Tennessee Chokes... Again...

At this point, after all the bad losses, all the heartbreaks, and all the gut punches, I really don’t know what to say. Tennessee, once again, pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Only Tennessee would struggle to defend a team without timeouts on a third down deep in their own territory. Only the Vols would give up a 60+ yard completion in that situation. That throw was just like the one in the Florida game in 2017 or the Georgia one in 2016 before the Dobbsnail Boot.

You’ve got one job as a defender in that situation with the clock winding down: don’t let someone run by you. Just don’t! It’s not difficult! I don’t understand how every other team in the country understands that fundamental concept except for Tennessee. You’d think they would’ve learned that by now SINCE IT’S HAPPENED THREE TIMES TO THEM IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS! YOU’D THINK DEFENSIVE “GURU” JEREMY PRUITT WOULD HAVE HIS DEFENSE PREPARED TO DEFEND AGAINST THE ONLY POSSIBLE PLAY THE COUGARS COULD RUN! BYU HAD A SECOND AND EIGHTEEN FROM THEIR OWN SIX YARD LINE WITH NO TIMEOUTS AND LESS THAN A MINUTE TO GO AND STILL SENT IT TO OVERTIME.

Instead, it’s just another loss. Another gut punch. I don’t know where this program goes from here. Great, Chattanooga comes to town next week. An FCS team. I’m sure there’s a lot to learn from that one.

I think it’s official that Jarrett Guarantano is a below average to bad quarterback. I've been a defender of his but it's pretty much impossible to be now. This was the best protection that he’s had in a game in his entire career, and he was just really awful. He missed Jauan Jennings for a wide open TD in the second quarter, and his first TD pass to Jennings happened on a lucky deflection that should’ve been picked off. Outside of whatever the hell defense they were playing on that long pass play, he was the biggest reason they lost tonight.

The running game was awesome for three quarters, but it floundered late. Greg McElroy was literally calling them out from the broadcast booth for their predictability. I think it's safe to say that Jim Chaney has been pretty underwhelming as the offensive coordinator thus far.

The defense was strong for most of the night, until that play. After that, they took a giant dump in both overtimes.

When the kicking game is the best part of your team through 2 games, it makes sense that you're 0-2.

Pruitt is 5-9 through 14 games with two horrible/inexcusable losses to start his second year. It’s hard to hear excuses from the staff after this one when there are a ton of coaches in their first and second years who are winning games. Mel Tucker at Colorado, for example, a guy who was a finalist for the Tennessee job that Pruitt got. He’s 2-0 in his first year with the Buffaloes, with both wins coming against FBS teams, including a 17-point comeback today against Nebraska. Mike Locksley at Maryland has put up 79 and 63 points in his first two games with the Terps, including a blowout win over #21 Syracuse this afternoon. Mack Brown, who has been out of coaching for five years, took over at UNC and beat South Carolina last week in his first game. Then, he knocked off Miami tonight. None of those programs have the resources that the Vols do, or as much talent (based on recruiting rankings), and yet, they’ve been far superior doing the only thing that really matters, winning, up to this point. When do we just say to ourselves, “Wow, maybe Pruitt is nothing more than a defensive coordinator masquerading as a head coach”?

So here’s what’s going to happen. Tennessee is going to go to Florida in two weeks and get the hell beat out of them. The same is going to happen at Alabama. And at home against Georgia. And maybe to everyone else the rest of season.

I’m all out of answers. This is one is worse that last week. With Georgia State, it was shocking, but GSU kicked their ass for most of the second half. It was a slow burn. Tonight, the Vols had the game won. They had BYU pinned inside their own 10 yard line and screwed it up. Just inexcusable and predictable all at the same time. We’ve all said the same things over and over and over and over and over again, and the same stuff keeps happening. The program is cursed. The Vols are 0-2 for the first time since 1988. There is no hope.