As Saturday’s probable era-ending 15-9 loss to South Carolina unfolded, it became clear to me that history is repeating itself before our half-covered eyes.
Butch Jones’ coaching decisions on the field will ultimately be his undoing in Knoxville, but choices he made off it certainly won’t help. Jones decided this offseason to promote tight ends coach Larry Scott — who’d never called an offensive play on any level — to be his offensive coordinator in a pivotal season.
It was a puzzling act that at least made you think back to Phillip Fulmer’s ill-fated choice to bring in Dave Clawson and his Incredible Line-Flipping Fiasco as offensive coordinator in the year that ultimately led to his ousting. For Derek Dooley’s debacle, it was bringing in Sal Sunseri to sit at the helm of the defense that led to his undoing.
Scott is the catapult that’s going to launch Butch out of Knoxville. But, let’s not kid ourselves, the in-game decisions are constantly, consistently atrocious. That’s ultimately the last push.
Whatever energy vampire lurked in Tennessee’s locker room at halftime needs to be booted immediately, because after the Vols went in at the break, they came out a different team. If you want to see adjustments, this wasn’t the place to be. A defense that dominated the first half got tired and got pushed around in the third and fourth quarters, as South Carolina’s inside-zone cutbacks with its third-string running back was something Bob Shoop had no answer for.
Yes, you read that right. Tennessee’s $1 million defensive coordinator was beaten like a 10-cent pony after the half.
And that was nowhere near the worst thing that happened to Tennessee. After Jarrett Guarantano — making his first career start — was finally allowed to throw downfield on the final series, completing three passes to get the Vols in scoring position with no timeouts and the clock running down, Jones elected not to have his young quarterback spike the ball after the final first down.
The clock ran, bleeding eight or nine seconds. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, it meant at least one and probably two plays. UT got one of them back on some generous clock-keeping by the Neyland Stadium crew that left a second on the clock after an incompletion in the end zone cost the Vols just three seconds, but that doesn’t change a horrific coaching decision not to spike it. That was an unfathomable choice, and it’s just the latest in a long line of gaffes by Jones.
His own stubbornness, his inability to expand and enhance his offensive scheme and his almost nonchalant style — which contradicts his fiery demeanor — continues to be obstacles UT can’t overcome. Too many times, the Vols find themselves needing to win in spite of their coaching, and they simply aren’t talented or deep enough to do that.
Jones isn’t the guy. This isn’t the staff. This team really should be better. Despite all the off-the-field shenanigans and rumors and all that, UT came out fired up and played well in the first half. The players acted like they wanted to win, like they wanted to save their coach and save face in the process. There were no discernible boos during the game by a decent Neyland Stadium crowd, and the game unfolded the way any close SEC game should.
Then, the Vols coaches blew it like they’re accustomed to doing. For anybody who wants to blame Guarantano for this, that would be crazy. It’s the Jones offense, and it’s Scott’s play calling. Plain and simple.
A blunder before the season started escalated this situation. It has manifested itself in an ugly situation that has witnessed Tennessee failing to score a touchdown now in 10 quarters. That’s two-and-a-half games. AT HOME! On Saturday, the Vols had -14 rushing yards in the second half. Prior to Guarantano completing those passes to put UT in a position to score a game-winner that would never come, the entire offense had negative 7 yards in the second half.
Just when you thought this team may show signs of life, it died again.
The only casualty that is going to sting may be the decimation of what was an excellent recruiting class. But when these youngsters are going to come into a situation where they aren’t being developed and aren’t competing for four quarters or aren’t being placed in the best position to win, it’s a moot point.
If you think we’ve already fired this staff here, that’s not the intent at all. We’ve all heard all week that this was a “must-win” game for the Jones era. He didn’t win. That says all that needs to be said. Now, at 3-3 and 0-3 in the SEC, you start realizing what’s going to happen and analyzing WHY it happened.
It’s happening because Butch’s offense is Butch’s offense. It’s a scheme he said early in his tenure was “infallible” but has turned out to be anything but. The offense was the offense when Justin Worley couldn’t run it. The offense was the offense when Joshua Dobbs could, but yet Jones and Mike DeBord couldn’t expand it to be dynamic and explosive enough to incorporate enough big plays to beat the best teams.
And the offense is the offense now. It was clunky again under Quinten Dormady, wasting his arm strength and failing to put him in a position to utilize his best assets. It was clunky again on Saturday with Guarantano — somebody who is built to run the offense — because the offensive line struggled and because Scott is predicable, can’t get into a rhythm and may be one of the worst play callers we’ve seen in a while.
At this point, it falls on Butch. Everything does. Much like Fulmer and Dooley before him, a bad coaching hire just exacerbated things.
It’s been said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Tennessee football is insane because this is the third time it’s happened, and the only way to stop this endless cycle is to try it yet again.
Even if it’s driving us all crazy in the process.
