Tennessee Football: Vols’ home loss to South Carolina is inexcusable
By Colby Howell
Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones is on the hottest seat possible. His fifth season with the Volunteers starts 0-3 in SEC play, surely to be 0-4.
In a lackluster performance, Tennessee football managed to walk out of Neyland Stadium with a 15-9 loss to the Gamecocks. The Vols now head to Tuscaloosa with a 3-3 record, 0-3 in the SEC.
There’s basically no doubt they will be 0-4 in SEC play after a noncompetitive performance against Alabama next week. The way the Tennessee football played was nothing short of dull. Their predictability on offense is unfair to the talented players.
The Vols have now gone 10 consecutive quarters without a single touchdown. That’s just…terrible. Two straight home losses and a 4 point victory over UMass are making them a laughing stock once more.
UT, once again, struggled to stop the run, allowing 194 yards on the ground. However, there’s no doubt that Tennessee shows incredible promise at the start of their games. In the first half, Tennessee’s defense was able to hold South Carolina to 0-6 on third down conversions.
Only to see those stats wither away in the second half, the Vols would then allow 5-7 on third down conversions. The defense was gassed and redzone efficiency on both offense and defense was horrible.
Jarrett Guarantano, in his first career start as QB, at least gave the Vols somewhat of a spark they were looking for. He went 11-18 for 133 yards and no turnovers (despite some close calls).
His mobility enabled him to bail the Vols out of some dirty looks from the Gamecocks defense. Still, he needs a lot of work on escaping collapsed pockets. His instincts weren’t quite up to par, but he looked as poised as he could.
Although, one could question Guarantano’s temperament after his tantrum on the final play. It’s simply inexcusable to act like that in a national spotlight. It’s one thing to be passionate. But, to throw your helmet on the ground screaming and crying is unacceptable.
Fans are fed up (as they should be) and it has never been clearer what the answer is.
If Butch Jones isn’t fired on Monday, it’s purely budgetary.
AD John Currie is known to be an excellent fund raiser and money handler. His frugality may lead to some in depth conversation with himself about what the right move is.
Obviously, nobody wants to fork up a $9.2M buyout. However, Butch Jones is clearly not cut out to coach in the SEC. He’s been able to recruit at an elite level but as far as on field coaching, the results are limited and boring.
Joshua Dobbs is a one of a kind player who was able to paint a pretty picture for Tennessee football’s offense. Last season (2016), UT was loaded with national championship caliber players. Yet, they achieved nothing spectacular when horrible coaching limited them of their potential with losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Jones this year continues his streak of losing against Will Muschamp (0-6). The Vols are headed for a nasty season finish if they continue to allow him to coach. The fans have certainly already lost interest in the season and ticket sales will suffer drastically.
What’s the worst that could happen firing him? The buyout. You can’t exactly save a football season after a Hail Mary loss at Florida, the worst shutout loss at home since 1905, and then another home loss to lowly South Carolina.
Once they lose on the road next week at Bama they’ll be 0-4 in SEC. The game at Bama is practically a guaranteed loss so relinquishing that job to an interim wouldn’t help or hurt.
Fire Butch Jones. Make Brady Hoke interim. Hire a new head coach. Forget this season ever happened.