Butch Jones says Vols played, coached well enough to beat Gators

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones watches his team during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Florida, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, in Gainesville, Fla.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones watches his team during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Florida, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, in Gainesville, Fla.

KNOXVILLE -- Seconds into his news conference shortly after noon Monday, Tennessee football coach Butch Jones declared that his players did enough to win Saturday's game at Florida.

The third-year coach of the Volunteers later was asked if he thought he and his staff coached well enough to win a game Tennessee lost 28-27 after leading by 13 points with 10 minutes to go.

photo Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) runs the ball for a touchdown after a catch against Florida during the first half in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Vols' opponent scouting report: Arkansas

* Season rewind: Perhaps the SEC West's version of fellow preseason darling Tennessee, Arkansas was picked to finish fourth in the division ahead of Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, but the Razorbacks enter this game 1-3 after losses to Toledo (16-12 in Little Rock), Texas Tech (35-24 at home) and Texas A&M (28-21 in overtime in Dallas). * Coaching capsule: Bret Bielema was 68-24 and 37-19 in the Big Ten with three outright or shared conference titles and three Rose Bowl appearances in seven seasons at Wisconsin. In his third year at Arkansas, he's just 11-18 overall and 2-15 in the SEC. The Razorbacks are 0-9 in games decided by seven points or less under Bielema. * One to watch: Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams each ran for more than 1,000 yards as Arkansas finished 2014 with routs of Ole Miss, LSU and Texas. Williams was lost for the season in August due to a foot injury, so Collins is carrying the load for the Hogs. He's the SEC's third-leading rusher (125.5 ypg) behind Leonard Fournette and Nick Chubb. By the numbers * 186.2: Arkansas is eighth in the SEC in rushing at 186.2 yards per game. The Razorbacks finished fourth in the league in rushing (220.2 ypg) with Williams and Collins healthy in 2014. * 35:51: The Hogs are first in the SEC and third nationally in average time of possession. * 2010: Tennessee hasn't beaten an SEC West team since hammering Ole Miss in 2010. Alabama is responsible for four of those eight losses. The others were No. 1 LSU (2011), No. 19 Mississippi State (2012), No. 7 Auburn (2013) and No. 3 Ole Miss (2014). Quotable "It's just like backyard, old-school football. There will be a lot of runs, but they have the passing game, too. We know it's going to be smashmouth, but that is something that we all enjoy on defense." - Tennessee safety Brian Randolph on the Arkansas offense

"I do. I thought we all did," Jones replied. "It's one or two plays, and I think it's putting everything in perspective. I really believe that. We're two plays away, we're 10 seconds away from being 4-0, and we're 2-2. We can't let two plays or 10 seconds define who we are. We have to continue to work and continue to grind.

"I thought our coaching staff had a great, great plan going in. You look at how we limited them offensively. You look at some of the things we did from our own offense. Again, it just comes down to one play, two plays. I hurt for the kids, because it's all about our players, but players are resilient.

"For us, we don't have time. It's gut-wrenching, but you have to move on. The fans, they have all week to dissect the game. You guys have all week to dissect the game and talk about it. As coaches and players, we don't. We have 24 hours and we have to move on (to Arkansas)."

The Vols host the Razorbacks on Saturday night, but most of the questions Jones answered Monday were about what went wrong in Gainesville. Much as he did after his team gave up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost in double overtime to Oklahoma, Jones took general responsibility for the loss while explaining specific situations.

"I'm the head football coach. I'm responsible for anything and everything, and I would say put it all on my shoulders," he said. "I want you to put it all on my shoulders. I want to free up our coaching staff to coach. I want to free up our players to play. That's part of the responsibility and the obligation of being the head football coach here."

Jones did not revisit the decision not to go for a two-point conversion up 12 after Jalen Hurd's fourth-quarter touchdown and why Tennessee called timeouts before two Florida fourth downs. He had addressed those situations after the game.

Here are some situations he did discuss:

* On declining a penalty in the second quarter that would've given the Gators a first-and-13 inside their own 5-yard line instead of a second-and-7 at the 9: "A lot of times, based on the offense you're playing, sometimes you're willing to give up 3 or 4 yards for the down, and that's what happened in the Florida game and the Oklahoma game as well."

Florida ended up punting on that drive, but the Sooners had scored on a drive when Jones declined a penalty.

* On getting off only four plays in the final 1:21 prior to Aaron Medley's missed field goal, Jones said there were some communication issues between the coaching staff and the officiating crew on when the clock was and wasn't stopping and if a player did or didn't go out of bounds.

* On the decision to run the ball three straight times after Florida got within 27-21 with four minutes left, Jones said the Vols wanted to chew up clock and force Florida to use its final two timeouts.

"We had great confidence in our run game," he added.

Tennessee elected to run Josh Dobbs on a quarterback sweep on third-and-6, and the Gators stuffed it.

* Tennessee rushed only three defenders on each of the three fourth downs Florida converted on its final two drives. The last was a fourth-and-14 on which Antonio Calloway turned a 25-yard catch into the winning 63-yard touchdown. The Vols had three defenders in the area.

"The completion didn't get us beat," Jones said. "It was leveraging the football that got us beat. We're supposed to be robbing the dig area, and we look the wrong way (and) they're able to capitalize on that. But again, the completion's made, let's just rally and get the ball down."

Jones said at the end of his 25-minute meeting with the media Monday that he understands the scrutiny that comes with his position, particularly after close losses like Tennessee suffered against Oklahoma and Florida.

"You can't worry about the outside clutter and the outside distractions," he said. "We live in a week-to-week season. Love is conditional. I understand that. You just have to keep grinding your way through it. That's the only way I know.

"I understand that's part of the game, but I welcome that. I have big shoulders. Put it all on me so our players can go out and perform on Saturday."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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