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KNOXVILLE - Whatever patience Tennessee's fan base had left ran out Saturday night after the Volunteers again found a way to lose a game they led by double digits in the fourth quarter.
Just two weeks after allowing Oklahoma to score twice in the final period of a game the Sooners went on to win in double overtime, Florida pulled a similar trick, turning a 27-14 deficit with 10 minutes to go into a 28-27 victory.
Tennessee easily could be exiting September 4-0 with a likely top-15 ranking.
Instead, the Vols are 2-2 with home games against Southeastern Conference foes Arkansas and Georgia up next.
"I feel awful for our fans, I feel awful for our players, I feel awful for those kids that invest everything that they have each and every day," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said after Saturday's loss in Gainesville. "But you know what, tomorrow's another opportunity to get better, and we'll come back from it. It doesn't define who we are."
Coaching mistakes and the inability to make game-sealing plays - on both sides of the ball - defined Tennessee's losses to Oklahoma and Florida.
Though there were more than 10 minutes remaining, the Vols should have gone for a two-point conversion after their final touchdown against Florida.
Tennessee also used two timeouts on fourth down, once when Florida had lined up to punt and again when the Gators were set to try a long field goal. Jones said the Vols were worried Florida would fake the field goal. After the timeout, the Gators went for the first down, converted and scored a touchdown on that drive.
Much like the decision to kick the extra point, the conservative choice - Jones cited analytics and the desire to get points in a low-scoring game - to kick a short field goal in the first quarter came back to haunt the Vols against Oklahoma.
Tennessee made multiple mistakes in situational football in both losses.
Against Oklahoma, the Vols committed five of their 10 penalties in the fourth quarter. Three defensive penalties (two holding calls and one for pass interference) extended what became touchdown drives for the Sooners. All of those mistakes were costly.
The Vols made two critical mistakes in their final desperation drive against the Gators. After a solid kickoff return past the 30-yard line and a 10-yard pass on first down, left tackle Kyler Kerbyson cost the Vols 5 yards and one of their final two timeouts with a false start. An illegal substitution made the winning field goal attempt longer and cost Tennessee its final timeout.
Even after Kerbyson's penalty, Tennessee had 56 seconds left and the ball on its 37. The Vols got off just three plays prior to Aaron Medley's field goal attempt. On two passes near the sideline, Tennessee was tackled in bounds.
Tennessee's four-minute offense, where picking up first downs to eat up more clock is the primary goal, was ineffective in both games. Up one score, the Vols went three-and-out on fourth-quarter drives in both losses. Tennessee used 2:06 against Oklahoma and just 1:51 on Saturday.
Still, if the Vols make two fourth-down stops, they win both games - and players have to step up and make those plays.
Oklahoma's fourth down was a goal-to-go situation at Tennessee's 1 in overtime. Florida, on the other hand, needed 7, 8 and 14 yards on the fourth downs it converted in the fourth quarter. The Vols have allowed opponents to convert nine times on 10 fourth downs this season, and the four longest were on Saturday.
"Is our resiliency being tested right now? Absolutely," Jones said. "But it's only the fourth game of the year, and we have to keep grinding it out. That's the only way I know, and that's the only way these kids know."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.