1. 2015: Florida beats Tennessee 28-27
Butch Jones could not have been more incompetent in Tennessee football’s loss to the Florida Gators in 2017. But he was still pretty incompetent in their 2015 loss to Florida, and that stung enough to be No. 1 on the list.
Heading into the game, the Vols had blown a two-score second half lead the year before, the second in what was then a 10-game losing streak to the Gators. But surely, with a ton of talent back, the Vols would finally end the streak in The Swamp against a first-year head coach.
Although they blew a game to the Oklahoma Sooners two weeks before, excitement was high. This was Tennessee’s chance to end it. And honestly, it looked like that was going to happen.
Up 20-14 in the fourth, the Vols mounted a long drive and converted numerous third downs. It ended with a 3rd and goal touchdown run from Jalen Hurd.
To that point, Jones’s only mistake in the game was a horrific misuse of a timeout because he didn’t have his field goal block team on when Jim McElwain was set to try a long field goal while down 20-7. It made no sense to waste that timeout. Keep your regular defense out there. That way, you save a timeout, it’s still a two-score game if the field goal is made, and there’s a strong chance the kick is missed.
But Jones, in his heightened level of incompetence, burned a timeout. McElwain then changed his mind, put his offense out there, went for it on fourth down, converted, and then later scored a touchdown on that drive. It all backfired on Jones.
Still, in spite of that, Hurd’s touchdown in the fourth put Tennessee in control 26-14. It should’ve been game over. But Jones made his second mistake by not going for two. He took the meaningless extra point, making it 27-14.
Florida then mounted a long drive and converted three fourth downs to score and make it 27-21. Despite a tired defense, Jones did not trust his offense to convert one first down to win the game. So he played conservatively and then punted.
Then, the Gators converted on a 4th-and-14 for the go-ahead touchdown, up 28-27. Tennessee football got one more shot, and a tempo-based offense could only get four plays off with two timeouts before having to try a 55-yard field goal to win. It missed barely. Florida pulled it out 28-27.
This loss hurt for so many reasons that it has to be the worst during Jones’s tenure. For one, it was solely due to Jones’s incompetent coaching. But on top of that, it was another blown two-score fourth quarter lead to Florida. The blown lead was also due to numerous single unlucky plays, and it resulted in Florida’s 11th win in the series. Finally, it cost Tennessee football the SEC East.
Next: 10 Vols Butch Jones misused the most
The trend was still pointing up for Jones and the Vols after this game. But the nature of the loss was so severe that it stung more than ever at the time. That feeling makes it clearly Butch Jones’s worst loss as Tennessee football’s head coach.