Tennessee Loses to Florida: Five Things We Learned About the Vols

The Tennessee Volunteers football team blew a 27-14 lead for their 11th straight loss to the Florida Gators. Here are five things we learned about the Vols.

In their most painful lost to the Florida Gators of all during this 11-game losing streak, the Tennessee Vols once again revealed a lot about themselves.

And a lot of it is bad.

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The Vols blew a 27-14 lead to lose 28-27 to Florida in in the final minutes, which ended with an Aaron Medley missed field goal that just barely missed the uprights.

Medley’s miss cannot be blamed at all for this loss though.

That lies with a lot of other people. But first, here are the five things we learned in Tennessee’s loss to Florida.

1. The Secondary is Mentally Weak

This is harsh, but it is true. The Vols for the second time in three weeks blew a two-score fourth quarter lead and made a quarterback who looked pathetic all game look like Peyton Manning in the final 10 minutes of the game.

And they had no response.

The defense played great all game but could not get off the field on fourth down after the offense built a 27-14 lead. There is no excuse, and it all starts with the secondary.

The defensive line was continuing to get pressure. The linebackers were mostly in position. But the secondary kept giving up big fourth down plays, as they once again show a weak mentality and an inability to close the deal.

2. Joshua Dobbs Continues to Struggle Throwing Under Pressure

In pressure situations, Joshua Dobbs is no problem. But under pressure, he is a disaster.

The good thing for Dobbs is that he can run the ball and has a lot of mobility, which showed today with his 136 yards on the ground against an elite Florida front seven.

But the bad thing is that he still has serious issues when he is being rushed and trying to throw the ball. He is always a little off on his accuracy, and he often times misses guys when it comes to decision making.

This has got to improve down the road if Tennessee can recover from this. It is questionable if they can.

But to be fair, Dobbs was not helped by our next point.

3. Tennessee Receivers Are Not Living Up to their Billing

When Joshua Dobbs throws passes that are not always on target, he gets criticism and is held accountable as he should be. But there are two parts to this issue.

Dobbs’s receivers were often four and five-star recruits, and they keep struggling to hold onto the balls he throws them. Sure, they are often inaccurate, but for guys that were so highly touted, they have got to make lots of those catches.

And too often they come up short.

So before Dobbs gets all the blame, other guys need to step up.

4. The Defensive Line is Great

One bright spot about the Vols is that their defensive line is continuing to play awesome, and it showed once again this week as they got pressure on Will Grier all night.

Derek Barnett had a crucial play at the end that should have saved the game for the Vols, Shy Tuttle and Kyle Phillips had big plays, and pressure came from all sides all night to limit Grier’s mobility and what he can do. That he made lots of accurate throws in clutch situations is no knock against them.

That is on the secondary.

But in this loss, the d-line is one bright spot.

5. Butch Jones Struggles in Big-Game Moments

Once again, Butch Jones struggles to hold a lead. Teams are 188-3 when taking a two-score lead into the fourth quarter this year, and two of those losses happen to be from Tennessee. That is unacceptable, and he made plenty of critical errors this game.

One of the first was kicking the extra point after the 27-14 lead.

Then, he coached not to lose on the second to last drive for the Vols. But finally, and most importantly, he was terrible with his clock management on the final drive.

These questions about him in big games continue to rise, and Jones is officially on the hot seat now in Knoxville. He can recruit all day, but if he cannot close games against Florida and Georgia, he can’t stay. It’s about time he deliver in these moments.

The Tennessee Volunteers football team blew a 27-14 lead for their 11th straight loss to the Florida Gators. Here are five things we learned about the Vols.

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