KNOXVILLE - Just as Tennessee's offensive line found its stride, the injury bug decimating the Volunteers on defense chewed its way through four starters in a five-quarter span across two games.
And the only starter not to leave the lineup underwent thumb surgery this week.
The early-season struggles of an unsettled unit faded as Tennessee found the right combination and consistency the offensive line lacked in the first three games, and the Vols are hoping to get those starters back and return to the level of play they showed against Florida, Georgia and Texas A&M.
"Definitely this past week, without a doubt, it was not a winning performance," offensive line coach Don Mahoney said. "As a year total, there hasn't been a bunch of winning performances. There's been guys that have been too inconsistent. The guy that's really probably been the most consistent for us throughout this year has been Dylan Wiesman.
"But we've come in too many times on Sunday and said we've been maybe this block away, or execution in general it all starts with us up front. We've been too inconsistent. There's been guys that have played well at different times, and we're not playing collectively our best football when we need to.
"There was some momentum built off of Florida in the second half, there's momentum that was carried into Georgia and definitely A&M to where we started making strides and started making progress."
The progress came to a screeching halt against Alabama last week when, already without Wiesman (concussion) and Jashon Robertson (ankle) after they were hurt against Texas A&M the previous week, Tennessee lost starting tackles Brett Kendrick (ankle) and Chance Hall (knee) before the end of the first quarter.
It left the Vols with an all-redshirt-freshman left side of Drew Richmond and Venzell Boulware, a true freshman in right tackle Marcus Tatum playing for the first time and another backup in Coleman Thomas at center.
The only surviving starter from the Texas A&M game was Jack Jones, but he played hurt and underwent surgery Monday.
More than the injuries, Tennessee's inability to block Alabama's three- or four-man rushes hamstrung the offense. Josh Dobbs was sacked three times in the opening three possessions of the game and looked hurried the rest of the way. With no running lanes and no time to take downfield shots against seven in coverage, the Vols couldn't move the ball.
"There really isn't something that you really drastically change that much," Mahoney said. "You know what your strengths and weaknesses are. When we practice (offensive coordinator Mike DeBord) and I work closely together with that group up front. As a play-caller, he knows our strengths and weaknesses in terms of working with that, around that, what have you.
"There isn't a whole lot that gets tweaked that much. You just know some things you might want to do more and some things you might want to do less, depending on who's in there at that given time."
Head coach Butch Jones on Wednesday's SEC teleconference indicated the Vols expected to get all of those injured starting linemen back for the game at South Carolina following the open date, but Mahoney hopes the brutal performance against the Crimson Tide's all-star defensive front serves as a wake-up call to his younger reserves.
"I don't want to say it's become a routine, but it's what it is," he said. "It's the life in this conference. It's a very physical line-of-scrimmage league, as we know. I personally am excited about the challenge that we have, and that was the message to the guys (Monday). With all that took place on Saturday, there's a lesson to be learned, obviously, and a tough one.
"You learn the importance of the weight room, the importance of the fundamentals, the importance of the technique, being assignment sharp against a quality opponent as we just played - it's of the utmost. I want to take this as moving forward and guys growing up in a hurry. Their approach is that.
"We're fortunate we've got a tremendous group of men in that room that I believe and we believe in, and we've obviously got to get better in a hurry."
Tennessee's inconsistency up front began in preseason camp, as the coaches worked players at multiple spots for contingency plans like the one they used last week, and spilled into the season before the lineup of Kendrick, Robertson, Wiesman, Jones and Hall delivered some stability.
Now the Vols must rediscover their consistency for the final stretch.
"I know the record says 5-2," Mahoney said, "but we need to play better."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.