Bedlam with a plan is how Gerald Riggs tried to explain it.

That's football in nutshell.

"It's organized chaos," Tennessee's senior tailback said on Tuesday. "Whoever can organize it the best is going to win.

"It's just not going to be perfect all the time."

Which brings us to Tennessee's running game.

The Vols will be the first ones to tell you they've had their share of chaos.

Shuffled and reshuffled offensive lines have gone hand in hand with shuffled and reshuffled quarterbacks.

A touted receiving corps has been hot and cold, leaning to mostly chilly.

At tailback, Riggs is followed on the depth chart by a redshirt freshman and a walk-on.

In total: Chaos.

Organized success just hasn't often been a part of the equation.

Tennessee's rushing offense is ranked 11th in the SEC and 100th among Division I teams in the NCAA.

Since 1950, only two other Tennessee teams have averaged less than 100 yards rushing per game.

It happened in 1958 (85.4 yards per game). It happened in Doug Dickey's first year as UT coach in 1964 (83.9 yards per game).

So far this season, the Vols are ahead of the record-setting pace for running futility -- but not by much.

No 17-ranked UT (3-2, 2-2 SEC) is averaging 98.8 yards per game.

A 27-14 loss to Georgia last Saturday obviously didn't help things in the numbers-game department. The Vols were held to a season-low 48 yards rushing on 26 carries.

One problem Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer pointed to was an overall shortage of running plays actually called against the Bulldogs.

"We've got to call it," Fulmer said. "We didn't call a whole lot of runs. The ones we called where we blocked people, we really did a good job of it ... we just didn't give it enough chances."

Asked if Tennessee would make more of a commitment to the run in the future, Fulmer balked.

"I don't know," he said. "We're going to be committed to winning. That's what we're committed to: Whatever is going to win games. You can do it a lot of different ways.

"If we had a choice, we'd like to be balanced. That's when we've been at our best."

Riggs, who joined Cedric Houston to give UT two 1,000-yard rushers in 2004, is 27th in the nation with an average of 92.4 yards per game.

He had 19 carries for 52 yards against Georgia, an average of 2.7 yards per attempt.

"There were just several plays we didn't do what we needed to do and it got us beat," Riggs said. "You have to play every play with the same importance.

"You don't know which play might break the game open or make the difference."

Penalties and turnovers stifled most of what UT tried to get done. The Vols had three turnovers and 12 penalties for 78 yards.

"We had 63 plays in the game Saturday, and 54 of them were outstanding, well-executed plays," Fulmer said.

"We had 12 mistakes by different people that ended up costing you down and distance, field position or points."

Georgia safety Greg Blue was a one-man wrecking crew on the Vols' offense, getting 13 solo tackles, 14 total. Riggs met Blue up close and personal on more than one occasion.

The bottom line is frustration continues to build for Riggs, the line, the coaches and the entire Tennessee offense.

Riggs admitted he never saw this coming. He said it was unthinkable in the preseason UT's running game would be ranked 100th in the nation at this point.

"With the talent we have, yeah," he said. "But it is what it is and we've just got to get better at it.

"We don't have time to sit around and dwell on (Georgia). The only thing we can do is get better at what we do and try to tighten things up so we'll be ready to play Alabama (Oct. 22)."