Tennessee football blame pie: Who’s responsible for Vols loss to BYU Cougars?

Plenty of people are responsible for Tennessee football’s 29-26 loss to the Brigham Young University Cougars. Here is our UT Volunteers blame pie.

For the second straight week, Tennessee football has lots of people who need to be held accountable after another bad loss. There was some improvement over their loss to the Georgia State Panthers, but this team is still 0-2. And that means panic time has even gotten worse.

So who’s at fault for this disaster? Well, that’s why we’re here. Before the Vols can improve in Jeremy Pruitt’s second season, they have to address what cost them in this game. How could they blow a 13-3 lead and also lose when owning the time of possession and gaining 80 more total yards? Those things shouldn’t happen.

But they happened on Rocky Top Saturday night as UT lost in double-overtime. The loss came down to a few key plays, and specific players are the reason for that. So let’s break down who they are. This is our blame pie for Tennessee football’s loss to the BYU Cougars.

Jarrett Guarantano: 50 percent

There’s no denying this one. Jarrett Guarantano played awful. Although his stats weren’t horrible, as he completed 17-of-28 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns with only one interception, they were very misleading. His only regulation touchdown was a tipped pass that Jauan Jennings came down with. The other one came in overtime.

Meanwhile, BYU’s only touchdown in regulation came after a Guarantano interception in which he threw into triple-coverage, spotting them the ball on the UT 20. Add in all the check downs he settled for and his indecision, and there’s no denying that he was awful.

Interior blocking: 20 percent

Tennessee football is getting better on the offensive line, but this remains a major issue for the Vols. Interior blocking is why they were one-of-three on fourth down and also a huge reason they were so bad in the red zone.

As good as Ty Chandler was on the ground Saturday, and he did do his job, Jim Chaney had to find creative ways to get him the ball in open space, and the same was true for Eric Gray. This team still can’t convert short-yardage run plays, and even with improvement, it’s a major issue.

Coaching staff: 15 percent

The play-calling wasn’t all bad in this game. But little things were an issue. For instance, Jeremy Pruitt was inconsistent on deciding when to go for it on fourth down, resulting in him going 1-of-3 on the night.

Meanwhile, he allowed Jim Chaney to call a reverse on one of those fourth downs. Another bad series was on Guarantano’s interception. Ty Chandler had a six-yard gain on first down, and Chaney called two pass plays. Finally, Derrick Ansley should have had his players playing much further back on that BYU deep pass to set up the game-tying field goal.

Alontae Taylor: 10 percent

Speaking of that BYU deep pass, Alontae Taylor’s horrible angle taken there was enough to give him 10 percent of the blame. There is no way he should have gotten beat on that play, and he got torched. If he stays in position, Tennessee football gets out of there with a win, and while they would be 1-1 and set to panic, it would still be much better than 0-2.

Nigel Warrior: 5 percent

As a safety whose role is to help in containment, Nigel Warrior has had a rough two weeks. He was horrible in containing Dan Ellington against the Georgia State Panthers. And while he improved against the BYU Cougars, he also is a reason that final deep ball in regulation worked. Yes, Alontae Taylor was out of position. But if Warrior took a better angle, he could have made the tackle and forced the clock to run out. So he’s somewhat at fault as well and belongs on this list because of that.