Vols' offensive line 'exposed'

OXFORD, Miss. -- If the University of Tennessee offensive line was a makeshift dam, it at least temporarily broke Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

UT's defense played a large role in the 42-17 loss at Ole Miss, but the offense didn't sustain the early success that kept the Volunteers close to the Rebels in the first half.

"We had kind of masked some things throughout the year (up front), and we got exposed today," coach Lane Kiffin said. "I've got to do a better job of finding different ways to move the ball."

Kiffin didn't call Saturday a complete wash for the Vols' offense, which allowed just one sack to one of college football's most formidable defensive fronts.

But he didn't sugarcoat the situation, either. UT finished with a mere 99 rushing yards because it gained 123 but lost 24.

"I thought that I tried to be simple at times so we didn't get into a sack-fest like some other teams have," Kiffin said. "They had one sack today, and we didn't turn the ball over one time, so from that standpoint that was the game plan. We've just got to do a better job on third down."

"There were more negative plays today. That's a great defensive line. They exposed us today."

Senior twins Cody and Cory Sullins, while far from the only problems, struggled to contain Ole Miss from their center and left guard positions. UCLA's Brian Price wreaked havoc on the Vols' interior in September, but coaches said the group mostly held its own against strong SEC foes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina.

"They had a lot of talent up front, but I didn't think it was anything we couldn't handle," said Cody, who was flagged multiple times for holding. "I didn't think we finished on blocks the way we should have, and I didn't think we maintained our blocks for as long as we could have, and as well as we have in other games.

"It's a game of inches, and if you don't hold off your guys for that second longer or take that right angle, good guys like that are going to beat you. And you can't have those things when you're trying to win."

UT senior tailback Montario Hardesty diplomatically suggested he didn't have as much room to operate Saturday. Hardesty gained 71 yards in 14 carries but lost a season-high 16.

"There are times in the game when one-on-one matchups show up, and there were times in one-on-one matchups when we got beat," Hardesty said. "That resulted in the negative runs for us, but you can't just blame it on that. There were things I should have done that I didn't get done.

"It's a team effort, and we just got outplayed today."

Letting down Orgeron

Junior defensive end Chris Walker said he and several teammates were disappointed to let down UT associate head coach Ed Orgeron on Saturday.

Orgeron was Ole Miss's head coach for four years but was fired after the 2007 season.

"We wanted to get this one for Coach O and his family so bad, and I feel like we let them down," Walker said. "He's done so much for us, and it would have been really sweet to get this one for him. I hate that. I really do."

Orgeron didn't show up for postgame interviews Saturday after politely declining media requests all week. Several sources said he was still emotional about his dismissal and didn't want to be the focus before, during or after Saturday's game.

Another block party

Cory Sullins, also an interior lineman on UT's struggling field-goal unit, said he thought Ole Miss safety Kendrick Lewis simply made a great individual play to block Daniel Lincoln's 45-yard attempt in the fourth quarter.

That was the fourth blocked field goal UT surrendered this season, and the third off Lincoln's foot.

"I've already seen the replay, and one of their leapers just jumped up and got his hand on the ball," Sullins said. "It didn't look like they got much penetration. It just looked like the guy jumped up and made a play. It was a long field goal, so obviously it had to be a little bit lower, and it looked like a guy just got his hand on it."

UT's other special teams were a mixed bag of results. David Oku, Denarius Moore and Dennis Rogan were solid in the return game, and coverage units were fine, but punter Chad Cunningham was inconsistent despite a decent 38.6-yard average on five attempts.

Moore was also solid on offense, leading the Vols with 69 yards and a touchdown on five catches.

Other contacts for Wes Rucker are www.twitter.com/wesrucker and www.facebook.com/tfpvolsbeat.