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Tennessee football report card in 44-21 loss at Georgia

By Caleb Calhoun

ATHENS, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 10: Jaylen McCollough #22 of the Tennessee Volunteers strips the ball from Jermaine Burton #7 of the Georgia Bulldogs during the second half at Sanford Stadium on October 10, 2020 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 10: Jaylen McCollough #22 of the Tennessee Volunteers strips the ball from Jermaine Burton #7 of the Georgia Bulldogs during the second half at Sanford Stadium on October 10, 2020 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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ATHENS, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 10: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts to a touchdown against the Georgia Bulldogs during the first half at Sanford Stadium on October 10, 2020 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 10: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts to a touchdown against the Georgia Bulldogs during the first half at Sanford Stadium on October 10, 2020 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Coaching grades

Offensive play-calling: C+

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You can’t fully blame Jim Chaney, as Tennessee football’s offense didn’t execute the way it should have. However, he made a mistake calling Cedric Tillman’s number on too many jump-balls, and he also abandoned the running game in crucial situations, which caused both turnovers at the start of the second half. As a result, this was just an average day by him.

Defensive play-calling: C+

Derrick Ansley was limited just like Jim Chaney once Deandre Johnson was taken out of the game with a targeting penalty. But he was too nervous about Todd Monken beating him with screen passes, so he avoided blitzing Stetson Bennett on obvious passing downs even though Bennett showed he was not ready to handle such situations. Ansley gets an average grade for that.

Overall grade: C-

Jeremy Pruitt once again had his guys motivated to play, and he made many of the right in-game situations, including the decision to go for it on a fourth down in the first half. However, all the penalties are a reflection on him not having them ready to play, particularly the ones caused by the movement on the Georgia Bulldogs’ defensive line.

Next. Five takeaways from Vols' 44-21 loss at Georgia. dark

Things unraveled in the second half, particularly when Tennessee football had to call back to back timeouts because of substitution issues on one defensive stand. Simply put, the Vols were uncharacteristically mistake-prone, and that was why they lost this game. You have to put that somewhat on the coach, and Pruitt would likely admit that himself.

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