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

4. Tennessee football play-action on third and two

Tennessee football had just gotten the ball back in the red zone after blowing a chance on the previous drive. And they made it third-and-two on the Florida 17-yard line. Down 6-3 with points at a premium, the most important thing on this drive was getting points.

That was especially true considering the fact that they had blown a chance to score any points on the previous drive when they had the ball, which we’ll get to. And this was in the third quarter, so at 6-3, points were more important than ever!

But what did the Vols do?

Despite John Kelly in the backfield, they called a play-action on third and short. And the Vols then got a holding penalty.

On the repeated third down, the Vols committed another penalty. And it made what would have been a 34-yard field goal a 51-yard field goal.

Had they run the ball with Kelly on third and short, it likely would have been a first down. Had they not gotten the first down, they would have at least had a much easier field goal than the one they had.

But Butch Jones and Larry Scott decided to get cute on third and short, and it blew up in their face. And sadly, that’s not even in the top two of their dumbest coaching decisions inside the Florida red zone.

However, after Brent Cimaglia missed the field goal on this drive, it led to another dumb coaching decision, which we get to next.