Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) runs past Florida defensive lineman Bryan Cox (94) and defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard, lower right, during his game, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, in Gainesville, Fla. KNOXVILLE — The inability to get a defensive stop in crunch time is perhaps the biggest reason Tennessee left September with two losses instead of an unblemished record.
The offense hasn’t helped matters much, either.
The Volunteers had three drives in the fourth quarter of the losses to Oklahoma and Florida to sustain drives and pick up first downs that could have taken precious time off the clock and made the defense’s job a little easier.
“It all comes down to execution,” quarterback Josh Dobbs said this week. “Obviously we weren’t able to pick up a first down we needed, but at the end of the day we were able put ourselves in position to win the (Florida) game. We moved the ball productively on the one-minute drill, which was good to see.
“Obviously we would have liked to have a first down in that situation in the four-minute drill.”