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Tennessee football: 5 takeaways from Vols’ 47-21 embarrassing loss to Florida

By Billy Williford

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 22: Jachai Polite #99 of the Florida Gators puts a hit on Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers as he loses the ball during the first quarter of the game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 22: Jachai Polite #99 of the Florida Gators puts a hit on Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers as he loses the ball during the first quarter of the game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football falls to 2-2 on the season after an embarrassing 47-21 loss vs. Florida Gators. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

Well, this isn’t the way Jeremy Pruitt envisioned his first SEC game would go. In fact, this isn’t the way anyone envisioned the game would play out. On a night where fans got to relive the 1998 National Championship team, the 2018 team didn’t show up. The Vols had a prime opportunity to prove they were a different team than the 0-8 in the SEC. However, they showed they could be even worse.

I don’t know how it could get worse but some way, somehow I think it will. The loss to the Gators marks ten SEC losses in a row. What is coming up on the schedule? Three top ten teams. So let’s break down exactly how everything went wrong. Here are five takeaways from Tennessee football’s blowout loss against Florida.

1. Tennessee is terrible again in the first quarter

The 2018 Tennessee football season is four games in, and the Vols have yet to score a touchdown in the first quarter. Which might not be so bad if your offense could score in the other three quarters. But, did you watch the game?

The offense is horrible in all four quarters. Not just in the first quarter, but the Vols has six turnovers, eight if you count a safety and a turnover on downs. That stems from the offensive line which brings us to our second takeaway.

2. The offensive line is the worst I’ve ever seen

If I’m Jarrett Guarantano, I don’t take another snap as the quarterback for the University of Tennessee.  I’m not even kidding about this. The poor kid drops back and takes shot after shot after shot.

Jeremy Pruitt should let offensive lineman play quarterback and let them see what it feels like to get crushed on every snap. Let them take a snap against Alabama to show them how bad it sucks to get destroyed on a dropback. They aren’t playing well enough to beat anyone in the SEC.

One of the most upsetting things with the offensive line is when Jarrett Guarantano took a cheap shot from Gators defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson, and not a single offensive lineman tried to help him up. To beat it all, it wasn’t even considered a flag.

3. Offensive play calling wasn’t much better

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Sorry, I was stuck on repeat like the Vols offensive play calling. Run. Run. Pass. Don’t forget to throw a turnover or six in there.

What in the world leads the coaches to believe that Tennessee has the talent to play a power style of offense and win games? Is Pruitt that stubborn? Didn’t fans lose their minds because Butch Jones was too stubborn?

Look, I get it, you want to establish some type of run game but good gosh running up the middle was never going to be the answer tonight, and it won’t be the rest of the season in the SEC. This isn’t Alabama; this is Tennessee.

4. Don’t pretend the defense was good

Throw total yards out the door, Florida was given excellent field position all game.

The lack of effort from the defense was astounding. The tackling looked was awful, and the effort was the worst it’s ever been. If you can even call it effort.

The defense gave up 19 yards per pass. 19 YARDS! That is absolutely horrible. And, that was to the worst quarterback in the SEC.

5. Bright spots were very few

Sophomore kicker Brent Cimaglia looked solid again as he went 2-for-2. He improved to 4-for-4 on the season. Maybe Pruitt should just let Cimaglia kick field goals from anywhere on the field. It would be better than six turnovers.

Jeremy Banks showed a pulse and looked like he should have been playing the entire game. I’m not sure if they were scared he would make a freshman mistake but it this game, who cares? No one could have helped with the horrible game plan. Not even Peyton Manning.

Next. 4 improvements Vols need to make for SEC play. dark

Tennessee was out-coached, out-executed, out-played. That is something you could say about Butch Jones but I honestly didn’t think we would be saying it about Jeremy Pruitt. If you had hope after Butch Jones, it should be all gone now.

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