Tennessee football: Blame pie in Vols’ 31-19 loss to Florida

Here’s a blame pie for the Tennessee football Volunteers’ loss to the Gators.

Unlike other Tennessee football losses, pretty much everybody could shoulder blame for the Vols’ 31-19 loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday. Everybody at least had major negatives at certain points throughout the day.

Most other games in this six-game losing streak saw lots of Vols units play well but a couple play horrendous, and they were often the same units or people each week. We could pinpoint specific plays by those units. That wasn’t the case in this game.

However, the people whose mistakes caused the actual loss are a bit fewer. Let’s go ahead and break down those issues and the plays that caused this outcome. Here is our blame pie for Tennessee football’s fourth straight loss to Florida.

Pass defense (minus Alontae Taylor): 45 percent

This isn’t surprising. The Vols have been awful defending the pass all year. What was shocking, though, was that they were able to target Bryce Thompson on multiple plays. The inside linebackers, particularly Jeremy Banks, struggled in coverage once again as well. Warren Burrell was the worst of all of them, though. He was abused all day.

Kyle Trask continued his Heisman campaign by completing 35-of-49 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. By the way, part of this was an abysmal pass rush. The outside linebackers got no rush whatsoever to get pressure on Trask, and the defensive line got no push. Only one player is exempt from these struggles, and Alontae Taylor is that player.

Offensive line: 35 percent

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When you’re sacked six times, blocking is clearly an issue. Tennessee football could not protect Harrison Bailey to save its life. Darnell Wright missed a key block at one point on the outside, something he has consistently done, and the Vols averaged two and a half yards on the ground.

Then there was the issue at center. Cooper Mays and Jerome Carvin struggled in place of Brandon Kennedy, as they had multiple bad snaps and struggled with interior blocking. As a result, the Vols could not establish the running game they needed to.

Harrison Bailey: 10 percent

It’s a bit unfair because he was set up to fail, but Harrison Bailey missed multiple easy throws for the Vols. He could have done worse than 14-of-21 for 111 yards and one touchdown, but accuracy was an issue. Bailey missed Brandon Johnson wide open on his first pass, and he had those issues throughout the day. To be fair, he was all but set up to fail.

Eric Gray: 5 percent

He was the most productive player offensively for the Vols, but Eric Gray missed multiple key blocks. Three of the sacks the Florida Gators had on the day were due to his failures to pick up blitzes. This is a recurring issue of his that is beginning to outweigh what he does with the ball in his hands.

Receivers: 5 percent

While Harrison Bailey struggled with accuracy, the receivers didn’t help. They didn’t get lots of separation, and they didn’t fight for jump-balls. There was Josh Palmer not going up for a 50/50 ball, and then there was the drop Jimmy Holiday had on the fake punt. That cost the Vols on two drives when the game was still within reach.

While a few players in these units we’re blaming had some nice plays throughout the game, they all did their part in costing Tennessee football against Florida Saturday. Injuries and a new quarterback made it natural for that to happen.