Turnovers, missed chances hurt offense

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer, defensive line coach Dan Brooks, and defensive coordinator John Chavis talk with players during the game against Florida in Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

Photo by Michael Patrick

Tennessee wide receiver Gerald Jones (4) can't get away from Florida's Brandon Spikes (51) during action in Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

Faced with a chance to be different, Tennessee wound up with more of the same.

More of the same mistakes that cropped up in the Vols' first two games this season.

More of the same costly turnovers.

More of the same errors in critical moments.

And, ultimately, more of the same against the Florida Gators.

Those penalties, turnovers and failures to execute on offense added up to lost points in a 30-6 loss to No. 4 Florida in Neyland Stadium on Saturday and the Vols' fourth straight loss to the Gators.

"We shot ourselves in the foot," quarterback Jonathan Crompton said. "We should have won the ballgame in my opinion."

Tennessee (1-2, 0-1 SEC) certainly had its chances despite falling behind early.

UT's offense, which entered Saturday as the SEC's leader in yards per game, got backed up from second-and-1 on its first drive to third-and-16 because of a personal foul call against senior tailback Arian Foster. Tailback Montario Hardesty fumbled after catching a pass on the next play, which led to three points for Florida.

After Brandon James' 78-yard punt return made the score 17-0 little more than 10 minutes into the game, Tennessee appeared to answer with a mammoth drive.

UT methodically drove the field with a steady running game and reached the Florida 2-yard line, thanks to a key conversion from Crompton to tight end Luke Stocker on third down.

Two plays later - the Vols' 14th play of the drive - Tennessee botched the exchange between Crompton and Foster at the Florida 1.

In last year's 59-20 loss to the Gators, Foster couldn't control a handoff, which opened the gates for 31 unanswered Florida points late in the second half.

This time, Crompton held the ball out too soon, hitting fullback Kevin Cooper, who was moving toward the line of scrimmage to block. Again, the Gators pounced on the ball and ended a great scoring opportunity for UT.

"I don't know exactly what happened," Crompton said. "I've got to go back and watch the film to see whose actually elbow it hit. I don't know. It was a bang-bang play, and obviously we came out on the wrong end of it."

Offensive coordinator Dave Clawson had a different explanation of the play.

"I believe what happened is the ball hit the fullback," Clawson said. "That's one of our base goal line plays. We run it in practice. We had a situation with our second offense where we did that once. We made a big point of stopping practice and talking about 'seating' the football. We've got to make sure we clear the fullback before we extend the ball. That's a base, fundamental mistake. It's my job to coach that and make sure that it doesn't happen."

Tennessee had another chance to make something happen at the end of the first half, but another turnover took points off the board.

After moving from its 39, the Vols bogged down again inside the 5. With three tries to score from the 1, Crompton threw an interception on fourth down.

Instead of a possible 17-14 margin, the Vols trailed 20-0 at halftime.

Had the Vols been close at halftime, offensive lineman Anthony Parker said, the game would have been different in the second half.

"You come out calling different plays," he said. "You have a different feel about yourself if the score's 20-14 and you've got the ball coming out. It's a completely different game."

Despite Tennessee's ability to run the ball (96 yards on 31 carries) and even outgain the Gators 258-243 in total offense, it was simply more of the same against Florida.

And more of the same frustrations that come with starting a season 1-2 and another loss to Florida.

"The frustration for me right now is knowing we had a lot of good drives," center Josh McNeil said. "I felt like we really moved the ball well at times. We have to get the ball in the end zone. It's so frustrating because we felt like we left something out on the field.

"We could have made a difference, and we didn't."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!