KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee football coach Butch Jones opened his weekly news conference Monday by pointing the blame for the Volunteers' double-overtime loss to Oklahoma directly at himself.
As one would expect with the loss of a 17-point lead still fresh and an FCS opponent in Western Carolina next on the schedule, the main topic of discussion for Jones and the four players who spoke to the media was the difficult defeat.
Jones wasted no time saying it was on him.
"As the head football coach, I am responsible for the losses. I take responsibility," he said. "Everyone in our football program was extremely disappointed, and everyone in our organization needs to continue to improve and learn from the experiences that we had, not only from Saturday night but through the week leading up to it in our effort and preparation.
"We must continue to move forward and make great strides. It was a tough loss. I'm encouraged of the progress that we're making and the positives. I will tell you this: As the caretaker of Tennessee football, I refuse to allow any negativity to creep in or around our football program. We have way too much positive going on, and we have to get some things corrected.
"We'll work immediately to get those items corrected and continue to move forward."
With the Southern Conference's Catamounts coming to Knoxville on Saturday, Tennessee's next real shot at redemption won't come until their SEC opener at Florida in 11 days.
Multiple players, both after the Oklahoma loss and during Monday's interviews, said the tough lesson they learned against the Sooners should harden and help them with nearly the entire season left to play.
"No crying over spilled milk," senior safety Brian Randolph said. "We still have all of our dreams in front of us. We can still win the (SEC) East, still win an SEC championship, still make it to the playoffs. It's a tough loss and we all hurt about it, but we know we've still got a lot to play for."
For the third season in a row under Jones, the Vols couldn't close out what would've been a big home victory.
In 2013, Georgia drove 75 yards to answer Tennessee's go-ahead score with the tying touchdown in the final seconds of an eventual overtime victory.
Last season, Florida rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
And on Saturday, Oklahoma, after doing very little all game offensively, drove 80 and 60 yards to erase a two-touchdown deficit, though Tennessee failed to take advantage of multiple chances to close out the game before then.
Tennessee upset South Carolina in its next game after that Georgia loss and recovered from a 10th straight loss to the Gators to make a bowl last season, so the Vols know all isn't lost.
"It's happened other places, too," safety Todd Kelly Jr. said. "You see teams win national championships (after they) lose their first one or two games. We're going with the mindset that we can win any game on our schedule, hopefully, and the next game is the most important game. I feel like if we do that, we'll be successful this season."
Jones expects his team to be in more close games this season, and the Vols will have to show they've learned what it takes to win big games, particularly when they play well enough to build a lead.
"We've got to make the plays," Randolph said. "We've got to make one more play than they do. We've got to have the confidence to make those plays, and we've got to have the trust in each other that everyone's going to do their job.
"We were trying not to let any negative thoughts creep in, but we definitely knew the pressure was on in the fourth quarter. We sensed that, and we tried to rise to the occasion. We just couldn't get it done."
Tennessee's defense was the cause for concern after the season opener when Bowling Green rolled up 557 yards against the Vols, but it's the offense's turn this week after Oklahoma held Tennessee to 66 yards in the second half.
"Obviously it's a game that we'll learn from," quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "We've got a lot of valuable experience from it offensively, defensively. We'll be able to use this game as a steppingstone for the rest of the season."
The Vols expect to encounter similar situations this season and believe now they'll be better prepared to handle the moments where games are won and lost.
"There are going to be a lot of games that take on this personality in moving forward," Jones said. "Where we haven't been competitive in the past, we're competitive now, and that's progress. We expect to win immediately. We expect to win every time we step onto the football field."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.