KNOXVILLE - What now?
When you're 17 seconds from victory, and the opponent is 80 yards from your end zone on your own field and you still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, what then?
The University of Tennessee didn't just lose its second game in two contests to open its 2019 season when it shockingly fell 29-26 to Brigham Young University in double overtime late Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
It likely lost its fan base, which had given the Volunteers such remarkable support for little or no reason after they lost the opener 38-30 to Georgia State.
And just what did Georgia State and BYU have in common?
Well, both teams have blue and white for their predominant colors. BYU went 7-6 last season and Georgia State went 2-10, and both have now come into iconic Neyland a season later and posted wins against the Big Orange.
Mark WiedmerIf second-year Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, who shaves his head, hadn't lost most of his hair before the BYU game, he'll surely pull what's left of it out by the time UT-Chattanooga comes to Knoxville next Saturday for a high noon kickoff.
"They basically just willed themselves there," Pruitt said afterward. "That wasn't a good finish to the game."
The most troublesome part of this loss may be how easily it should have been a victory in regulation.
After all, with those scant 17 seconds left on the clock - and no BYU timeouts - and the Cougars 80 yards from the end zone, a simple prevent defense should have secured a win.
Only that's not what happened. BYU quarterback Zach Wilson let one fly deep down the right side of the field, hitting Cougars wide receiver Micah Simon for a 64-yard gain to the UT 16. Wilson then spiked the ball with five seconds to play to set up a Jake Oldroyd 33-yard field goal that barely drifted inside the right upright to force overtime at 16-all.
But then came overtime, both sides scoring touchdowns. But in the second overtime, UT was forced to settle for a field goal while BYU's Ty'Son Williams scored from 5 yards out to drop the Vols to 0-2.
To be fair, Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer didn't hire Pruitt to revitalize the football program in December 2017 because Pruitt was the kind of smoke-and-mirrors guy who would attempt to reinvent the wheel route.
He picked Pruitt, who was the Alabama defensive coordinator at that time on a team about to win a national championship, because he was the no-nonsense, plain-spoken son of a no-nonsense, plain-spoken high school football coach.
Fulmer believed the Vols needed someone who embraced pounding the rock on offense and pounding the enemy ball carrier on defense. In other words, good ol' Southern football.
Unfortunately, through Pruitt's initial season and opening game of year two, that philosophy was not always visible. In fact, his brief tenure reached its nadir a week ago against Georgia State, when the Panthers entered Neyland as 26-point underdogs and left as eight-point victors, which is arguably the most embarrassing (bordering on humiliating) loss in Vols history.
But this week appeared to be headed in a vastly different direction until those final 17 seconds of regulation. Tennessee was running the ball well (242 yards in regulation) and shutting down the Cougars' running attack (81 yards in regulation).
The Vols had fewer penalty yards (50 to 63), had run 14 more plays and had dominated time of possession (33:59 to 26:01).
The overtime was completely different, however.
The overtime looked like BYU believed it would win and UT hoped it would win, and the final score indicated as much.
If nothing else, the Big Orange Nation certainly deserved much praise this night. The crowd was officially listed at 92,475, though that actually seemed as if that assessment could have been light. Nor did the fans just show up. They cheered, the noise occasionally escalating to a roar. "Rocky Top" filled the Neyland air more in the first quarter than it had the whole game against Georgia State.
No, it didn't overwhelm the Cougars, but it's doubtful these Vols will overwhelm much of anyone going forward, save perhaps UTC next weekend .
"We'll coach them up," Pruitt said. "Get where they understand situations better."
That may be what scares the Big Orange Nation most two games into the season, because when you give up a 64-yard pass in the final 17 seconds of a game to a team that's out of timeouts, one must wonder how well the coaching staff understands the dire situation its players face.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.