Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 35-13 loss at Alabama

4. Offensive play-calling is too predictable.

Yes, Jarrett Guarantano deserves lots of criticism for that fumble returned for a touchdown. But before that happened, Tennessee football was down 28-13 and inside the Alabama five-yard line on a 1st and goal. All Jim Chaney did was call three straight running plays up the middle, two to Tim Jordan and one to Quavaris Crouch.

Then, Jeremy Pruitt himself admitted that there was a called quarterback sneak, and he took blame on behalf of the coaches for that. The fact of the matter is while Guarantano made the mistake trying to go over the top, anybody who saw the play knew the sneak wasn’t there, even if he went underneath.

Chaney has been criticized for being predictable in the past. It works when you’re loaded with talent. That does not apply to the Vols right now, and it certainly doesn’t apply in a road game against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Given how much more dominant Alabama is in the trenches at this moment, Chaney had to mix it up at one point. Unless he was always gunning for the fourth down play, which is inadvisable on its own, he’s got to find a way to be more creative when he’s undermanned. Failure to do so was a major indictment against him.

While the wildcat was a good mix in this game, it was also clear when they were running it. So Chaney, despite not calling a terrible game, has to make sure these types of things don’t happen in the future.