Tennessee offensive lineman Dayne Davis knows that the season is on the line this week when the Vols host Florida. With the Arkansas game as a backdrop, Davis and teammates must address the issues that cropped up on Saturday.
That starts with reviewing the game against Arkansas. That surely isn’t much fun following the 19-14 loss to the Razorbacks on Saturday.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but you have to come in, watch the film, you can’t soak on a loss regardless of who it is,” Davis said during the Vols’ Monday press conference. “If you do that, it’s going to carry into the next game…If you let it fall into the next week, it’s just going to domino effect for the weeks to come. You’ve got to come in and learn from the mistakes, drop it and move onto the next one.”
That could be tough, as the Vols were upset by a team that they were favored to beat by double-digit points. Arkansas, per running back Dylan Sampson, caught Tennessee off guard by playing a 3-3 defense, which is odd because the Vols had faced that kind of defense against North Carolina State and Oklahoma earlier this year. The Vols hammered the Wolfpack 51-10 and beat Oklahoma 25-15 who both relied on a 3-3 defense.
“It wasn’t anything we haven’t blocked before,” Davis said. “I think pre-snap movement was a big thing. Obviously, you look back at the penalties, our pre-snap penalties and being able to adjust while you’re out there from four down to three down (linemen) or vice versa.
“Nothing we haven’t blocked before. Just have to clean it up and be ready to for the same thing this week.”
The No. 8 Vols will face Florida this weekend at 7:00 EST in Neyland Stadium. The Gators are 3-2 and 1-1 in the SEC, but seem to always give Tennessee problems. The Gators are 17-point underdogs to the Vols. The key for the entire game is, most likely, how Tennessee’s team can bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Razorbacks.
“I think the response has been great,” Davis said. “Everybody in the building, we believe in each other. We know Saturday we didn’t get the job done and we know that we didn’t play to our standard. Just coming back in, learning from the game, learning from the mistakes and being ready for this week.
Davis also was asked to address Arkansas fans charging the field following the game. That has certainly been a topic of conversation following video in which Tennessee defensive tackle Omari Thomas was seen pushing a man who was running through the Vols as they were trying to leave the field. After Thomas pushed the man, he then fell into a female as both fell to the ground.
“It does get hard,” Davis said of overcoming fans charging the field. “Obviously, we have to play to a standard to not put ourselves in that position. You can just imagine 50,000 people hitting the field at once, it gets rough. Just getting out of the there as fast as we can and as safe as we can.”
Thomas has since publicly apologized for his actions on social media. Davis didn’t play much on Saturday, which makes one wonder if the Vols could be considering switching things up at offensive tackle where Davis has played before. The Vols started Lance Heard and John Campbell Jr., as left and right tackle, respectively, against Arkansas. However, neither spoke to the media on Monday as Davis did.
