KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee Volunteers believe they’re closer to being a better, more complete football team despite their 1-3 start this season.
The next month will be a test of that confidence.
Heading into October, the Vols (0-1 Southeastern Conference) have a home game against third-ranked Georgia (4-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday and a trip to top-ranked Alabama on Oct. 19. Those contests sandwich a matchup against Mississippi State in Knoxville, and Tennessee ends the month at home against South Carolina.
Part of the Vols’ first bye week of the season was used to attempt to clean up some of the mistakes that have plagued them. Both head coach Jeremy Pruitt and some of his players used the word “execution” on numerous occasions in interviews last week.
“I think our confidence is pretty high still,” tight end Austin Pope said. “Everybody else (outside the program), it’s doom and gloom, but inside the program, everybody has played in big games. We’ve got guys that have good experience against good football teams and got guys that know they can play.”
Pruitt said he feels the team is “100 times” better last year. Pope and defensive lineman Matthew Butler agreed.
“It’s about execution,” Butler said. “We have some plays where we have nine or 10 guys doing things right, but one guy does it wrong. Sometimes that can cost you series, sometimes that’ll cost you a game, so it’s about execution and doing things right all the time and making plays to win the game.
“The talent level is there. The coaching is there. It’s all there. It’s about execution.”
The lack of offensive execution has cost the Vols potential points in key moments. Tennessee has kicked an SEC-leading nine field goals, with four coming against BYU in a 29-26 double-overtime loss, a dubious stat because touchdowns obviously would be better. The Vols have also committed eight turnovers, including five interceptions.
Their defense has forced nine turnovers, but five of those came against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Football Championship Subdivision program. In the three losses – the Vols lost 34-3 at Florida before their break – the Vols have forced four turnovers while giving the ball away eight times.
“It’s hard to win that way,” Pruitt said. “Our guys are working hard. We are stronger and more physical. But when it comes to success on winning the football game, you can’t turn the ball over and you have to create turnovers, and that is something that has hampered us in our three losses.”
Pruitt has mentioned on numerous occasions that the team “needs to get better.” That’s a point he emphasized against last week while also pointing out he thinks the Vols are trending in the right direction.
“To me, when we lose a game – doesn’t matter wherever I’ve coached – it hurts,” he said. “I haven’t been used to losing very many of them, but it hurts pretty bad. I think sometimes you can get numb to losing if it happens over and over again, maybe you get used to it. That’s something in our program where you have lots of guys that aren’t used to losing, and it hurts them. I’m not saying the guys in our program are that way, but I do think that can happen.
“I can tell you this: I’ve said all along that I like this group of guys. The guys work extremely hard. There’s lots of things where we need to coach them up better, we need to play a little better, we need to be a little more opportunistic on both sides of the ball. We don’t need to shoot ourselves in the foot. But our guys are working hard, and they’ll continue to do that. I don’t see any quit in this group. These guys, I think, are fighters. We have to keep them healthy so they have a chance to fight.”
Pope, a Knoxville native, agreed the players remain committed.
“I take pride in this university, so I don’t think I’ll ever get numb to losing,” he said. “Losing at anything irks me, so I don’t know about all that.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.