KNOXVILLE – The root cause of the Tennessee football team’s stunning 38-30 season-opening loss to Georgia State could be as simple as the mental factor.
From the first play from scrimmage, when what appeared to be a state of confusion in the pocket led to a poorly thrown pass by Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, the Volunteers didn’t seem to be on the same page for much of the game. On the next play, Guarantano tossed a swing pass – actually a lateral – in the direction of running back Ty Chandler, who was not able to secure the ball and lost it, resulting in a fumble that was recovered by the Panthers and led to the game’s first score.
The Tennessee offensive line was a revolving door, with coaches running players in and out. Ten offensive linemen played for the Vols, with nobody having much success creating holes for the running backs.
The Vols were penalized only three times, but two were for too many men on the field. One of those gave the Panthers a first down in the second quarter. The other came in the fourth quarter with the Vols trailing by five points, when the defense forced an incomplete pass on third down but was flagged.
There was also a pass-interference penalty on Nigel Warrior on third-and-8 that extended a drive that ended in a Panthers touchdown.
The Vols’ defense had other trouble. On one play in particular, there were three linemen lined up at the same spot. The confusion ultimately led to a first-down scramble for Georgia State quarterback Dan Ellington.
Perhaps the absence of senior inside linebacker Daniel Bituli, who missed the game with a knee injury, caused some problems in getting players lined up correctly.
“I believe we were ready to play. We just have to execute,” Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “You throw the ball out there on the bubble, and we don’t get a clean catch; we juggle it, and they get a short field. We had an opportunity to hold them to a field goal, and we didn’t. They punched it in. We get a third-and-1, we don’t get a first down. We end the half with the ball on the 3-yard line.
“There are hidden points out there. You look at it defensively: On their second touchdown drive of the first half, we had two defensive ends on the same half of the field just not lined up correctly. The guy scrambles out for a first down. We knew the guy could run. We’ve played against running quarterbacks in the past. We have plans for that. But for whatever reason, we didn’t execute at a high level.
“Third down (not) getting off the field killed us today. We have to be able to get off the field. We can’t give any team extra chances, and we have to be able to execute at our best all the time.”
It’s likely Bituli will be back for next Saturday’s home game against BYU, and his return should help.
There were some bright spots offensively, including Jauan Jennings’ seven-catch, 108-yard performance and freshman Eric Gray’s 80 combined rushing and receiving yards.
It appeared Tennessee wasn’t ready to play against Georgia State, though, and the Vols know that lack of preparation can’t happen again.
“It showed,” senior receiver Marquez Callaway said on the thought that the Panthers wanted the win more than the Vols. “We went out there and had a game plan. Offense had a game plan. Defense had a game plan. Everything was there; it’s just about execution. Georgia State went out and did exactly what they were supposed to do. That’s all we can say. We needed to play better. We didn’t, and it resulted in us losing.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.