Butch Jones’ tenure in Knoxville has featured an unusual number of these kinds of games. Frantic fourth quarters, miracle finishes, games decided on the final drive or a dramatic play in the final minute or, in this case, final second. Sometimes the Vols win, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes we get Josh Dobbs at South Carolina in 2014 or Jauan Jennings last fall in Athens. Sometimes we get Antonio Callaway and Tyrie Cleveland.
But when the dramatic wins and the dramatic losses just balance out, they don’t leave you with progress. It leaves us with heart conditions and, to their credit, a “we’re never out of it” confidence in players so a play like Justin Martin’s end zone punch-out is oddly normal because we just saw Malik Foreman do it last year.
So you can say a lot of things about that final play (and one of them should be a tip of the cap to Feleipe Franks for the throw). But Tennessee’s biggest problem today was that they put themselves in position to be beaten by it.
Coming into today, when the Vols had a 1st-and-10 inside the opponent’s 40 yard line they went on to score a touchdown on every drive except the one ending in Quinten Dormady’s end zone interception against Indiana State last week. Today when the Vols had a scoring opportunity inside the 40, they did this:
- 1st Quarter: Dormady interception on 3rd-and-10
- 2nd Quarter: Cimaglia 51-yard field goal made
- 2nd Quarter: Cimaglia 47-yard field goal missed
- 3rd Quarter: Dormady end zone interception after 1st-and-Goal at the 1
- 3rd Quarter: Cimaglia 51-yard field goal missed after third down sack
- 4th Quarter: Medley 44-yard field goal missed
- 4th Quarter: Touchdown
- 4th Quarter: Touchdown
- 4th Quarter: Medley 27-yard field goal good after 1st-and-Goal at the 9
In seven first-and-goal snaps in the second half, the Vols threw seven passes. Those two sequences went like this:
- 1st-and-Goal at the 1: Should have been picked, unsportsmanlike conduct on Florida
- 1st-and-Goal at the 1: False start on Jack Jones
- 1st-and-Goal at the 5: Incomplete
- 2nd-and-Goal at the 5: Complete to John Kelly for a loss of 1
- 3rd-and-Goal at the 6: Dormady intercepted
- 1st-and-Goal at the 9: Incomplete to John Kelly, should have been a touchdown
- 2nd-and-Goal at the 9: Incomplete
- 3rd-and-Goal at the 9: Incomplete
Seven plays, and none of them gained a single yard. This is exactly what happened on Tennessee’s only seven red zone snaps against Florida in 2014. John Kelly had 19 carries for 141 yards, but the Vols never ran the ball in a goal-to-go scenario.
This was Larry Scott’s third game calling plays, and I thought he did some good things again today. But what happened in the most crucial part of the field and the game was disastrous. Scott can learn and adjust. The Vols need better field goal kicking. But the overall philosophy must evolve, as Tennessee continues to flirt with the dramatic instead of taking better advantage on every snap.
This has happened with two defensive coordinators, three offensive coordinators, and now three different quarterbacks. It starts with Butch, who to his credit didn’t seem to shy away from that in the postgame. His teams absolutely never quit. But his teams have to be better at making the other team quit.
I don’t know what the best label for it is in the play-calling: more aggression, more confidence, more competence, etc. But mismanaging crucial situations has cost Tennessee against Florida in 2014, Oklahoma and Florida in 2015, and Florida today. That covers Bajakian, DeBord, and Larry Scott. It is a common, painful theme.
Butch isn’t going anywhere. We all need to blow off a little steam, but everything else is a waste of energy right now. The Vols get UMass next week, then Georgia. If this year’s theme is DAT way, today was a reminder that Butch’s teams have been both incredibly tough and incredibly frustrating in the details. That leaves accountability, which starts with the head coach but must be more than a postgame quote. Tennessee must start coaching and playing to take more advantage on every snap, or they will continue to risk breaking hearts and having theirs broken every Saturday. And they will continue to find themselves on an incredibly entertaining treadmill.
