Tennessee Football: 5 Takeaways from Vols Loss to Texas A&M Aggies

Tennessee football suffered a 45-38 double-overtime loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

You can say the luck ran out for Tennessee football. But with a slew of injuries and seven turnovers, the Vols had their own share of bad luck.

Regardless, this team is now 5-1 after a heartbreaking loss to the Texas A&M Aggies.

The good news is that Tennessee still controls its own destiny in everything it wants to do. Win out, and they’re in the SEC Championship game. They’ll also be in the College Football Playoff with that resume.

That will be determined by how they play against the Alabama Crimson Tide next week.

Still, this was a frustrating loss that the Vols should have had. Only a win over Alabama will salvage the loss.

Here are the five things we learned from this year’s Tennessee vs Texas A&M game.

1. Bob Shoop is struggling in clutch situations.

For the second straight week, Bob Shoop’s defense nearly cost Tennessee football. Last week, Joshua Dobbs and Jauan Jennings bailed out his awful coaching with a late Hail Mary. This week, Malik Foremen bailed him out after Trayveon Williams nearly clinched the game. The next drive, with the Vols tied late in the fourth, the Aggies moved into Tennessee territory and nearly had a game-winning field goal. Then they scored a touchdown in the second overtime.

This is now becoming an issue for Shoop. You can bring up the injuries on defense, but his situational play-calling has been questionable the past two games. That has to change.

2. John Kelly will be a great running back for Tennessee football in the future.

This guy was a steal for Butch Jones and Co. With Jalen Hurd out, the Vols had serious questions as to whether or not they’d be able to run the ball. Well, John Kelly helped Alvin Kamara answer those questions. Together, they had BLANK yards and BLANK touchdowns. Sure, Kelly caused two bad fumbles, but those will be alleviated with more experience. For now, the Vols should be happy with his performance.

3. Joshua Dobbs can handle pressure.

John Chavis did what John Chavis does and sent blitz packages against Joshua Dobbs all day. He responded with 398 passing yards, over 50 rushing yards, and even a four-yard receiving touchdown. Dobbs looks more and more like an NFL quarterback simply because of his ability to handle pressure. Now he could’ve stopped two fumbles, and that interception at the end in overtime was his fault. However, he almost played a perfect game until then.

4. The Tennessee football offensive line is starting to gel.

Okay, so they gave up quite a few sacks in this game. But the Vols were able to generate a ton of offense on the ground in this game. Even after Dylan Wiesman got hurt, Tennessee often times controlled the game in the trenches. Chance Hall’s return has been huge for the Vols, and Coleman Thomas looked decent once he stepped in at center. This could bode well for the Vols going forward.

5. Butch Jones doesn’t play percentages like he says.

When Tennessee scored a late touchdown in regulation to make it 35-34 Texas A&M, percentages would say go for two there. The Vols are on the road and have tons of injuries. They’re more likely to get the two than to win in overtime. On top of that, Texas A&M committed an offsides penalty, meaning the ball was even closer to the goal line. And The Vols have Alabama next week. You don’t want to tire out your defense agains the Tide. All of this says that Jones would have served his program better by going for two and the win there. He screwed up not doing that.