Tennessee football: Vols loss to Florida did Butch Jones in
Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones is all but fired. The Volunteers’ loss to the Florida Gators this year will likely be the game that did him in.
Ever since their 2-3 start in 2015, Butch Jones has been on the hot seat at various times as Tennessee football’s head coach. The collapse down the stretch of 2016 along with the ridiculous quotes and poor recruiting class increased the voices.
But it wasn’t until this year’s loss to the Florida Gators that Butch Jones’s status. When John Currie and the Tennessee football program finally make the right move to fire him, it will be that specific game that did him in.
Jones pointed out before the Alabama game last week that the Vols were two plays away from 5-1. Now, they’re two plays away from 5-2.
What he fails to understand is that’s the specific reason he’s fired. Losing to Florida and South Carolina the way he did is why he’s in trouble.
The Vols lost both of those games solely due to bad coaching and play-calling. The coaching moves at Florida were seriously horrendous, even worse than what he did at Florida two years ago.
When you have a back averaging over seven yards per carry and you’re going up against a defense with a weak line but elite secondary, there is no way to defend throwing it all seven times you were inside the 10-yard line. And not having a dime package was a terrible excuse for the last play of that game.
Also, considering all the suspensions the Gators had and the fact that Jim McElwain is a terrible coach on his own, Tennessee football blew that game worse than you could imagine.
It was so bad that I went from defending Butch Jones over the past four years to immediately flipping and putting him squarely on the hot seat.
Before the season started, I said that 9-3 or even 8-4 would keep Jones’s job. But after that loss to Florida, I had to amend things.
Jones had to score a win over Georgia or Alabama to save his job. He didn’t.
Losing to both teams is understandable this year. But when you compound that with the loss to Florida and the way they lost to Florida, there is nothing to defend.
You can add in the South Carolina Gamecocks loss for insult to injury. But it still all comes back to the Florida game.
In fact, if they win that game, they likely beat South Carolina. So this whole season comes down to that horrendous coaching performance against Florida. Going 14 quarters without an offensive touchdown is actually just an afterthought compared to that performance.