KNOXVILLE - Butch Jones concluded his opening statement and the answer to the first question at his Monday news conference on Tennessee's campus with emphatic and nearly identical statements.
"We cannot and will not ignore the details and what it takes to play winning football," he said the first time.
"Again, I'll tell you, the details will not be ignored," Jones added shortly thereafter. "I can promise you that."
In between, the fifth-year Tennessee coach had this to say: "We all hurt. We're angry. We're pissed. All the above."
Jones struck a passionate tone as a new week dawned following his team's 26-20 Saturday loss at Florida. He was quizzed again on what went wrong against the Gators, asked about the team's newest injury victims and pressed on a variety of personnel matters.
Through it all, he kept a focus on the future.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones takes the field before the first half of an NCAA college football game against Florida, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)"Now it's what you make of it," he said. "How do you become better because of this? Sometimes there are situations like this that you suffer - the adversities of a long football season. It can also galvanize you. It can bring you closer together as a football team."
Tennessee (2-1) dropped out of the Top 25 after the loss and will welcome Massachusetts (0-4) to Neyland Stadium at noon Saturday before hosting SEC East rival Georgia in two weeks.
Jones said all of Tennessee's players were in the football building Sunday after the Florida loss, which he interpreted as a good sign ahead of the team's return to the practice field Monday afternoon.
"But I'm responsible, and I can promise you we'll get to it," he said. "We'll get to work and we'll work to make the corrections. With all that being said, there's still a lot of football left to be played. There's nine games left. Extremely optimistic, proud of our players. I think the effort that they gave was remarkable."
Against the Gators, effort could not overcome penalties, red-zone miscues and, ultimately, a 63-yard Hail Mary pass from Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks to receiver Tyrie Cleveland on the game's last play. Tennessee's worst blunder may have been driving to Florida's 1-yard line in the third quarter and coming away with no points while trailing 6-3.
Jones cited red-zone efficiency first on Monday as he harped on the need for focus on the details and situational football.
The coaching staff has been questioned for why the Vols lined up in the shotgun formation and attempted a pass on first-and-goal. Jones explained that a run play had been called, implying that quarterback Quinten Dormady correctly audibled to a pass at the line of scrimmage because of Florida's defensive look. Dormady's throw was incomplete, and he tweaked his knee on the play.
Jones said a quarterback sneak had been planned for second down. But, according to Jones, the plan changed when backup quarterback Jarrett Guarantano entered in relief of Dormady. The Vols had Guarantano line up in the shotgun, and Tennessee was whistled for a false start before the play. The sequence ended with Dormady throwing an interception on third down.
"Quinten tweaks his knee and we didn't think it was fair for Jarrett to have to go in the game and do an underneath-center snap when he didn't have time in practice to do any under-center snaps," Jones said.
It was unclear what Jones meant, since Tennessee's quarterbacks frequently are seen practicing under-center snaps during portions of practice open to media.
Still, his message about the situation was clear Monday.
"There are a lot of nuances that occurred during the course of those two plays," he said. "But make no mistake about it. We get the ball down there, we need to run the football and we need to score touchdowns."
The peculiar sequence was one of many that the team could spend this week lamenting in the wake of a frustrating loss to a rival.
The time for hindsight has concluded, however.
"You have to forget about it," Jones said. "Unfortunately, it's a hard one to forget about, but you have to move on. We have a 24-hour rule so you can feel sorry for yourself and all of that, but when you report back today, it's all on how we proceed. It's all on UMass.
"There's a lot of positives from the game, progress that we made from game one to game two, and we'll continue to build on it. The great thing about it is, everything we talked about on improvement, it's all about the details. That's on us as a coaching staff, that's on us as players, and it starts with me. We'll leave no stone unturned, I can promise you that, and we'll be better for it.
"But we have to move on and get ready to go."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.