If only Tennessee's offense were clicking on all cylinders. Then head coach Phillip Fulmer might have time to personally take charge of the special-teams fiasco.

Prior to a 16-7 loss at Florida on Saturday night, UT's special-teams emphasis had been on trying to find a way to get something out of the kickoff-return game.

That's still a valid issue, but it's no longer on the front burner.

Going into Saturday's 7:45 p.m. (ESPN) game at LSU (1-0, 0-0 SEC), the Vols (1-1, 0-1) have a smorgasbord of items to address.

Fulmer on Sunday night referred to Florida as "really a meltdown from a kicking-game standpoint.''

A fumbled punt led to one Florida field goal. A botched fake punt set up another.

There also was a shanked punt (8 yards), a blocked field-goal attempt and, as usual, a kickoff-return game that produced no field position.

"We're all going to take a real hard look at our special teams and make sure we're coaching it as hard as we can,'' Fulmer said.

"I felt like we have been and it certainly has our full attention now.''

Fulmer said that Britton Colquitt's decision to throw a pass rather than punt in the third quarter was "a miscommunication.''

"We had a successful one last year against Mississippi,'' Fulmer said, "but this was a case where that wasn't really the intent to happen.

"That's my fault for not having communicated to where our young punter fully understood it.''

Against Ole Miss last year, Dustin Colquitt passed for a first down on fourth-and-7. On the next play, UT scored a touchdown.

"It's a cat-and-mouse game and there's an opportunity for a big play,'' Fulmer said. "We have that in our system but last night wasn't necessarily meant to be one of those.''

Rankings: The Vols fell five spots to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll and to No. 11 in the coaches poll.

LSU is No. 3 in both polls. Florida replaced the Vols at No. 5.

Alabama moved in to the AP poll at No. 20, meaning four of UT's remaining nine opponents are ranked. The others are No. 7 Georgia and No. 16 Notre Dame.

No Big Plays: UT's biggest disappointment on offense at Florida was not cashing in any big pass plays against man-to-man coverage.

"We were on top of their DBs several times and overthrew it,'' Fulmer said.

"If we connect on some of those deep balls versus man coverage, things look different. We make 'em play different and it helps all the way around.''

Key Play: Fulmer was generally pleased with the running game, but lamented a failure on third-and-3 late in the third quarter when Gerald Riggs Jr. was stuffed for no gain.

At the time UT trailed 13-7. The failure led to an 8-yard punt and then Florida's drive for a field-goal that made it a two-score deficit for the Vols.

Fulmer said Florida had adjusted to UT's success running behind the left side of its line (Rob Smith, Arron Sears) and thus the Vols tried to go the other way on the third-and-3 that was stopped.

"As it turned out if we zone (block) up a little better at guard, we've got a good play,'' Fulmer said.