Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley (14) throws from the pocket during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, in Athens, Ga.ATHENS, Ga. -- Butch Jones took his spot behind the makeshift podium underneath Sanford Stadium on Saturday afternoon and let out a loud sigh of exasperation.
Two fumbled handoffs and temporary elbow numbness for the starting quarterback in a close loss will have that effect on a football coach.
Tennessee again came close to ending its long losing streak against ranked teams on the road, but two botched exchanges, including one Georgia recovered in the end zone for a fourth-quarter touchdown, and an untimely injury to quarterback Justin Worley in a 35-32 loss to the No. 12 Bulldogs will haunt the Volunteers.
"You get tired of being so close, knowing what you're capable of," Curt Maggitt said after Tennessee's 21st straight road loss to a ranked team.
"We're really close," the linebacker added. "We're going to get there. It's not about us being a young team or growing or keep getting better -- none of that. We're a good team. We're going to get there, we're going to make plays and we're going to get wins."
The Vols (2-2, 0-1 SEC) were close to snatching a pretty big one Saturday. And had Worley not missed a stretch of the second half, they might have gotten it.
Tennessee's gritty senior left the game in the third quarter after Georgia linebacker Jordan Jenkins delivered a big hit in which his helmet directly popped Worley's right elbow.
The blow drew blood and made Worley's throwing arm go numb, and it forced him back into the locker room for X-rays and then to the bench with his arm wrapped in ice.
"I was hoping and praying it wasn't another major injury," Worley said.
"I was anxious to get back out there. Nathan [Peterman] came in and did a good job. It always hurts and you always hate just sitting on the sideline."
Peterman, who directed a four-turnover first half for the Vols at Florida last September, led Tennessee down the field on his first series, but his fumbled handoff with Marlin Lane knocked the Vols out of a field-goal attempt and possibly more.
Tennessee's next two possessions with Peterman at quarterback picked up 14 yards and ended in punts.
When Worley returned to the game, Georgia had extended its lead to 28-17 on star tailback Todd Gurley's 51-yard run on a Tennessee defense that held the Bulldogs to 47 yards in the third quarter.
After returning to the game, Worley twice took Tennessee down the field for touchdowns, but what happened in between the series that ended in touchdowns passes to Pig Howard and Marquez North was the game's defining play.
Under center after just missing a long pass to North, Worley mishandled an exchange with freshman tailback Jalen Hurd, and Georgia's Josh Dawson fell on it for a touchdown and a 10-point lead with 4:27 left.
"It was just an exchange problem that was completely my fault, and it's something that won't happen again," said Hurd, who ran for 119 yards.
Added Worley: "That's the difference in the ballgame right there. We're right there. Coach Jones always says one or two plays, and you never know when they're going to happen.
"We just need to somehow find a way to be on the winning end of those."
Worley completed 23 of 35 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
"He's always shown us he's a tough leader," receiver Jason Croom said of the quarterback. "He's never going to back down. He can play through anything, and he's good at handling adversity."
Asked if he thought Tennessee would've won the game had he not missed a chunk of time, Worley shrugged.
"You can't go back and change the past or anything," he said. "I thought Nathan did a good job. He moved the ball a little bit, and the offense responded to him being in there. Yeah, I don't know what to say about missing the time. I hate that I missed it, but you can't change that."
Jones was proud of his team's resilience in fighting back into the game on a couple of occasions, but the tone of his voice failed to hide his mixture of frustration and determination.
"We're going to be a good football team, and we're going to win a lot of games here," he said.
"This team is growing up, and it's painful. It's growing pains. But they're growing up and they're maturing. These are illustrations that we will point towards for the next three, four, five years of their careers. I see progress."
The Vols hope to turn that progress into wins, and soon.
"All losses are losses, so they all kind of hurt the same," freshman safety Todd Kelly said, "but this being an SEC game, my first SEC game, it's just not a good feeling.
"We have to bounce back. It's going to be a new week starting tomorrow, and we've got to focus on Florida. It's going to be a tough loss, but you can't grieve about it too long because you have a long season ahead."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.