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Fourth-and-Florida: Vols cough up another lead in loss to Gators Wiedmer: Will Vols ever again beat Gators? Improved Vols rushing game not enough to top Gators Jones explains decision to kick extra point
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The words sounded remarkably like the last Tennessee football coach to actually beat Florida rather than merely scare the Gators.
Said Volunteers coach Butch Jones after Saturday's fall-from-way-ahead 28-27 loss in the Swamp: "We've got to keep grinding. We've got to keep pounding the rock every day."
No Vols coach ever lived those words more than former coach Phillip Fulmer, whose 2004 UT team was also the last Big Orange bunch to defeat Florida, winning 30-28.
And in many ways, he surely loved most of what went down inside UF's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which had the Vols rushing for 145 more yards than the Gators, the ultimate example of successfully pounding the rock.
Quarterback Josh Dobbs ran for 136 yards on 18 carries. Running back Jalen Hurd picked up 102 more on 28 tough totes. Alvin Kamara gained 16 on five carries.
"We really wanted to run the ball, and we did," Kamara said afterward. "We just came up short. It didn't go the way we wanted. But we'll learn. It's a long season. It's only the fourth game."
This is the bright side of what all the Vols understandably viewed as an awful finish, none more so than Jones.
"It stinks," he said.
But the running game also showed great promise against a Florida defensive front regarded as possibly the best in the league.
"Josh ran well," Jones said. "Jalen Hurd was grinding. I feel awful for our fans. I hurt for our players. They deserved to win. But this doesn't define who we are."
What they are is now 2-2 for the season, winning the two they were strongly favored to win - Bowling Green and Western Carolina - and losing the two they appeared uncertain to win: Florida and Oklahoma.
But that rushing total and the Vols' advantage in time of possession is also a positive, as is the success of their two trick plays, which included a nifty pass from Kamara to tight end Ethan Wolf on a fourth down that set up a later UT field goal in the opening half.
"We worked on that play all week," Kamara said. "I hadn't thrown a pass since high school. But it worked perfect."
It was all perfect until it shockingly wasn't inside the final 90 seconds, when a 27-21 lead became a 28-27 loss, the Vols' 11th straight to the Gators.
Said Jones with words that should find their way pounded into a rock: "We have to start finishing games."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com