Vols use conservative offense to stay close

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It wasn't explosive. It wasn't particularly efficient, either.

But according to first-year coach Lane Kiffin, Tennessee's offensive output Saturday closely followed the best blueprint for success in the Swamp.

In losing 23-13 to top-ranked, defending national champion Florida, the Volunteers didn't attack the Gators' defense very often. They generally poked and prodded rather than slash and dash.

The Vols ran draws on third-and-12. They threw swing passes to tailbacks on third-and-11. They ran directly up the gut on a third-and-19. They didn't hurry to the line of scrimmage in the final few minutes, despite needing 10 points to tie the score.

"To get into a track race with them, we'd look like a lot of other people do when they've come in here and gotten blown out of the stadium," Kiffin said.

Tennessee produced a mere 210 offensive yards against the Gators. The Vols averaged 4.1 yards per snap. Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton tossed his sixth and seventh interceptions in the season's third game, and he finished a second consecutive week with exactly 93 passing yards.

"We have great coaches, and those coaches have game plans for us," Crompton said. "It's up to us as players to execute that plan."

Kiffin said they generally followed that plan Saturday, especially early. The Vols nearly outgained the Gators in the first half (133-126) and controlled more than 50 percent of the possession.

"We've got some players than made some plays today, but we're not deep," Kiffin said. "But that's not out players' fault. It is what it is. There's not a lot of answers to go to when they start wearing down.

"The answer was to do our plan better, and our plan was to keep our defense off the field."

UT couldn't capitalize early, though, turning two trips inside the 10-yard line into two Daniel Lincoln field goals and a 13-6 halftime deficit.

Lincoln's second kick -- a 20-yarder -- came after All-America safety Eric Berry intercepted Florida All-American Tim Tebow at the Gators' 20-yard line. UT could have tied the game but settled for a 10-6 deficit with 5:56 left in the second quarter.

"When you get the ball at the other team's 20-yard line, you've just got to get seven points. It's a simple as that," said Vols senior tailback Montario Hardesty, who churned out 98 yards on 20 carries against a consistently stacked defensive front.

"Three points ain't enough in that situation ... especially against a team like Florida on the road."

The situation was at its worst in the third quarter, when Kiffin admittedly got greedy. His definition of "greedy" was throwing a few balls down the field.

"As (Florida's lead) got up there, I tried to force it a little bit, and I probably got away from our plan a little bit," Kiffin said. "I wanted to win the game. I didn't come down here to cover the spread or to have a moral victory. We probably could have kept it closer than it was if I'd continued to stay more conservative.

"I saw some things there in man coverage that I thought would be good for us ... and I took some shots, and it haunted us a little bit."

Crompton attempted three passes on UT's three-play possession that started the third quarter. After an incompletion and a 5-yard screen, Crompton underthrew open receiver Gerald Jones down the sideline, and beaten cornerback Joe Haden recovered for an interception at the Gators' 35.

"That was a good play by Haden," Crompton said. "He had his back turned, and at the last second instinct told him to just turn around.

"Obviously, I want to say, 'Hey, I should have put it in a better spot,' or 'I should have done this or that.' But he just made a good play. Obviously, if I had to do it all over again, I would have put more air under it or something like that and let Gerald run under it. But when you're on the field, and you see him that wide open, you want to try to put it on him a little more, and (Haden) made a good play."

Haden didn't feel he'd done anything special.

"I tried to undercut the route. The receiver ran an out-and-up," Haden said. "I got turned around on it, but when I looked up, the ball was right there."

The Vols threw deep downfield just twice the rest of the game. Crompton slightly overthrew tight end Luke Stocker early in the fourth quarter, and his fourth-and-6 toss to senior wideout Quintin Hancock was intercepted to finish UT's offensive day.

"We didn't give the receivers a ton of opportunities today," Kiffin said. "If we'd have gotten into a dropback game, we'd have come out here and gotten sacked six times and thrown the ball around 40 times, you'd have seen the point spread covered if we'd have done that, I promise you.

"We'll go back and we'll get better in our passing game. We need to get better outside."

Florida coach Urban Meyer and his players didn't seem overly pleased with the defense's impressive statistics.

"Obviously, I think we could have played better," Meyer said. "I don't want to take anything away from this or disrespect our opponent. They have some talented athletes, and this is SEC football ... but we missed a lot of tackles."

Added Haden: "We really need to focus on tackling."

Senior weakside linebacker Ryan Stamper said the Gators "fought hard" on defense but made "lots and lots of mistakes.

"To hold Tennessee to 13 points is a pretty good day for us," Stamper said.

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