5 dumbest coaching decisions in Tennessee football’s loss to Florida

GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: Head Coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers is seen on the sidelines during the second half of their game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: Head Coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers is seen on the sidelines during the second half of their game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
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Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Tennessee football lost to the Florida Gators due to horrendous coaching Saturday. Here is a ranking of the Volunteers’ five dumbest coaching decisions.

You know you coached a pathetic game when you’re terrible coaching is the lead story despite the game ending on a Hail Mary. Such is the case for Tennessee football and Butch Jones after Saturday’s 26-20 debacle in The Swamp.

The Vols fought back from a 13-3 deficit and then a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie it up 20-20, only to lose on the Hail Mary at the end.

But they never should have been down by that much, and a series of idiotic coaching moves is what put them in that position.

To be fair, there was horrendous coaching on both sides. But if the Vols had coached a halfway decent game, they would have been up by double-digits going into the fourth quarter.

Instead, Butch Jones had his worst coaching performance since his arrival in Knoxville, surpassing what he did two years ago in Gainesville. But don’t worry. It was a team effort. Larry Scott and Bob Shoop did their parts to screw up the game.

Heck even Charlton Warren screwed up as the special teams coordinator.

We’d be remiss not to mention the abject failures of the Tennessee football coaches in this game. So in this post, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

The Vols players played good enough to win this game against a horrible Florida team that had nine guys suspended. But the coaching blew it. This is where we call it out.

Here is a ranking of the five dumbest coaching decisions by Butch Jones and his staff in Tennessee football’s 26-20 loss to the Florida Gators.