David Cutcliffe sat through 2 1/2 hours of film study Wednesday morning.

Tennessee's offensive coordinator kept rewinding and reviewing every aspect of the Vols' final major scrimmage of the season held Tuesday night at Neyland Stadium.

He didn't like what he saw.

"I thought we were sluggish," Cutcliffe said. "But the thing they've got to realize is we may feel sluggish early in the season in the fourth quarter, and we can't play sluggish.

"That's a maturity level and what you want them learning."

About the only praise Cutcliffe could manufacture was his offense's ability to get in and out of the huddle and get the plays from the sideline.

"And that should be better the third time," Cutcliffe said. "I didn't see us as crisp -- period -- in anything we did.

"We took a long time to get up off the ground. That may sound like a little thing, but that bothered me."

Cutcliffe reiterated there's no quarterback controversy after starter Erik Ainge was limited Tuesday and backup redshirt freshman Jonathan Crompton was impressive.

"Erik Ainge is a little beat up and he didn’t do much," Cutcliffe said. "I thought Jonathan tried to step up, but he wasn't as consistent mentally as I would have liked."

Ainge, for one, was glad to get a little break and put the green jersey back on for the first time in a major scrimmage.

"If we played tomorrow, we'd all be out there full speed," he said. "More than anything right now, I'm ready to play football. I just need to keep making my gains mentally.

"When you go out there with a green jersey, you can still make all the mental reads. You can become a better quarterback without taking all the shots."

Cutcliffe said he would have preferred to go without the green jerseys, but coaches didn't want to take any chances with No. 9-ranked California visiting in 10 days.

"We're still trying to find that understanding of the level of intensity we want our offense to play," he said. "We're going to push on that regularly between now and when we do it for real, which is approaching -- soon."

Cutcliffe also said he's continuing to work on Ainge's wounded psyche after a disappointing sophomore season.

"I think he understands what he went through a year ago," Cutcliffe said. "Does that prepare you and make this easy? No.

"It's not easy for a veteran coach to deal with all the ups and downs, much less a 19 or 20-year-old.

"He has done well to this point. He just needs to be mentally tough at the position he is in. He has to keep working at that."

One player who separated himself enough to get some good news was former walk-on center Michael Frogg of Kingston.

"Michael Frogg has won the starting center job for the Cal game," UT coach Phillip Fulmer announced after a light, 50-minute practice held on the first day of classes. "I'm real proud of him and I'm also proud of Josh McNeil (redshirt freshman backup).

"He's right there, it's still an ongoing battle."

Fulmer said Tuesday night's scrimmage was the deciding factor.

"He's (Frogg) has a bit more experience and consistency," he said. "Both of them are going to play."

The Vols return to the practice field this afternoon and have a kicking scrimmage scheduled for Saturday morning. Then, Cal week begins.