Tennessee football blame pie in 30-17 loss at Auburn
This is who’s responsible for the Tennessee football Volunteers’ loss at the Tigers.
Despite a 30-17 loss to fall to 2-5, Tennessee football actually had more good performers than poor performers at the Auburn Tigers Saturday night. The problem was that the poor performers’ mistakes were so large that they outweighed all the solid performances.
More than any other game this year, UT’s loss on Saturday came down to just a few plays. As we get set to hand out blame for the Vols’ loss, we’ll point to the people responsible for those few plays that proved so costly. Thanks to those mistakes, the Vols are 2-5 and on a five-game losing streak and can’t finish any better than .500 this year. They were that big a deal.
If you take these moments out, Rocky Top wins, and they may actually win comfortably. Let’s break down the players who cost them that chance. This is our blame pie for the Vols following Tennessee football’s loss at the Auburn Tigers.
Jim Chaney: 30 percent
The Auburn Tigers blitzed all night, and Jim Chaney refused to call any quick screens. He stuck to slow-developing passes, which killed a sure field goal drive, caused two three and outs and allowed four sacks. However, his worst decision was to abandon the run when UT drove to the Auburn 12 and gained 65 yards, all on the ground. A 2nd and 7 pass became a pick-six.
Jarrett Guarantano: 25 percent
That pick-six fell on Jarrett Guarantano. Despite a solid first half, including a touchdown run, Guarantano forced a pass into double-coverage. If he just throws it away, the Vols, down 13-10, get another shot, and then they could tie it up on fourth down. Instead, Guarantano made a rookie mistake, costing Tennessee football and digging a huge hole.
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Brent Cimaglia: 20 percent
We would have Brent Cimaglia at 25 percent, but he did nail a 47-yarder. Still, missing a 37-yarder is inexcusable, and when he misses a 50-yarder with it while Anders Carlson makes one for Auburn and is a perfect three-for-three, Cimaglia gets blame. That difference in field goals is why it wasn’t a one-score game on UT’s final drive.
Jaylen McCollough: 15 percent
Rocky Top’s secondary was once again disastrous in defending passes over the middle. That falls on the safeties, and Jaylen McCollough was a huge part of that. On the 54-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Anthony Schwartz, McCollough was half of the blown coverage, as he drifted to the center of the field and got too close to Bryce Thompson.
Trevon Flowers: 10 percent
Overall, 25 percent of the failure goes to the safeties not covering the middle well. Trevon Flowers was the other half of that blown coverage. However, he had a nice pass breakup for the Vols, and McCollough was more responsible for that blown coverage. As a result, Flowers gets a little less blame than he did.
Next. Five takeaways from Vols' 30-17 loss at Auburn. dark
If you take out that blown coverage, Cimaglia’s 37-yard miss and Guarantano’s pick-six, which is as much on Chaney as him, Tennessee football could have won this game by two touchdowns. That’s how close this was to being a dominating performance for the Vols, and it’s why everybody involved in those specific plays got all the blame for the loss.