MEMPHIS -- When Memphis football coach Tommy West made the decision to replace Joe Lee Dunn as the Tigers' defensive coordinator, he said things could get worse before they get better.

The Tigers fulfilled the first part of that scenario Saturday against Tennessee.

Now, in the wake of a 41-7 drubbing by the Vols at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, there's nothing for the Tigers' confused and beleaguered defense to do but improve.

Fast.

"We have got to get better," defensive tackle Rubio Phillips said. "We got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time a few times and had a few busts.

"We just didn't get it done today. Next week we'll be a lot better. I believe in coach West's defense, and I believe in my teammates. We're gonna get it done."

The Tigers (1-3) could hardly have struggled more than they did against the Vols, who waltzed up and down the field for a total of 566 yards -- over 150 more than Memphis allowed in any of its first three games with Dunn calling the defensive shots.

West was quick to accept responsibility.

"That was on me. I did a very poor job running the football team," he said. "I didn't do a good job preparing our football team for this game."

At the same time, West said he has full confidence that his 4-3 system is the right one for a team that was struggling to stop anyone while employing Dunn's less rigid 3-4 defense.

"I've run it for a lot of years, and it's been darn good," West said. "It didn't work today, but I put it in in two weeks. If we run it right, it'll work."

Offered the chance to blame some of the overworked defense's woes on a Tiger offense that managed just five first downs -- their fewest since the Kennedy administration -- West declined.

"It's not fatigue. It was more mental," he said. "We're learning how to play. We totally changed everything we do. It's a totally different philosophy. The times we played it properly, I thought it worked pretty good.

"I guess it was just too much for this game."

While West said he switched to more of a base defense in the second quarter after starting off with a more varied look, it didn't much matter.

Junior quarterback Erik Ainge had all day to throw the ball and made the most of it, going 23-for-27 for 324 yards and four touchdowns.

No. 15 Tennessee twice scored on drives covering 97 yards, was 11-of-16 on third-down conversions and held the ball for 37 minutes, 22 seconds.

Ainge took advantage of a pair of breakdowns in the Tiger secondary after halftime, connecting with Jayson Swain for a 51-yard touchdown and Robert Meachem for an 84-yard score.

And while West cited a desire to improve against power running games as a primary reason for replacing Dunn, the Vols bulldozed their way to 205 rushing yards on 52 carries.

"I thought we were ready to come out and play," Tigers defensive back Brandon McDonald said, "but obviously we weren't. I don't know (what went wrong). We had a lot of miscommunication and a lot of busts."

While Tennessee offensive lineman David Ligon said the Tigers "didn't throw anything at us that blew our minds," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said patience was the key for his offense.

"That's really hard. Everybody expected miracles," Fulmer said of the Tigers' defensive shakeup. "It was kind of like an opening-season game. That's how we approached it. They were going to be somewhere on the field, and we had a quarter or so to figure out where they were going to be."

Linebacker Quinton McCrary, who returned a first-quarter interception for a touchdown only to have it called back by a controversial offsides call, said it was always going to be tough to absorb a new defense in such a short amount of time.

One casualty of the new defense was senior free safety Wesley Smith, who lost his starting job after failing to grasp some of the calls in the new system.

"Two weeks is a very short time to learn a whole new defense, especially with the way we practiced last week," McCrary said. "The tempo was fast, and coach West was very demanding in what he wanted."

Asked if he thought West's defensive shakeup was the right thing for the team, McCrary, who led the way with 13 tackles, was non-committal.

"I really don't want to take that on," he said. "Whatever coach West wants, we have to respond to it."