Erik Ainge didn't seem too worried.

After all, it's just one scrimmage. It just wasn't the kind of scrimmage Tennessee football coaches wanted to see from their No. 1 quarterback.

Tempo and taking care of the football have been the obvious buzzwords so far in camp.

There wasn't a lot of either when the Vols hit Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a preview of what to expect Sept. 2 when California comes to town.

Ainge completed 13 of 26 passes for 120 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Before a play had been run in the 2 1/2-hour scrimmage, there was a timeout. Another came five plays later.

"It's not what you want to see and I'm sure he realizes that," offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said of Ainge. "Until we just quit talking about it and do it — they're two completely different things.

"It's a matter of just doing it and we're going to take care of the football."

Ainge was sacked four times and threw interceptions to Jonathan Wade and Jonathan Hefney.

Wade dropped what looked to be another sure pick on Ainge when the Vols were practicing a "backed up" drill and started a possession at its own 4.

"I don't like seeing that and I was surprised," Cutcliffe said. "I don't want to be surprised."

Ainge, going into his junior season, chalked it up as another learning experience coming off last year's disappointing 5-6 season.

"I think we made some mistakes as would be expected," he said. "If we came out here and we were perfect in the first scrimmage, we'd be ready to play tomorrow.

"You're never perfect, but if there was a team that came out here first scrimmage and didn't make any mistakes, they'd be the No. 1-ranked team in the country. We're not that right now."

Ainge said he was trying to force the ball into Bret Smith on the first interception made by Wade.

"It was one-on-one Bret Smith and Jonathan Wade and I banked on the fact he would get it done, but J Wade is a good physical player and I forced the ball in," Ainge said.

"Those are the plays you're trying to see what receivers can get what done and what kind of throws you can and can't make. You learn a lot from it."

Quarterbacks combined for four bobbled snaps, including one by Jonathan Crompton recovered by linebacker Rico McCoy. There were several dropped passes, including two by tight end Brad Cottam.

On back-to-back plays in third-and-long work, Arian Foster and David Yancey fumbled.

"Some of the goals were to minimize mistakes," Cutcliffe said, "but when you have fumbled snaps, you throw interceptions, and you're not where you need to be on a consistent basis, that concerns you.

"Until you get down here and get this live work, and you really put stress on your team, it's hard to know exactly where you are. I think it's pretty obvious we've got a lot of work to do."

Besides the bobbled snap, Crompton showed surprising poise for a redshirt freshman coming off a season-ending shoulder injury a year ago.

He completed 7 of 13 passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

Crompton found Lucas Taylor for a 27-yard TD strike and he hit running back LaMarcus Coker with an 11-yard swing pass to cap a six-play, 61-yard drive in a two-minute drill.

"It felt good getting out here and just playing football," Crompton said. "But you can never be satisfied.

"I did some good things, but I also did some bad things. I'm my own worst critic."

Third-string Bo Hardegree might have had the best day of all the quarterbacks, going 7 of 8 for 92 yards with two TDs and one interception.

He hit freshman Quintin Hancock with a 50-yard pass for one score and Josh Briscoe in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yard TD.

"It's a good thing it was the first scrimmage," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "We'll learn a lot from this and go from there.

"I thought there was good effort. But we obviously have a lot of things to work on. Offensively, I guess we were successful at the things we had practiced the best. We ran the ball reasonably well at times."

David Yancey had eight carries for 66 yards, including a long of 28.

Ja'Kouri Williams added 43 yards on eight attempts and Arian Foster managed 37 yards on 11 carries.

There was even some special teams trickery thrown in on the second drive of the scrimmage.

An Ainge drive stalled at the defense's 41 and the ball was moved up to the 26 for a James Wilhoit field-goal attempt.

Instead, holder Casey Woods took the snap, rolled out and hit Wilhoit all alone down the left side for a 26-yard TD pass.

Defensively, Jerod Mayo, Demetrice Morley, Hefney, Antonio Gaines, Wes Brown, Roshaun Fellows, Andre Mathis and Turk McBride each had four tackles. Demonte Bolden had two tackles for a loss.

"We came light years from the last scrimmage (Tuesday night) to this scrimmage," Mayo said. "We felt like we played a lot faster this time.

"They were counting loafs and every loaf we have to run extra, so we were all trying to get to the ball."

The Vols have the day off today and return to the practice on Monday. There will be two-a-day practices Tuesday and Thursday leading into next Saturday's night scrimmage.

"I thought we did good, but we've got a long way to go," Ainge said. "You've just got to take a lot from that first scrimmage to the second scrimmage and watch the film."