Vols Need To Learn From Loss As They Face Florida

Sep 7, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones greets fans during Vol Walk prior to the game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Just one week after Butch Jones suffered his first negative moment as the Volunteers’ head coach, he’ll head into the Swamp to take on the Florida Gators.

To put it lightly — Tennessee’s 2013 schedule is as un-forgiving as any schedule in the nation.

The Vols are now in the midst of a six-game hump that still has games at Florida and Alabama left, as well as home games against Georgia and South Carolina.

Luckily for the Vols, they’ve got a cupcake wedged in there — South Alabama on September 28.

Moving forward, it’ll be very important for the Vols to learn from their loss at Oregon. Vol fans probably came away from the loss with plenty of negative feelings, but fans will need to trust that Jones can turn those negatives into positives.

The biggest positive to take from the game, and this is something the Vols can build upon, is the fact that the team NEVER quit out there. Even though they were clearly outmatched, they didn’t quit like the 2012 team did against Florida.

That’s huge for the Vols, because that’s harder to “fix” than the technical mistakes that were made.

The Volunteers actually took pretty good care of the ball against the Ducks, only turning the ball over once. That’s another one of the big things that Jones stresses — taking care of the football.

For all the criticism that Justin Worley is receiving right now, being careless with the football isn’t one of them.

While I don’t believe Worley is the long-term answer, he’s the only option for the Vols right now.

Make no mistake, Butch Jones is well aware of Worley’s ineptitude in the passing game.

But Jones understands that this team, as young as they are, absolutely can’t afford to turn the ball over. Even though Worley isn’t the most dynamic quarterback, he’s the best quarterback on the roster as far as not turning the ball over.

For that reason alone Worley is and will continue to be the guy.

Vol fans were also, understandably, upset about the “vanilla” play-calling in the Oregon game. This could be a direct result of Worley not being able to make some plays/throws that are the playbook.

Because of that, the conservative play-calling might just be something that fans have to deal with for a while.

But that’s ok — you don’t want your team to take chances and morph into a turnover machine, that definitely won’t keep you in any games.

The biggest thing that Tennessee will have to do against Florida is be more effective running the ball. They’ve got the most dominant offensive line in the SEC. That means they need to insert their most dominant rusher (Marlin Lane) and let him run it up the gut. It’ll no doubt open up the rest of the field and make it easier on Justin Worley.

Butch Jones understands the challenge ahead of him. He knows it’s not going to be easy and that another big game looms ahead.

"Jones: Florida is not going to feel sorry for us. We knew at this juncture of the season, against the most difficult schedule in the history of college football, it’s going to take perseverance and its going to take resilience. We have to learn from this and we have to move forward."

There’s a good chance that the Vols could be 3-5 at the end of October. Don’t let the thought of that scare you if you’re a Vols fan.

When Butch Jones took over at Cincinnati in 2010 he faced some adversity and posted a 4-8 record. Jones and his team stayed the course and went on to win two conference championships in the next two seasons.

Stay the course Vol fans, you won’t regret it.