Florida 47 Tennessee 21
Photo Credit: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Florida beat Tennessee 47-21 on Saturday night and it could not have gone much worse for the Vols. On Tennessee's sixth play of the game, Jarrett Guarantano was hit from behind and fumbled the ball. This gave Florida tremendous field position, at the Tennessee 24-yard line, and they scored just 3 plays later. On the Vols' next possession, Guarantano was intercepted, setting the Gators up at the Tennessee 7-yard line. It took the Gators 2 plays to increase their lead to 14-0. Next, on a 4th-and-4 situation, the Vols turned the ball over on downs with an incomplete pass. Florida fumbled on the ensuing play and Kyle Phillips recovered it. This gave energy back to the crowd in Neyland Stadium. The Vols took over at Florida 34-yard line, but eventually settled for a 32-yard field goal by Brent Cimaglia. Florida led 14-3 at that point. It didn't get much better for Tennessee. The Vols decided to surprise Florida with an onside kick, but the Gators recovered. A Florida punt pinned Tennessee at their own 2-yard line and Tim Jordan would be tackled in the end zone for a safety. On the next Gators' play, Feleipe Franks threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to take a 23-3 lead over the Vols.
Later, as Tennessee faced a 4th-and-1 from their own 45-yard line, Jeremy Pruitt made the gutsy call to keep the offense on the field. Guarantano found a wide-open Austin Pope, who galloped down the sideline for a 55-yard gain. As a defender made the tackle, Pope fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. I could hardly believe the misfortune facing Tennessee. Another Tennessee fumble, before a Florida field goal allowed the Gators to take a 26-3 lead at halftime.
I didn't have a great feeling about the second half, but I just wanted the team to come out and play hard. My hopes were nearly dashed as Shawn Shamburger bobbled the half's opening kickoff at the goal line, before fumbling it again at the 19-yard line. Florida recovered and scored on their first play of the second half, on a 19-yard run by Jordan Scarlett. A 17-yard completion from Guarantano to Jauan Jennings was the highlight of a drive that resulted in a 41-yard field goal from Cimaglia. Then, Tennessee had another pass intercepted, but the Vols' defense held the Gators to 3 consecutive punts. With 1:22 remaining in the third quarter, Madre London capped off an 11-play, 67-yard drive by powering into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run, cutting Tennessee's deficit to 33-13. Florida answered with a 7-play, 75-yard scoring drive.
The teams traded punts, before Tennessee scored on a 12-play, 76-yard drive. Keller Chryst's 25-yard completion to Marquez Callaway sparked the drive. Jeremy Banks, my favorite Tennessee running back, ran hard in the midst of a blowout, finishing the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. With under 5:00 left in the game, Florida scored on a 47-yard touchdown run. Florida won 47-21 in Pruitt's first SEC game as a head coach.
Jarrett Guarantano completed 7-18 passes for 164 yards, while Keller Chryst completed 3-7 passes for 44 yards. Marquez Callaway caught 2 passes for 61 yards and Jauan Jennings' 4 receptions totaled 60 yards. As a team, Tennessee gained 364 yards of total offense, just 23 less than Florida. Defensively, Baylen Buchanan and Will Ignont led the team with 5 tackles each. Shy Tuttle, Alontae Taylor, Daniel Bituli and Matthew Butler each recorded 4 tackles, while Kyle Phillips, Nigel Warrior and Theo Jackson posted 3 tackles each.
The 6 turnovers are what cost the Vols the game. Had they not given Florida the ball inside of the redzone on back-to-back possessions, the start of the game would have been an entirely different story. It's wasn't that Florida was that much better than Tennessee, it's just that the Vols' youth was exposed and they could not recover from numerous mistakes.
5 Takeaways
1. Tennessee had too many turnovers: It is nearly impossible to win a game in the SEC when the ball is turned over 6 times. Tennessee's 4 fumbles and 2 interceptions made for one frustrating night. When the Vols finally did something right, they would lose a scoring chance by turning the ball over. In my opinion, the most devastating turnover was when Austin Pope fumbled out of the back for end zone for a touchback. Not only does this wipe out a prime scoring opportunity, but it immediately brings back memories of, well, y'all know what game I'm talking about.
2. Coaching had good and bad moments: Jeremy Pruitt kept the offense on the field for 2 fourth downs! This made me excited about his mentality and aggressiveness. He also kicked an onside kick in the second quarter. While the Vols did not come up with the recovery, it was encouraging that Pruitt is gutsy in big moments. Okay, that was the good. The bad, falls on the shoulders of offensive coordinator, Tyson Helton. The play calls made in the first half, particularly when Tennessee gave up a safety, seemed to be very poor decisions. Florida would bring a heavy blitz play after play, but he would not adjust his play calling. He continued to run it up the middle. Then, the one time he decided to throw it over the blitz, it worked! As shocking as it sounds, quickly getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands during a blitz is beneficial to the efficiency of the offense!
3. Banks should be the starting running back: Late in the game, Banks came in and played with great intensity. He had the third-most rushing yards on the team, on just 8 carries, but his late touchdown is what made me believe that he should be playing more. The offensive line is not great, by any stretch of the imagination. I get that. But Banks managed to fight through contact at the line of scrimmage and was determined to find the checkerboards. Madre London carried the ball 11 times for 66 yards and Ty Chandler ran for 66 yards on 11 carries. So, I'm not saying that they deserve to be demoted on the depth chart for anything they have done, but I think it is best for the team that Banks receives more than 8 touches.
4. Tennessee's quarterback play going forward: Jarrett Guarantano had a rough night. He finished the game with 164 yards on 7-18 passing, with 2 interceptions. Of course, part of the blame falls on the offensive line. As I was tempted to become irritated with Guarantano after he threw an interception into double coverage early in the third quarter, I realized that he was eager to get the ball out of his hands because of the beating he had taken all game. Some fans have already jumped on the Keller Chryst train. I'm not completely there yet. I believe Pruitt should stick with Guarantano for now, but Chryst will start soon, if Guarantano doesn't improve. The offensive line needs to improve as well, or it won't matter who the quarterback is.
5. Losing is not fun, but negativity doesn't help: I get it. We all want to win and return to the glory days of Tennessee football. We want to be able to celebrate a national title that is more recent than 1998. In saying that, we can't take out our frustrations on Pruitt. It's not Pruitt's fault that we have been "rebuilding" for a decade. Tennessee finally has a no-nonsense coach who is focused on building a winning culture and reviving the program. It may not be fun for many of this season's games, but he is already bringing in top-level recruits for next season and seasons to come. At this point, it is very difficult to not go off on rants about the team, but this happens every year with a new head coach. I truly believe that Pruitt is the right coach for Tennessee and he doesn't deserve the criticism 4 games into his tenure.
