Tennessee football: Five takeaways from 34-13 loss to Aggies

The Aggies dominated the Tennessee football Volunteers in Knoxville, Tenn. at Neyland Stadium.

In the final regular season game of Jeremy Pruitt’s third year on the job, Tennessee football fell to his former boss, Jimbo Fisher, and the Texas A&M Aggies with a 34-13 blowout loss at home. The Vols took the field Saturday without star running back Eric Gray and without their defensive coordinator, Derrick Ansley.

UT scored the first touchdown of the game for the fifth straight time. However, the Aggies scored three touchdowns and a field goal on their four first-half possessions while forcing a UT punt and a fumble. Trailing 17-7, the Vols cut it to 17-13 with a second-quarter touchdown, but A&M then had a touchdown drive at the end of the half.

Rocky Top forced a punt and then had a red zone interception on A&M’s first two drives of the second half, but the offense couldn’t do anything. The Aggies closed things out with a touchdown and then a field goal. With the loss, UT falls to 3-7 on the year. A&M, meanwhile, improved to 8-1. Here are five things we learned from Tennessee football’s loss.

1. Defense couldn’t get off the field.

This game was a much bigger blowout than it looked to be. Texas A&M dominated time of possession, holding the ball for over 44 minutes, and they ran 79 plays to the Vols’ 42. In the process, they outgained Rocky Top 497 to 213 in total offense.

Simply put, Fisher’s methodical offense was impossible for UT to stop. Predictably, the Aggies dominated on third down. The Vols have been the worst team all year on third downs, while the Aggies have been the best, and they converted 10-of 14 third downs.

That alone explains why they couldn’t get off the field. It wasn’t just the pass defense struggling in this one either. A&M had over 200 yards on the ground, and Kellen Mond was highly efficient, completing 26-of-32 passes. He had one interception, but overall, Tennessee football’s defense just got dominated.