Tennessee football report card: Grading the Vols in 31-26 loss to Ole Miss

It wasn’t the performance anybody expected on Saturday. Tennessee football losing to the Ole Miss Rebels wasn’t a surprise, but the Vols losing a close one that didn’t turn into a shootout shocked everybody. It also had a major impact on the way we are looking at the different position units for UT heading into the next week.

As we get set to bring you our grades for the Vols based on how they played last Saturday, we’re going to take into account what we know about Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin. We also have to take into account all of the miscues, which undid what could have been some solid grades.

On the other hand, Ole Miss had some miscues that helped improve the Vols’ grades, and this performance could have been significantly worse across the board. Officials and fan behavior notwithstanding let’s break down the play. This is our report card for Tennessee football following the Vols’ 31-26 loss to the Rebels.

Offensive grades part I

Quarterbacks: A-

Hendon Hooker had little time to throw the ball, and he didn’t have the backing of a running game, but he still managed over 200 passing yards and over 100 rushing yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. However, he took too many sacks, and Joe Milton III’s final two plays proved disastrous. As a result, Hooker’s valiant effort only leaves Tennessee football with an A- here.

Running backs: C

Tiyon Evans’ injury put pressure on Jabari Small, who was limited in what he could do because of some blocking issues.  His 92 yards and a touchdown required 21 carries. Len’Neth Whitehead and Marcus Pierce Jr. combined for nine yards on five carries. Small just had a three-yard catch in the passing game. This was highly mediocre, especially against a defense as bad as Ole Miss.