Tennessee football: Play-calling is not Vols problem. Execution is.

Jeremy Pruitt and his staff are getting lots of blame for Tennessee football’s 1-3 start. But execution is a much bigger issue for the Volunteers.

It’s hard to watch what Tennessee football did against the Florida Gators a second time and think for even a second that play-calling is the issue. For at least two of the Vols’ three losses, everything about the game has come down to execution.

On Saturday, Jim Chaney and Derrick Ansley put the Vols in position to make a 34-3 loss much tougher. At some point, though, you have top put it on the players for not executing. And that’s what happened.

Let’s analyze this for a minute. On the Vols’ first offensive drive, they were moving the ball. Jarrett Guarantano hit Jauan Jennings for a six-yard pass and then a 27-yard pass. On 1st and 10 past midfield, he hit Austin Pope for a five-yard gain. At that point, the Vols were already in Brent Cimaglia’s range.

But a late hit penalty by K’Rojhn Calbert that probably shouldn’t have been called turned a 2nd and 5 from the Florida 37 to a 2nd and 20. That limited what Chaney could do against a defense with the best pass-rush in maybe college football, so the drive stalled, and the Vols punted. Then Ansley drew up a perfect blitz play that resulted in a forced fumble.

At that point, Tennessee football got the ball back and easily drove into Florida territory. Jim Chaney then called a perfect play-action pass to Austin Pope, but a missed block by Eric Gray resulted in it being deflected. He then had the perfect touchdown pass called to Jauan Jennings, but it bounced of Jennings’s facemask and was intercepted in the end zone.

So Florida was still up 7-0, but if the Vols had executed the coaches’ play-calls, they would be up 10-7 at that point at the very least. By the way, that opening TD by Florida came due to a busted coverage by Nigel Warrior that resulted in one deep ball and the inability of the defensive line to get any pressure without blitzing. Again, those things are on execution.

Still, Ansley and the defense were calling the right plays. UT stops Florida on fourth down on the next drive. So they get the ball back. Chaney has the perfect play-call for Dominick Wood-Anderson, as he’s wide open for a sure touchdown deep. But Guarantano misses him. Later that drive, he throws a pick, which sets up a Florida field goal.

Midway through the second quarter, Florida is up 10-0. However, if Tennessee football executed, they would be up 17-7. When Florida scored to go up 17-0 at the end of the half, the game was out of reach. But these issues could have made it 17-14 in favor of the Vols at halftime with them set to receive in the second half.