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Tennessee football: 5 takeaways from Vols’ 15-9 loss to South Carolina Gamecocks

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 14: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers runs with the ball defended by D.J. Smith #24 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half at Neyland Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 14: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers runs with the ball defended by D.J. Smith #24 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half at Neyland Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks 15-9 in a game that came down to the last second. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

It came down to the final second. Tennessee football had a chance to score from the one-yard line with a second left, but Jarrett Guarantano could not convert in his first start as a redshirt freshman. As a result, the Vols lost 15-9.

With the loss, Tennessee falls to 3-3 on the year and 0-3 in the SEC, and Butch Jones’s seat is warmer than ever. This is the second loss of the season that came down to the last second for UT.

At the same time, the Vols have fallen to 0-6 against Will Muschamp, and Butch Jones is 0-4. So it’s all negative in Knoxville just as they get set to head to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

With morale continuing to fall, here are five takeaways from Tennessee football’s loss to South Carolina.

1. Red zone offense was atrocious. 

Tennessee football has now gone 10 quarters without a touchdown. But against Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks, they had plenty of chances to finally get it in. The Vols got inside the South Carolina 20-yard line four times, inside the 10-yard line three times and inside the 5-yard line twice. They came away with three field goals.

Penalties, mistakes, and a weird obsessions with saving first half timeouts cost them. It all made absolutely no sense, and it was a bigger indictment against the play-calling of Butch Jones and Larry Scott. But most of that was just the first half.

2. Jarrett Guarantano performed as well as he could in these circumstances.

Many Tennessee football fans may disagree with this statement. He led a terrible offense for most of the second half. But a a redshirt freshman starting against Will Muschamp’s defense, you actually should expect that.

The guy still had no turnovers, and he led the Vols inside the five yard line in the final minute of the game. That was a great, clutch drive that he just couldn’t finish. But given the fact that the coaches set him up to fail, he did all he could.

3. The Vols could not capitalize on South Carolina mistakes. 

The South Carolina Gamecocks had eight penalties for 59 yards, they missed an extra point on a botched snap, and they had a busted play late to allow Tennessee football a chance to still win the game. But the Vols were not able to do it.

Tennessee made a series of mistakes on its own, but there’s no reason they should not have won this game. Too many mental mistakes on their own in front of their home crowd became killers. And there was a key mental mistake late, which we go to next.

4. Clock management was awful.

Tennessee football ran 10 seconds off the clock once they got inside the five-yard line at the end of the game down 15-9 with no timeouts. As a result, they only had time to run three plays, and one of them was rushed. If they spiked it, they still could’ve run three plays and would have had more time to draw at least one better one up. Or they could’ve snapped it sooner on first down.

But that wasn’t the only bit of mismanagement. Butch Jones for some reason decided to save all three of his timeouts late in the first half with his team inside the 10-yard line and a delay of game penalty looming. That could have cost the Vols a touchdown there, and they had to settle for a field goal. Things like this have been a recurring theme, which leads to our final point.

5. Butch Jones needs to be fired.

If you watched this game, just as the Florida game, the Tennessee football players did everything they could to win this game. They were facing a very tough defense that has momentum and had to rely on a redshirt freshman to do it.

But lack of creativity in offensive play-calling and too much predictability cost them again. The Vols can’t keep having these problems with Jones. This is after a bye week! And now, at 3-3 and 0-3 in the SEC in his fifth year, it’s time for him to go. He should actually be fired this weekend. There’s no reason to let him finish out the season when you know he has no chance to do anything. Going 8-4 or 9-3 would have been acceptable this year. But it’s not acceptable when you coach away two of those games.

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