A little time spent deconstructing Tennessee's 21-20 loss to Florida didn't make UT coach Phillip Fulmer feel any better.

What stung the most was the way the Gators dominated Tennessee at the line of scrimmage.

"After watching the film, it hurts even more today," Fulmer said Sunday. "A one-point loss to a good team, but we did not play at some positions at all. Offensive line on some plays just got our butts handed to us."

That was reflected in the numbers.

Tennessee rushed for minus-11 yards on 23 tries. Tailback Montario Hardesty averaged 0.8 yards on his 17 carries in his first career start.

First-team tailback Arian Foster was limited to two carries because of a lingering injury to his left ankle.

That performance, the worst in Fulmer's 168 games as head coach, dropped Tennessee (2-1) to No. 93 in the nation in rushing offense as they complete a four-game homestand Saturday against Marshall (1-2).

The homecoming kickoff is 4 p.m. (TV: pay-per-view).

Still, UT's poor rushing performance can't be blamed on the backs, Fulmer said.

"I think it's more about the people up front," he said. "Hardesty's a good back himself, and there's probably a reason Arian is the starter or was the starter or is the starter. We didn't give the running backs much chance to do anything (Saturday).

"Give credit to Florida to some degree, but our business wasn't taken care of. We got to get our pads down, get a better push and in pass (protection) we've got to do a much better job."

Quarterback Erik Ainge took his first sack of the season late in the first quarter. He was sacked just one more time, but the Gators were able to get consistent pressure on the junior quarterback for most of the game.

Fulmer complimented the play of Ainge, as well as receivers Jayson Swain and Robert Meachem. Those two combined for 10 of UT's 18 catches and 124 of 231 passing yards.

Tennessee's struggles on offense mostly seemed to begin and end on the offensive line.

"When you have a problem rushing the ball, it gets hard calling plays," Fulmer said. "When you can be balanced, doing things that the defense doesn't necessarily expect, it's a lot easier. But we did not get that done, obviously."

Perhaps more troubling is the prevailing trend.

Against California and its highly touted defensive front, the Vols rushed for 216 yards. Tennessee did not allow a sack or a negative-yardage play in that game.

The Vols didn't allow a sack against Air Force, but managed only 79 yards rushing on 32 carries.

Fulmer said the Vols weren't as physical or fundamentally sound as they needed to be against the Gators.

"Those areas aren't up to par," he said. "These guys were outstanding players they were going against and some of them didn't answer the bell. They lost their discipline or their fundamentals. They weren't as physical as they needed to be. It wasn't that they didn't take the challenge necessarily, they just didn't from a technical standpoint get it done."

Restoring good protection and physical play up front will be UT's new challenge this week against Marshall.

Whether that means a few new faces up front remains to be seen. One player who will see action against the Thundering Herd is backup center Josh McNeil, who did not take a snap Saturday.

"We're always trying to create competition," Fulmer said. "We certainly should have played Josh McNeil during the ballgame, as he's almost like a co-starter for us. That will be done.

"We like to play (Ramon Foster), and I'm hopeful that Vladimir Richard and Jacques McClendon continue to improve because physically they're both capable of helping our team pretty good. We'll have to continue to see. We weren't nearly as good as we needed to be on the offensive front."