Tennessee football: 5 takeaways from Vols’ embarrassing loss to Georgia

Tennessee football lost to the Georgia Bulldogs in embarrassing fashion Saturday 41-0. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

Yikes! Tennessee football suffered one of its worst losses in school history, falling to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday 41-0. The game was bad from the first play, when Quinten Dormady threw an interception to set up a Dawgs field goal.

With the loss, the Vols fall to 3-2 on the year and 0-2 in the SEC. Georgia, meanwhile, continued its dominance in Kirby Smart’s second season, improving to 5-0 with a 2-0 SEC record.

Here are five takeaways from Tennessee football’s loss to Georgia.

1. This should be the end of Butch Jones in Knoxville. 

I hate to say this. Even after his horrific coaching two weeks ago against the Florida Gators, I didn’t call for Jones to be gone. He’s done too many good things in Knoxville. But he’s in his fifth year. Kirby Smart is in his second year with Georgia. And Smart has the Dawgs playing at a higher level the Vols have ever played at under Jones. So it’s time to cut bait. You can’t, when you’re on the hot seat with really good players, come out and look that bad.

2. Quinten Dormady does not fit this system.

The verdict is in. Yes, the Georgia Bulldogs’ have an amazing defense. And yes, Dormady is accurate. But in a system that focuses on reads more than developing a quarterback’s footwork from the pocket, Butch Jones’s system simply needs a mobile quarterback. Dormady underthrew at least three touchdown passes because he didn’t use proper footwork. I feel bad for him because this is not his fault. It’s an indictment against the coaches for not developing him. But it may be time to let Jarrett Guarantano start some games. He was solid in this game, so maybe he has something there. With a bye week to work things out, the Vols should give him a shot in two weeks.

3. Don’t blame the defense.

They may have given up 41 points on the day, but this is all on the offense. Tennessee football’s defense played great on too many drives, and too often they put the offense in good position to do something. But after four turnovers, it was too much for them to overcome. You can’t expect them to bail the offense out forever, and they were just too gassed by the late second quarter to do anything. Part of the offense’s problem is our next point.

4. Wide receivers are significantly underachieving. 

Marquez Callaway should have gotten more touches to begin with before he got hurt. But even before him, what is up with all of these receivers being four and five-star recruits and completely unable to get separation? Don’t try to say Georgia’s defense is elite. If these guys are anything close to what their recruiting rankings indicated, they should have been able to do something. Dormady struggled, but he had no help on this front.

5. Trevor Daniel had his worst day ever.

We said the punt game would play a role. And Trevor Daniel had a terrible day punting the ball. It just added to the perfect storm of a terrible game. He did average 46.6 yards per punt. But that alone doesn’t tell the story. Two of his punts bounced in the end zone for touchbacks. He shanked another punt. And he had another one blocked. Those were all bad plays, and they were enough for us to note that despite his average, he had a horrendous outing.