Tennessee Football: Vols get embarrassed at home against the Florida Gators

The Tennessee football team got embarrassed on Saturday night in Neyland Stadium, as the Florida Gators came out on top 47-21.

The Tennessee football team looked very bad last night and it was at the worst time possible. The Volunteers constantly were shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers or bad decisions all night long.

Recap

The Tennessee defense started the game out with a good defensive stop but had to go back out there just a few plays later when Jarrett Guarantano was blitzed and sacked, fumbling the ball and giving the Gators very good field position.

The next drive, the Gators intercepted a screen giving them good field position yet again. They capitalized both times, getting out to an early 14-0 lead.

The Volunteers were able to put three points on the board when Brent Cimaglia hit a 32-yard field goal. The Volunteers shot themselves in the foot as Florida’s defense forced a safety to make it 16-3 in Florida’s favor. Florida increased the lead their next drive on a long touchdown pass from Feleipe Franks.

The Volunteers took a gamble on their next drive, going for it on 4th and 1 in their own territory. They scripted up a great play call, as Guarantano found Austin Pope with no one near him. Pope ran down the field untouched until the five-yard line where he tried to extend but fumbled the ball through the end zone, giving the Gators the ball yet again.

The second half was just as bad as the first half, when Shawn Shamburger fumbled the opening kickoff after halftime, giving the Gators great field position. Jordan Scarlett then scored from 19 yards out on the next play to give Florida the 33-3 lead.

The Volunteers finally put some more points on the board when Cimaglia made his second field goal of the night from 41 yards away. Madre London rushed it in from one yard out to make the score 33-13 in Florida’s favor.

Franks connected with Tyrie Cleveland from 38 yards out to increase their lead to 27 points, turning down any hopes of the Volunteers miraculously coming back.

Jeremy Banks scored from two yards out to cut it to 19 points midway through the 4th quarter, but the Gators scored yet again, as Dameon Pierce rushed it in from 47 yards out to give the Gators a 47-21 victory.

Reaction

The Volunteers got in their own way many times on Saturday night. No team will usually have the chance to win a rivalry game when they commit six turnovers. One of the most interesting stats that came from the game was that Tennessee was outgained by just 23 yards during the night but still got trounced 47-21.

I said this in a tweet earlier today but will elaborate more on it. I thought the officials were pretty bad during this game. It would have had no impact on the outcome of the game, but they let things slid all night long, which ended up hurting Guarantano in this cheap shot.

There were a few moments during the game where penalties should’ve been called, as Florida’s defensive backs struggled to cover Marquez Callaway all night.

This might be another hot take, but I also still believe that Guarantano is the best quarterback on the roster. He had a tough game last night but I still believe Tennessee is a better team with him under center. Chryst saw a good bit of action last night once Guarantano was ruled out with an injury, but struggled to complete some throws, including a few throws behind the Volunteer receivers.