of regulation, though, led to a 63-yard pass that set up a game-tying field goal on the last play of the fourth quarter.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was an outmanned opponent, but the Football Championship Subdivision’s Mocs found a few holes and were able to rush for 151 yards against the Vols, including 85 by Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, who had a 37-yard sprint through the left side that nearly led to a touchdown.
With two weeks to prepare for Georgia, the Vols have a lot to clean up on both sides of the ball. While Tennessee needs better play at quarterback — who is best suited to provide that will undoubtedly be a hot topic — its defense has to be better as well.
Bituli said the Vols are aware of that.
“I feel like we did pretty good,” the senior said. “But as we all saw out there, there were plenty of mistakes made that we can clean up on. We just have to use this bye week to clean up those mistakes and learn from this experience.
“We have a whole bunch of competitors in that room. Losses get to us. If you’re a competitor, a loss is going to get to you, and we have plenty of guys like that. In order to not feel this way we have to go out there and compete and communicate and control the controllables, and that’s what we plan on doing this week.”