Chris Lane will hit the road this fall and winter for his Big, Big Plans Tour.
Kicking off in Cincinnati on Oct. 31, the 29-date tour will make additional stops in Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, Nashville, Dallas, L.A., Detroit and more. Gabby Barrett, Blanco Brown and Ernest will serve as support on select dates.
“After a top-notch summer touring with Brad Paisley, I couldn’t be more excited for my Big, Big Plans tour to kick off,” says Chris. “Having artists like Gabby, Blanco, and Ernest out with me will make it a fun show from start to finish. I’ll be bringing the energy and may even have some surprises in store. We’ve amped up the production to a new level and I can’t wait for people to see it!”
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sept. 6 at 10 a.m. local time. Pre-sale begins on Sept. 3. Chris’ current single,“I Don’t Know About You,” recently cracked the Top 10.
“Just a little bit of recap on this past week’s game, if you look back and look at it offensively, I said after the game that we turned the ball over three times. If you count the two times on fourth down turning the ball over on downs, that’s five turnovers and we only got one, so we’re five to one in the turnover margin. We were two-for-four in the red area on scoring touchdowns. We have to be able to score points in the red area, and if you flip it to the other side, we didn’t make Georgia State kick field goals in the red area. So, we lost the turnover battle and the red area battle. If you look at third downs, there were plenty of opportunities to get off the field on third down defensively and we had a chance to convert some and we didn’t, starting with a third-and-one in the second quarter.
Credit: UT Athletics
“Everybody in the program had to look back in the mirror and say ‘what can I do better.’ It’s what you do after every week and it’s what we’ll continue to do after this week.
“We have a really good opponent coming in here that traditionally is a very tough football team. There’s lots of experience with their coaching staff. They had a game last week where they turned the ball over, they’re in a rivalry game, it was back and forth and they had a few turnovers. Defensively, they’re a team that has lots of experience, an older team. They really played hard, really ran the ball well on their offensive side and to me it starts with their quarterback, a guy that kind of reminds me of Johnny Manziel. He can run around, extend plays and make all of the throws. He turned the ball over a couple of times last week unfortunately, but he’s a guy that we have to find a way to get on the ground. They have a really good tight end, they’re big up front and have good skill players so we’ll have a tremendous challenge. They had some new guys in the kicking game, but their new kickers kicked the ball really well in the last game.”
On addressing the confusion on the defensive side of the ball Saturday:
“We’re going to continue to improve; we have lots of inexperience on that side of the ball. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve lost some key players at all three levels. We’ve had to move some guys around. I said early on that we wanted to keep it simple and we’re keeping it simple so we can execute. When you play a team for the first time with a new coordinator, are they going to do what they did there last year, are they going to do what he did? You’re going to get lots of multiples, so you have to be able to line up and give yourself a chance. We had a lot of alignment issues, but to me it’s not as much communication, I think a lot of it just comes with experience. Being able to set the front and they’re not lined up correctly, I have to move them somewhere and get them lined up. So, it was kind of all three levels of the defense, but it’s something that we can fix.”
On the offensive line rotation:
“All of the guys that played, at times played really well. I think in the first 55 plays of the game, we didn’t give up a sack or a quarterback pressure. The last 20 plays of the game, we gave up four sacks. Not all of that is on the offensive line. I said after the game that with the way the game went, we didn’t really create momentum in the run game. Some of that was because of the scoreboard. We have to be able to do that, we have to be able to run the football consistently to give us a chance to run some play action passes and push the ball down the field.”
On if he expected the missed tackles and on Daniel Bituli’s status:
“Always in the first game, there’s usually missed tackles. There are a few guys on our team that had more than others. It’s pretty simple, you can go back and look when you have missed practice time and the opportunities to do it, it shows up. So, the guys that were injured for whatever reason during fall camp, they have to kind of get their feet under themselves or we have to play somebody else. It’s that simple. Daniel is working hard to get back this week.”
On if he is concerned about his team’s confidence:
“I believe in the guys in our locker room. I’ve said this all along, I really like this team. Just because I like them, doesn’t mean that we’re where we need to be, but I like their work ethic, I like their want-to. When you look at the offensive side, there’s a lot more experience as opposed to the defensive side. As you break it down, the offense is going to look and say they left a lot of plays out there. Defensively, there are lots of guys – you start with Savion Williams, Darel Middleton, Kurott Garland – those guys weren’t here in the spring. So, it’s the first chance that they’ve gotten a chance to get out there with multiples. Same thing with Henry To’o To’o and Warren Burrell. These guys are going to continue to get better and some of those guys played as good as anybody on our team. And we have other guys that didn’t play as much in the game, whether it’s Quavaris Crouch or Roman Harrison, guys that will have an opportunity to kind of increase their load in the game. It takes a little bit of time for guys to understand exactly how to play the game. There’s more to it than just getting lined up and running out there and tackling and hitting people. We have to get those guys an opportunity and they have to prepare themselves so they are ready to play in the game plan.”
On confidence level of the team:
“We have to go out there and continue to work hard. If you do things over and over and over, you start to build confidence. We’ll watch the film today and see where we can improve. Everywhere I’ve ever coached, when the game is over with it’s about what you did or didn’t do and it’ll be the same today, it’ll be the same next week and the following week.”
On what he saw from the offensive and defensive lines against Georgia State compared to in camp:
“I felt like offensively we had a lot of competition throughout camp. I felt like Jameer Johnson, Darnell Wright and Brandon Kennedy probably played the best, but a lot of the other guys had a lot of good moments and they’re going to continue to improve and get better. The thing that we need to do is eliminate mistakes. You can have ten guys do it right, but if one guy does it wrong sometimes it can create a negative play. The crazy thing about defense is that you can have no one do it right, but you have one guy that’s an eraser and he can cover for everyone else. But we’re not that way we have to have everyone do it right for us to have success.”
On redshirt junior linebacker Jordan Allen’s status:
“You talk about Jordan. He’s a guy that’s been sick the last week. They ran some tests on him and they’ll continue to do that, but he should be back at practice today. We just need to get his weight back up.”
On what he saw when he looked in the mirror:
“I told myself the same thing I told the players, everyone in the room has Tennessee on their chest, so what can we all do to improve to be at our best. It all starts with me. Obviously, on the defensive side, we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to be able to execute. We’ve got to be able to make adjustments in the game, and if you look at it, they convert a third-and-ten. We have ten guys that did it right, but one guy that doesn’t, that’s where the ball gets completed. There’s another third-and-nine; we have ten guys doing it right (and) the one that doesn’t. The quarterback scrambles out there for a first-down. There was a lot of that in the game, so we need to eliminate those mistakes.”
On positives from both sides of the ball:
“I think there’s a lot of positives on both sides of the ball. We’ll start with the kicking game. I think our kickers kicked the ball really well, the operation, the holders, we covered the ball well. We got a few returns going. On the defensive side of the ball, there were several guys that played pretty good football. There are lots of guys that are right there in that 75-80 percent, but it doesn’t take, but one mistake to extend a drive and we did that. We didn’t get many turnovers. We had one, had an opportunity to get a few more, but against a quarterback like that, and a quarterback we’ll see this week and mostly in the SEC – because most quarterbacks are athletes – we have to control the quarterback rush. You have to push the pocket. You have to make them throw from the pocket. You can’t give them lanes to where they can scramble up and get easy throws and we didn’t do a good job of that in our pass rush lanes. There were also a few chances on third down where we had a chance to get off the field and we didn’t and we have to get off the field on third down and not give them extra opportunities.”
On Ty Chandler being featured in the first half, but not the second:
“You have to be able to secure the football. There were a couple of them on the ground and we went with Eric (Gray), because we felt like he had the hot hand.”
On keeping players motivated after an upset:
“When you look at the teams that win, a lot of people talk about talent. There’s probably something to that; it helps to have lots of talent. But if you look at good football teams, they create the right habits, they make few mistakes, they play the right way, they don’t beat themselves and when things aren’t going their way they find a way to change the momentum of the game. That’s what good football teams do. It’s not a type of dust that you sprinkle out there. Since I’ve been here, there’s been a few games where we’ve played pretty well. The reason we played well is because we focused on the details, we executed, we didn’t beat ourselves and we continued to do that until the other team made mistakes. That’s what you have to do, that’s what we’ll focus on and that’s what you always have to focus on.”
On progression of Eric Gray:
“He wants to play. He did make some guys miss. He probably needs to put a foot in the ground and get north and south a little bit more, but he’s a guy that what we saw Saturday is what we’ve seen this entire Fall camp.”
On if it’s concerning to hear Darrell Taylor admit that the team didn’t study enough film:
“As far as knowing enough, when you look at our game plan, it was pretty simple. I’m satisfied that our guys understood it and what we’re doing. But the offense creates the multiples for the defense. That’s one of the things early in the year, as a defensive coach, you’re like, ‘How far do you actually go back and look? What could they pull out?’ They completed a pass on third down that they ran against us when I coached at Georgia in 2014 in the red area, against South Carolina. When you pull things out, how far do you go back? You can’t cover it all. There comes a point where you just have to play by principles and concepts. Especially early on, it’s smart to keep it simple so the kids can do that and play fast. We’ll continue to do that. That’s what I believe in until you get a whole body of work where you can see where a team has created an identity through three, four, or five games in a season.”
On what his message would be to disappointed Vol fans:
“I hope they are disappointed because I know everybody in this building is disappointed. For us, we’ve got to go back and go to work. We’ve got to go back and practice the right way, work on creating the right habits. I’ll say it again. We’re young and inexperienced and we’ve got to continue to grow. The most you improve is from the first week to the second week. We’ve got a great opportunity, starting today, to do that. If we’re made the right way, and I’m talking about what’s inside of us, about wanting to go back and having a little bit of pride about who you represent and who you play for, then you go back and you dig a little deeper, try a little harder, and maybe watch a little more film here, or do a little extra in the weight room. Whatever it is, look in the mirror and figure out what we’ve got to do, each and every one of us, to get better and that’s what we’ve got to do in this building.”
On what he would like to see from Jarrett Guarantano from week one to week two, in terms of improvement:
“We’ve got to be able to manage the offense. Jarrett put a lot of good plays together. Unfortunately, at that position, the ball goes through your hand every snap. There’s plays that he probably left out there on the field. He could’ve changed protections a couple of times and didn’t. He can do that. He’s got that capability. He needs to be efficient and stay within the offense.”
On if the linebackers should take responsibility in terms of ensuring that the defense is lined up correctly:
“I don’t know if you watched the game, as far as the rewind of it, but these guys got in big splits by the guards, big splits by the tackles. They take the tight end and he plays like a guard and he plays like a tackle, if that makes sense. All are things that we’ve covered because they’ve done it in the past a little bit. When you start talking about, they shift and move the tackle in and the guard out. It’s really simple adjustments that, as these guys get a little more experience under their belt, won’t be hard. It really falls on nobody but me. It doesn’t fall on the linebackers. It doesn’t fall on the D-line. It falls on me to prepare them and be ready to handle those situations.”
On if, after looking back, the defensive line performed better or worse than he initially thought and what corrections need to be made:
“We had a couple of guys, I thought, that played pretty well over there. That’s the thing about defense, unless you’ve got a bunch of erasers that fly around out there and cover for everybody else, you’ve got to play team defense. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to play team defense. We’ve got to play together, play hard, be smart, and we’ll work hard to do that.”
On the chemistry of Tennessee’s coaching staff and executing the game plan:
“Before the half there, we had an opportunity to score a touchdown. I think there were three minutes and 20 seconds left when we got the ball. The number one thing, two minutes before the half, is don’t give it to the other team. We’ve got a 17-14 lead there. We got in field goal position and went to the two-minute drill. We got the ball down there and got three shots inside the five-yard line and came away with a field goal. We probably had an opportunity, if we worked a certain side of the field, to get a touchdown. We had a substitution error on defense and that was me. I can fix that. The coaching staff did a good job, in my opinion, as far as in-game adjustments and coaching the guys. There are things that we can do that we’ve obviously got to do better. Our guys will get better. The more you do it, the better you get at it and we’ve got a great opportunity this week.”
On if the team has a leader:
“We have some good leaders on this team. Here’s the thing about leadership: it’s easy to be the leader after the game. It’s easy to be the leader in a meeting before practice. But when the bullets start flying and things don’t go your way, that’s when you need good leadership. We have plenty of guys capable of doing that. I believe we have good leaders on this team. We have a lot of guys that are younger and they respond to the leadership. There’s no secret to why we lost this game. I said it after the game. They did a better job coaching than we did. They executed better than we did. It’s not because we lacked leadership. It’s not because we lacked effort. It’s because we lacked execution. They executed better than we did. We turned the ball over five times and only got one turnover. It’s hard to beat anybody that way.”
Our Cumulus Broadcasting Knoxville sports department staff was there as Vols head football coach Jeremy Pruitt held his BYU week Monday press conference.
Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt harped on the Vols’ lack of execution in a stunning 38-30 loss to a 10-year old program — Georgia State.
His message was clear: The Vols don’t have enough talent to beat many teams if they don’t pay attention to details.
“We’ve got to quit beating ourselves before we can beat someone else,’’ Pruitt said.
Pruitt said his team needs more competition in practice, meaning more players pushing the starters.
“That makes you better,’’ Pruitt said post game. “At certain positions, we have none.’’
That’s a problem.
Another problem was lack of intensity, lack of effort at times.
“We’ve got to practice with an edge, play with an edge, coach with an edge,’’ Pruitt said.
All of that seemed to be lacking in the season opener.
While the offense showed some spark and has some potential, the defense appears to be in dire straits. As the game wore on, the Panthers wore out UT’s defensive line and had success with the run game.
Georgia State rushed for 16 yards in the first quarter, 53 yards in the first half.
In the second half, the Panthers pounded the Vols for rushing 160 yards. They converted eight of nine third downs in short-yardage situations. The only failure was in the final minute with the game on ice.
Tennessee’s defensive line was battered and bruised in the second half, and didn’t appear to be in as good a condition as Georgia’s State offensive line.
The fix for UT’s run defense won’t be easy.
“As coaches you feel like if you don’t have success,’’ Pruitt said, “you feel like you have to fix it with a call. I totally disagree with that. I think you have to fix it with fundamentals.
“I’d rather run one call and get it right. I told our coaching staff today there was one year I was defensive coordinator (likely at Alabama) and we probably had one of the best defenses in the history of college football. We played one game and we called the same call every snap. Those guys were capable of calling everything, but why did we need to do that if we could play the right way calling one thing.
“If you look over the last 100 years, there have been a lot of great defenses, right. And people have played great defense a bunch of different ways.
“So to me it’s the temperament that you play with. It’s the execution you play with, how you play together. Being smart.’’
Tennessee certainly didn’t play that way. Perhaps it was because the defense didn’t have nose tackle Emmit Gooden, cornerback Bryce Thompson, nickel back Baylen Buchanan and – most importantly – linebacker Daniel Bituli, who is not only a standout tackler but the defensive signal caller.
“We have a lot of youth, ok,’’ Pruitt said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of anxiety and lot of inexperience there. We’ve got to keep coaching them, keep pushing them. We’ve got good players in there. We’ve got good people. They’re going to respond the right way.
“Are we all disappointed today (Saturday)? Sure we are, ok. But the sun’s going to come up tomorrow and we’re going to get ready to play BYU, and we’ve got to bring our best game next Saturday.’’
If not, an 0-2 start would be disastrous for a fan base that has grown weary of losing.
fAn image from the Sept. 23, 2018 regular season home game against the New York Giants. The Texans lost 22-27.
By Vince Ferrara / @VinceSports
NFL rosters have been cut from 90 to 53.
Rosters sizes of 53 are far too small, but that’s a story for another day.
Here’s an updated list of University of Tennessee players in the National Football League and all the moves over cutdown weekend. I’ve also included some notes, jersey numbers, unofficial depth chart positions, breakdowns by position and much more.
You will also see all of the players that are inactive in the league, either on injured reserve or on practice squads. Plus, you’ll find the list of players that were at UT at one time before transferring and others that have local ties to the Knoxville area that did not attend the University of Tennessee.
I’ll update this list throughout the season here on my blog “Vince’s View.” Bookmark my blog page and check back often.
Most Recent Moves – U. of Tennessee/One-Time Vols/Local Players in the NFL Released
DB Micah Abernathy – Colts
TE Ethan Wolf – Jaguars
OG Kahlil McKenzie – Chiefs
RB John Kelly – Rams
FB Jakob Johnson – Patriots
P Matt Darr – Jets
TE Alex Ellis – Eagles
LB LaTroy Lewis – Titans
LB Quart’e Sapp – Titans
QB Tyler Bray – Bears
P Britton Colquitt – Browns
WR Josh Malone – Bengals
LB Davis Tull – Jaguars (Chattanooga)
DE Dewayne Hendrix – Dolphins (Pitt)
TE Daniel Helm – 49ers (Duke)
DB D’Andre Payne – Titans (Iowa St)
Placed On Reserve/Injured List
LB Colton Jumper – Saints
QB Matt Simms – Falcons
TE Jason Croom – Bills
Signed To 53-Player Roster
P Britton Colquitt – Vikings
Signed To Practice Squad QB Tyler Bray – Bears
RB John Kelly – Rams
TE Alex Ellis – Eagles
FB Jakob Johnson – Patriots
DE Dewayne Hendrix – Dolphins (Pitt)
TE Daniel Helm – 49ers (Duke)
Numbers – Vols in the NFL
-24 U. of Tennessee players are on NFL active rosters
-8 UT players are in the league, but inactive (4 on IR & 4 on practice squads)
-2 VFL rookies are in the NFL, both made teams as undrafted free agents
-Pittsburgh has the most active UT players with 4
-DL is the largest position of VFLs in the league right now with 5 active
-15 of the 32 teams have a UT player on active rosters
-There are 4 players on active rosters that were once at U. of Tennessee but then transferred
-There are 3 players on active rosters that didn’t attend UT, but have Knoxville/East TN ties
Tennessee Volunteers On Active NFL Rosters as of 9/2/19 (24) x = rookie Atlanta Falcons Luke Stocker (80) TE (2nd team TE)
Baltimore Ravens Morgan Cox (46) LS (starting LS)
Carolina Panthers Michael Palardy (5) P (starting P/H) Rashaan Gaulden (28) DB (2nd team SS)
Chicago Bears Cordarrelle Patterson (84) WR/KR (2nd team WR & starting KR)
Dallas Cowboys Jason Witten (82) TE (starting TE)
Denver Broncos Alexander “AJ” Johnson (45) LB (2nd team ILB) Ja’Wuan James (70) OT (starting RT)
Detroit Lions Jalen Reeves-Maybin (44) LB (2nd team OLB) Justin Coleman (27) DB (starting CB)
Houston Texans Zach Fulton (73) OL (2nd team RG) Trevor Daniel (8) P (starting P/H)
Kansas City Chiefs Dustin Colquitt (2) P (starting P/H)
Minnesota Vikings Britton Colquitt (4) P (starting P/H)
New Orleans Saints Alvin Kamara (41) RB (starting RB/2nd team KR) Shy Tuttle (74) DT (4th team DT)
New York Jets Kyle Phillips (98) DE (3rd team DE)-x
Philadelphia Eagles Derek Barnett (96) DE (starting DE) Malik Jackson (97) DT (starting DT)
Pittsburgh Steelers Ramon Foster (73) OG (starting LG) Daniel McCullers (93) NT (2nd team NT) Cameron Sutton (20) DB (2nd team NCB) Joshua Dobbs (5) QB (2nd team QB)
San Francisco 49ers Emmanuel Moseley (41) CB (3rd team NCB)
One-Time Vols That Transferred On Active Rosters (4) x = rookie
Buffalo Bills Lee Smith TE (85) *Powell HS/Tennessee/Marshall (2nd team TE)
Miami Dolphins Preston Williams (82) WR *Tennessee/Colorado St (3rd team WR)-x
Oakland Raiders Nathan Peterman (2) QB *Tennessee/Pittsburgh (3rd team QB)
San Francisco 49ers Jalen Hurd (17) WR *Tennessee/Baylor (3rd team WR)-x
Knoxville Area Players That Didn’t Play At U. of Tennessee On Active Rosters (3) x = rookie
Dallas Cowboys Randall Cobb (18) WR *Alcoa HS/Kentucky (starting WR) Chris Jones (6) P *Carson-Newman (starting P/H)
Minnesota Vikings Harrison Smith (22) S *Catholic HS/Notre Dame (starting SS)
Inactive Players From UT, One-Time Vols & Local Players In The NFL Injured Reserve
LB Colton Jumper – New Orleans Saints
QB Matt Simms – Atlanta Falcons
TE Jason Croom – Buffalo Bills
LB Jordan Williams – Tennessee Titans
Practice Squads
RB John Kelly – Los Angeles Rams
QB Tyler Bray – Chicago Bears
FB Jakob Johnson – New England Patriots
TE Alex Ellis – Philadelphia Eagles
TE Daniel Helm – San Francisco 49ers (Duke)
DE Dewayne Hendrix – Miami Dolphins (Pitt)
Teams Without Any Players From UT On Active 53-Player Rosters (17)
Arizona Cardinals
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Giants
Oakland Raiders
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins
UT Players In The NFL By Position (24)
QB – 1
RB – 1
WR – 1
TE – 2
FB – 0
OL – 3
DL – 5
LB – 2
DB – 4
P – 4
PK – 0
LS – 1
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Despite 108 receiving yards and a touchdown on a career-high seven catches by senior Jauan Jennings, a pair of fourth-quarter turnovers cost Tennessee, as the Vols fell to Georgia State, 38-23, in their season-opener at Neyland Stadium Saturday.
The Vols now prepare to host BYU next Saturday at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN).
After UT took a 23-21 lead on a 31-yard field goal from Brett Cimaglia with 12:05 to go in the game, GSU tallied 17 unanswered points over a 10-minute stretch in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
UT outgained GSU in both total yards (404-352) and passing yards (311-139), however two trips to the red zone that ended in field goals instead of touchdowns proved to be pivotal to the final outcome.
Junior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano’s 311-yard passing performance marked the second time he has eclipsed 300 yards in his UT career.
Senior tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson finished with a career-high 79 receiving yards on three receptions, highlighted by a 54-yard pitch-and-catch from Guarantano early in the fourth quarter to put the Vols in position to score.
Freshman linebacker Henry To’o To’o began his career on Rocky Top with an impressive seven total tackles, which tied for the team lead. He had four solo tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Georgia State opened the day’s scoring on a four-yard rush from Seth Paige, following an opening-series fumble.
The Big Orange responded with a 16-play, 78-yard drive, capped off with a six-yard, back-shoulder fade from Guarantano to wide receiver Marquez Callaway. The drive ate 7:42 off the clock and knotted the score at 7-7. The 16-play drive was the longest drive for the Vols since their first scoring drive in last season’s opener against West Virginia.
UT took control late in the first quarter when Chandler scampered for 31 yards through the Panther defense and into the end zone to give Tennessee a 14-7 advantage.
Georgia State tied things back up at 14-14 with a 16-play drive of its own late in the second quarter.
As time in the first half expired, the first of Cimaglia’s three field goals gave UT a 17-14 lead as both teams headed to the locker rooms.
Georgia State came out of the break with a well-orchestrated, nine-play, 75-yard drive to retake the lead at 21-17.
Two field goals from Cimaglia that bridged the third and fourth quarters gave UT a slim 23-21 lead before GSU pieced together three consecutive scoring drives, two of which came off Vols turnovers, to take a 38-23 lead in the game’s waning minutes.
Jennings hauled in an 18-yard scoring strike from Guarantano with 53 seconds remaining, and Cimaglia’s PAT provided the final score.
A caller to SportsTalk radio asked Friday if any score in the Tennessee-Georgia State game would alter my preseason prediction of a 7-5 season.
My response: Yes, if UT wins by only 10-9.
My new answer: Absolutely, if you can’t beat Georgia State.
My fears for the Vols were brutally evident in the home opener: UT isn’t very good along the offensive line and even worse on the defensive line. It didn’t seem to matter that Trey Smith returned at left guard and Aubrey Solomon was cleared to play defensive tackle.
Tennessee was outplayed and outcoached by a team that was 2-10 last year, lost its last seven games and joined the ranks of the FBS just three years ago.
Georgia State’s 38-30 win was so embarrassing for Tennessee, it had media types flipping through the pages of the UT media guide to find a more appalling upset.
Was it the 21-14 defeat to North Texas State in 1975?
Was it the 13-7 loss to Rutgers in 1979?
Was it the 21-17 faux pas against Memphis in 1996?
Or was it the 13-7 wilting against Wyoming in 2008, the game after Phillip Fulmer had been fired?
Predictions that Tennessee could win nine games were greatly exaggerated.
Predictions that Tennessee could win seven appear to be greatly exaggerated.
Tennessee’s lack of ability along the line of scrimmage is why I tempered my optimism about UT winning more than seven games. It’s hard to explain how UT could have 66 rushing yards in the first quarter, 27 the rest of the game and minus-2 in the second half – against a Georgia State team that allowed 37.4 points per game and 489.5 total yards last year.
When the Panthers marched 75 yards for a go-ahead touchdown (21-17) to open the third quarter, I knew the Vols were in deep trouble. When Jarrett Guarantano threw an interception with 4:14 left in the game, I knew it was over.
“Definitely, the best team out there won the game,’’ said Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt, who credited Georgia State multiple times. “They outcoached us. It starts with that.’’
Pruitt said the Panthers “confused us a little bit.’’
He added: “We didn’t execute to where it gave us a chance.’’
Georgia State hogged the ball in the second half – time of possessions was basically 18 minutes to 12 — and played keet away from UT’s offense by converting 10 of 17 third downs.
“We didn’t have guys ready to play in the third down package,’’ Pruitt said.
Asked how he would assess UT’s play at the line of scrimmage, Pruitt was pointed: “Look at the yards rushing. Georgia State had 213. Tennessee had 93. That tells the tale.’’
Tennessee led 14-7 after the first quarter, but was mired in missed assignments and mediocrity thereafter.
“I believe we were ready to play, but you’ve got to execute,’’ Pruitt said. “We have to be able to execute at a high level.’’
Translation: UT isn’t good enough to not execute and win – even against Georgia State.
One disturbing comment from UT involved effort.
“They had more want-to than we did,’’ safety Nigel Warrior said.
Senior receiver Marquez Callaway was asked if he agreed with Warrior’s assessment.
“It showed,’’ Callaway said.
It’s hard to explain why a Tennessee team, opening its second season under Pruitt, wouldn’t have more want-to. But clearly, it didn’t.
And when things began to slip away, UT didn’t have the poise to pull it out.
Warrior used the worth “flabbergasted’’ to describe one the greatest upset losses in UT history – the Vols were a 26-point favorite.
It’s worth noting that Warrior said UT knew what Georgia State was going to do, but outside linebacker Darrell Taylor had a different viewpoint.
“The defense didn’t play hard enough,’’ Taylor said. “I don’t think we were prepared for what they were going to run.’’
UT certainly didn’t look prepared. Often times the defense wasn’t lined up correctly. Once, both defensive ends were lined up on the same side.
Guarantano, who was 26 of 40 for 311 yards and two touchdowns with four sacks, was visibly angered.
“I’m disgusted, to be honest,’’ Guarantano said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. I’m really upset.
“I don’t even want to go outside now. I want to go in the film room.’’
That might be the answer to playing Brigham Young on Saturday.
Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano and OLB Darrell Taylor spoke to the media in the postgame after UT’s 38-30 home loss to Georgia State. Cumulus Broadcasting Knoxville’s sports staff was there to cover it. Here’s that full video below.
Vols OLB Darrell Taylor and QB Jarrett Guarantano / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
Tennessee DB Nigel Warrior, WR Marquez Callaway and C Brandon Kennedy spoke to the media in the postgame after UT’s 38-30 home loss to Georgia State. Cumulus Broadcasting Knoxville’s sports staff was there to cover it. Here’s that full video below.
Vols DB Nigel Warrior, WR Marquez Callaway and C Brandon Kennedy (l to r) / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
Tennessee head football coach Jeremy Pruitt spoke to the media in his postgame press conference after UT’s 38-30 home loss to Georgia State. Cumulus Broadcasting Knoxville’s sports staff was there to cover it. Here’s that full video below.
Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
