Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols 34-7 loss to Kentucky

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Tennessee offensive lineman Darnell Wright (72) can’t contain Kentucky linebacker Chris Oats (22) as Oats sacks Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano (2) during a SEC conference football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats held at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, October 17, 2020.Kns Ut Football Kentucky Bp /

5. Edge blockers on offense still made crucial mistakes

When lots of these issues came about, it was late in the game, but it helped put things out of reach. Offensive tackles and tight ends made crucial mistakes that killed what could have been solid drives to put Tennessee football back in the game in the second half, and we can’t just ignore how those issues played out.

It started on the opening drive. The Vols had driven to the Kentucky 31, but Jarrett Guarantano was sacked on a 3rd and 11 thanks to a missed bock by Darnell Wright, forcing them to punt the ball. Then, after falling behind 14-0 and JT Shrout coming in at quarterback, Princeton Fant and Wanya Morris got hit with a chop-block, which resulted in Shrout forcing it on his interception.

In the second half, Morris missed a block on 1st and 10 with the Vols trailing 24-7, causing another Guarantano sack that brought up 2nd and 19. On that block, by the way, Morris got hurt trying to recover what appeared to be a Guarantano fumble when he was already down, and K’Rojhn Calbert had to come in. A missed block by Calbert forced an incompletion.

Simply put, the edge blockers at tackle and tight end were atrocious for the second straight weeks. They killed drives with penalties and missed blocks, and you have to start questioning how well they are developing. There is no excuse for Morris and Wright to make such mistakes after they both started most of last year.

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