2. Missed opportunities were a disaster
Speaking of those drops, Tennessee Football did a horrendous job cashing in on opportunities. Chris Brazzell II dropped a touchdown pass in the first half on a drive that ended in a missed field goal, and Miles Kitselman dropped a touchdown pass on another drive. Kitselman’s drop, to be fair, was after a helmet was put on the ball.
Still, Dylan Sampson also had a fumble in the first half in Kentucky territory. in the second half, Chas Nimrod dropped a perfect pass over the middle by Iamaleava that would have ended in a touchdown. These are all just the offensive mistakes that the Vols made to directly cost themselves points.
Special teams was also a problem, as Max Gilbert missed field goals from 45, 40 and 34 yards in this game. The first one was the longest, and its length stemmed from a holding penalty by John Campbell Jr., so once again, it was a mistake by the offense that caused this problem.
Still, amidst all these issues, the Vols were in the red zone eight times and only scored on four of those trips. There’s no way they can do that going forward. They should have finished this game with close to 40 points, and if they keep missing opportunities like that, they won’t go deep in December and January.
Takeaway #5: Defense sets up offense
