Report Card: UT vs. Florida

Photo by Saul Young

Tennessee wide receiver Lucas Taylor (12) is taken down by Florida safety Major Wright Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

Quarterback D+

Jonathan Crompton showed some upside but mistakes leave him lacking. Crompton's turnovers were costly; a fumble at the 2 and an interception from the 1 just before half. Gerald Jones had limited success in the 'G-Gun,' but until he proves he can throw, it's just a gimmick.

RUNNING BACKS D+

Arian Foster's personal foul was a dagger when UT needed to answer Florida's opening drive. Montario Hardesty followed by fumbling the ball away on the next play. Both Foster and Hardesty had a couple of nice runs, but none that could offset their critical mistakes on the opening drive.

RECEIVERS C+

No drops, but not as much separation as needed. Jones had five catches for 40 yards and tight end Luke Stocker added three catches for 25 yards. Brandon Warren is clearly a weapon but had just two catches for 12 yards.

OFFENSIVE LINE C-

The unit did a decent job protecting Crompton for the most part but was unable to get a consistent surge run blocking. Penalties continue to hurt this veteran group: Ramon Foster had a false start, a Chris Scott hold wiped out a 20-yard Foster run and a 13-yard pass was negated by a Josh McNeil hold.

DEFENSIVE LINE C-

At best, played the Florida offensive line even. Did a good job containing Tim Tebow, but the Gators took hunks out of the Vols on quick-hitting runs. End Wes Brown had five stops while Robert Ayers had a tackle-for-loss, but as a whole not enough play-making.

LINEBACKERS C+

Rico McCoy was all over the field with 10 tackles, and Ellix Wilson added six including a tackle-for-loss. Executed the plan to stop Tebow, but that appeared to come at a cost of not filling holes aggressively enough.

SECONDARY A-

Great coverage kept Tebow from throwing for more than 100 yards. Percy Harvin only got loose once on a 34-yarder. Solid open-field tackling. Eric Berry had eight tackles, including his first sack. Dennis Rogan had a facemask penalty, and DeAngelo Willingham was flagged for pass interference.

SPECIAL TEAMS D-

Brandon James had two punt returns for 92 yards and a TD and set the tone with a 52-yard return on the opening kick. A 37.5-yard punt average plagued UT field position. Demetrice Morley penalty for block in the back on a punt return. Rogan averaged 27.5 yards per kick return.

COACHING F

Fulmer took the blame for the loss, as the decisions to kick and punt to James proved costly as did the poor play calls in the red zone and inadequate clock management at the end of the first half.

OVERALL D

The Vols played Florida closer than the final score indicates, outgaining the Gators 258-243, but horrible Orange Zone execution (scoring one of three times) and bad punt and kick coverage doomed UT. The defense played well and the players showed no sign of quit.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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