Butch Jones Remains Encouraged Despite the Tennessee Vols Tough Loss to the Oklahoma Sooners

The Tennessee Volunteers football program is still reeling from a 31-24 overtime loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, but Butch Jones said he remains encouraged.

If you want anybody to keep you encouraged after such a heartbreaker, Butch Jones is your guy. In the Monday press conference following the sickening Saturday loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, Jones said he is still encouraged about the progress his Vols are making.

And he managed to put the game in perspective as well:

"“A year ago, we played this football team, and we were non-competitive. I believe we had minus 17 or 19 yards rushing, heading into the third quarter. With most of that team returning to a very, very good Oklahoma football team with a talented defense, we went to double overtime. We came up one play short. We were one play away from victory.”You can see the full press conference on UT Sports online."

Looking at everything in perspective, Jones is right. Usually, you say that you would have rather lost by a blowout than lose in the sickening way the Vols lost Saturday, but Tennessee put up a fight with a very good football team that can reach the College Football Playoff this year.

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And with everything in perspective, the Vols did not really lose anything from the loss.

The reason that this one hurt, so much, however, was that it once again called into question the mental toughness of the team and brought about the idea once again that losing is a mentality here.

And that is a culture Jones is having a hard time changing. He can get all the recruits, he can have a great staff, and he can keep this team competitive in big games.

But they have to revert back to the Tennessee of old, where they find a way to pull out victories because they know that is what they are supposed to do.

That and the experience, are the two final hurdles before this program is fully back.

Still, Jones brought in positive energy to Monday’s press conference and said that as the caretaker of the program he will not let negativity creep in. He also noted that where the Vols have not been competitive in the past, they are competitive now.

That is another huge plus.

So with everything taken into account, there is still a lot to be excited about with the Vols this year. They simply need to regroup. Because while a rebound can happen, it is time to hit the panic button if Tennessee loses to Florida in two weeks.

Next: All for Tennessee Week Three Top 25 Ranking: Vols Fall from Polls

The Tennessee Volunteers football program is still reeling from a 31-24 overtime loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, but Butch Jones said he remains encouraged.

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