Tennessee football: Analyst proves Guarantano went rogue on Vols fumble

SEC Network’s Jordan Rodgers broke down Tennessee football’s goal-line fumble at Alabama. He proved Volunteers quarterback Jarrett Guarantano went rogue.

Once a rival of Tennessee football with the Vanderbilt Commodores, SEC Network analyst Jordan Rodgers gave the most honest and detailed breakdown of the critical fumble in the Vols’ 35-13 loss at the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. And he didn’t sugarcoat who was at fault.

At the time, UT was down 28-13 midway through the fourth quarter. They had brought up a 4th and goal from inside the one-yard line. A touchdown would cut it to 28-20 and make it a game. Jarrett Guarantano tried to go up and over on a quarterback sneak, but he fumbled the ball, and Trevon Diggs returned it 100 yards the other way for a score and a 35-13 lead.

The play was a killer, and afterward on the sidelines, Jeremy Pruitt was seen on camera excoriating Guarantano. Whether or not that was the right thing to do, it brought up the question as to who was at fault for the play. Pruitt pulled Guarantano for the game and put in J.T. Shrout, but he then said it was a “miscommunication” in recapping it to the media. So what happened?

Well, Rodgers broke it down on film and proved that the mistake was indeed Guarantano’s fault. If you look at what he showed on video, Guarantano clearly went rogue, and it cost Tennessee football a real chance to make this a one-score game. Here’s the video.

As you can see, Rodgers is absolutely right. Why would the coaches be calling a quarterback sneak to the left side while pulling the left guard out as if it were a stretch running play? That makes absolutely no sense. The worst part about this is it clearly shows that the Vols would have scored a touchdown as well.

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Now, Rodgers claims because of this that Pruitt was right to go off on Guarantano like that on national television, even at one point grabbing his face mask. And such a mistake by Guarantano is indeed inexcusable. Defense of Pruitt came from fans and players. However, we’re not going to take a stance on that. It’s not the real story.

What everybody really needs to be focusing on is why Guarantano, a veteran quarterback, would go rogue right there. Was it indeed a miscommunication in that Guarantano thought a quarterback sneak had been called? That’s certainly possible. But what’s clear is he did not run the play that was called, whatever it was.

Because of that, Tennessee football lost 35-13 instead of making this interesting at 28-20. That and a horrible late-hit call were the only things that kept this from potentially being a tie game in the fourth quarter.

Whether or not that does Guarantano in this week, if Brian Maurer can’t go, remains to be seen. Pruitt still says he’s a believer in the guy, and he has come through for them in some big ways in the past. But this was a very bad error. And for a former analyst who is a quarterback to be harsh on a fellow-quarterback like that, you know it had to be bad.