What just happened?
You wake up, a blurry sky slowly coming into focus. Your head is pounding. You think you might be bleeding. You blink.
Oh. Right. You just got your butt kicked. That’s what happened. You hope the guy’s gone, because right now, you can’t even move, and you need some time to recover.
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Butch Jones is saying about the only thing there is to say after the Vols got dominated by the Georgia Bulldogs, 41-0 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday: There are “no excuses.” The team is “very concerned,” about the “inexcusable” offensive numbers. Numbers like 142 total offensive yards and two interceptions. Numbers like seven first downs to four turnovers. Numbers like 41-0. Numbers like 1905, the last time something like this happened at home.
But the words predictably do nothing to shoo away the vultures that, circling high a week before, now begin to test the safety of the ground: Butch Jones is in trouble. His Georgia is just like Dooley’s Kentucky. He’s past the point of no return. He’s a dead coach walking.
The worst thing? There’s almost nothing good to learn from this game. The Vols are looking for answers, but there are just too many [Fulmerized] questions.
Quarterbacks
Quinten Dormady had zero turnovers after the first game and a half of the season. Since then, he’s thrown six interceptions and lost two fumbles. Jones says now that every position, including the quarterback position, is up for grabs and that “the individuals who have the best week of practice” will start. The problem with that is that it’s the same thing he said all summer and all fall camp, and Dormady reportedly doesn’t turn the ball over in practice. We wonder, at what point do the coaches start evaluating on game tape?
The other problem: Jarrett Guarantano hasn’t looked any better. Of course, he hasn’t thrown any interceptions in games, yet, either, but maybe that’s from lack of opportunity. Has Dormady learned valuable lessons from the interceptions he’s thrown, or might he be interception-prone? Might Guarantano need to throw six interceptions, too, until he zeroes in on the bullseye? Who knows?
Punting. Wait, what?
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I spent a good half hour before driving to the game just intentionally getting in the right frame of mind. I was hoping for and actually expecting a close game (as was almost everybody else), but I was also mentally prepared for a rout, so I was girded against the effects of that. The only thing that I was totally unprepared for was a rugby-style punt from Trevor Daniel, who’s been probably the best and most consistent player on the team the past three years. Thanks to Daniel, punting was literally like one of three or four things that wasn’t broken as late as last week. The guy has a handle on depth, accuracy, and hang time, every single thing you want in a punter. So, when Daniel attempted a rugby punt Saturday, an entirely new style for him, I lost the wheel and my mind careened off into the ditch for a brief minute. I would love to know whose decision that was and what they were thinking. I’m open to a reasonable explanation, but for the life of me, I can’t think what that would be. Fix the things that are broken and keep your hands off the things that are working. It’s not like there aren’t enough broken things to focus on. SERENITY NOW!
Where do we go from here?
Jones says it’s “gut-check time,” and that “The only thing you can do in life when things go wrong and they don’t go according to plan, is you have to get back up and you have to go to work the next day.”
That’s true, and it’s the only way forward. Without any snark whatsoever, I’ll say I truly admire his grit and determination. And it’s true that the preseason expectation of 8-4 is technically still on the list of goals for this year’s team, even if the reasonableness of that goal is now reasonably being questioned.
And I’ll also just say this before moving on: Jones’ future won’t be determined by Paul Finebaum, Clay Travis, Tom Fornelli, me, or you. Unless your name is John Currie, your title is John Currie’s Boss, or you write checks to the University with lots of zeroes, you’re not making the decision. I always root for the pilot of the plane that I’m on. If and when someone with decision-making authority decides to have someone else take over, then I’ll root for that guy.
Players’ reactions
After having read through pretty much everything that’s out there this afternoon — well, everything except Twitter, which I’m avoiding because I already know what lurks there — the one thing that I really liked came from the lips of Colton Jumper:
“I think this is really when you find out who you really are. I think everybody’s true character is going to come about.”
At times like these, you find out who you are.
The positives
Even in times like these, though, you can find some positives if you look for them. Blue-chip quarterback commit Adrian Martinez was in town to witness the whole thing, and his commitment to Tennessee remains steadfast:
“No. I’m not going to lie. I was obviously upset, but I’m a Tennessee fan and I want us to do well. The coaches weren’t thrilled with it either. I think a performance like that is unacceptable, but it doesn’t sway me one way or another. I’m hoping when I come here (to Tennessee) and when I really dive into the playbook and get affiliated with things, I can make an impact and we can start winning games.”
In other good news, Quart’e Sapp had a great game, and Kendal Vickers, Colton Jumper, Micah Abernathy, and Nigel Warrior all did mostly well. In fact, the defense looked ready to play had they not been asked to do it all. Oh, and the Peyton Manning halftime presentation was cool.
