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

5. Penalties were a killer.

The Texas A&M Aggies came into this game as the most penalized team in the SEC. That was the one thing that could provide Tennessee football hope. On Saturday, though, the Aggies only committed four penalties and allowed 30 yards on them.

Meanwhile, the Vols had six penalties for 55 yards. One of them was on a third down stop on the final drive of the first half. UT appeared to have gotten off the field, but Deandre Johnson had an illegal hands to the face penalty on Kellen Mond. A&M scored a touchdown to go up by two scores on that drive.

On A&M’s first touchdown drive, UT brought up a 3rd and 10, but a Johnson offside penalty made it 3rd and 5, which they converted. Then, with them still only down by two scores in the second half, the Vols had a drive in which Josh Palmer and Ty Chandler, two veteran skill players, had back to back false starts, bringing up a 3rd and 18 and effectively killing that possession.

Taking that into account, it’s clear that the Vols made it a lot easier for A&M to stay on the field and dominate time of possession. Penalties was the one disadvantage they couldn’t afford to have, and it cost them dearly.