Tennessee football: Vols regressed from 2018 vs. Florida. That’s concerning.

In their 34-3 loss at the Florida Gators, Tennessee football looked worse than they did in last year’s game. That’s concerning for the Volunteers.

Everybody expected Tennessee football to lose to the Florida Gators. Losing in a 34-3 blowout wasn’t unexpected either. However, the most concerning part of the loss for the Vols is the process en route to that 34-3 loss displayed a major regression from last year’s game.

In 2018, UT lost 47-21 to Florida. However, they committed six turnovers and surrendered a safety. An offensive line adjusting to the pro-style offense along with key injuries on the inside made that understandable. The expectation was for the unit to develop over the course of the season and be better this year.

Well, this year, Florida was the one making mistakes. They had two turnovers on on drive when they were already up 7-0. Then Kyle Trask threw two interceptions in the second half. And this team was banged up all over the field.

But Tennessee football never stood a chance. Sure, the Vols made some key mistakes to lose the game. But Florida was handing them a win on a silver platter the same way the Vols handed Florida a win last year. But UT simply could not take it.

That’s a concerning sign. We already saw enough signs that this team has regressed after its 0-2 start. But the belief was improvement was on the horizon, and there was a chance that they could turn things around.

Now, again, it was still incredibly predictable that they would get blown out by the Gators. However, the idea was that if they did get blown out, it would be due to a series of blatant mistakes while Florida didn’t commit any. That’s not how this game turned out.

Simply put, after watching what happened on Saturday, Tennessee football is worse than last year. Nobody can look at the first four weeks and objectively say anything is different. That’s not to say they still aren’t making mental errors. They are.

What we are saying is that they are simply getting beat in games in ways they weren’t even last year. Against the Georgia State Panthers, despite their turnover, they just couldn’t stop that offense led by Dan Ellington.

The offense, meanwhile, simply couldn’t get it in the end zone against the BYU Cougars. And the same was true against the Florida Gators. We’re obviously not looking at their performance against the Chattanooga Mocs since that was an FCS school.

So what’s causing this? Well, there are two things. Clearly, Tennessee football losing all three defensive linemen was more detrimental to the whole defense than we thought. That side of the ball is still better than the offensive side of the ball, but Jeremy Pruitt is a bit more limited in what he can call without Kyle Phillips, Shy Tuttle and Alexis Johnson.

How does that explain the offense, though? The one cause of Tennessee football’s struggles on that side last year, the line, is much better now despite being an issue. So we can really on trace it to one thing.

UT is still adjusting to Jim Chaney’s offense. That’s about all we can do to explain how a unit that returned everybody and showed flashes last year is not even showing flashes this year. Against Florida, this group was awful.

They have weapons at receiver and running back. The line is blocking fine. We know about Jarrett Guarantano’s issues, but he shouldn’t be struggling this much. Oh, and the play-calling is fine. All we can say is that this unit needs more time to gel.

It’s a crazy excuse. But what else is there? The Vols look a heck of a lot worse this year than they do last year overall, and Florida showed that in a microcosm. Now, as a result, they are 1-3 with no wins over an FBS school. Well, the bye week could not come at a better time.