They teach it early on. When you make mistakes in any sport, you have to move onto the next play. Tennessee football had to take that to heart after beating the Pitt Panthers in overtime Saturday.

The Vols made mistake after mistake in the first quarter and then in the second half, but they never wilted. After falling behind 10-0 early, they got on a roll and took a 24-17 halftime lead.

Part of that roll was Jacob Warren catching a 24-yard pass and taking it to the one-yard-line to set up their first touchdown of the game. Warren said everybody knew what happened early was uncharacteristic of the team.

“We didn’t come out fast,” he said during The Vol Report. “We had two three-and-outs, and, you know, part of that was on me, part of that was on O-Line, part of that was on running backs.”

Still, the Vols settled in by forgetting about those mistakes. Warren joked about his catch getting to the one-yard line and Jabari Small getting the touchdown on the next play instead of him.

“It set up a score, and we won the game, so I’m not going to complain too much about it,” he said.

Perhaps nobody had to forget about his miscues, though, more than safety Trevon Flowers. Early in the game, Flowers gave the team the spark it needed with an end zone interception.

In the second half, though, he muffed a punt that set up the game-tying score for Pitt. How did he respond? Well, he came away with the crucial sack in overtime to force a 4th-and-goal from the 20, which inevitably secured the win.

It was a day of extremes for Flowers. Warren said the muffed punt will weigh on Flowers no matter would but would have been a lot worse had the Vols lost.

“I was so happy for him, to see him be able to do that,” he said. “I’m sure it’s still eating him up, but I know that would’ve ate him up if he had to get on that plane, and say we had lost the game.” 

Even if Tennessee’s football team did win the game, Warren said it still would have been harder for Flowers to get over had he not made the play to win it. That part was critical for him.

“He would’ve been happy that we won, but I know it would’ve ate him up,” Warren said. 

This is the mentality that appears to be with this team. The Vols don’t ignore the issues with their mistakes. They had plenty of them in the second half, including a Jaylen Wright fumble and a blocked punt along with Flowers’ fumble.

However, while paying attention to what brings about those mistakes, they also did a good job of looking past them. The defense held firm in spite of every offensive and special teams miscue until the end of regulation.

To be fair, the offense also looked past its mistakes in the first half. Also, in overtime, after a holding penalty nullified a Hendon Hooker touchdown run, he turned right around and threw a touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman.

That holding penalty, though, is part of some of the other mistakes Warren said they need to focus on going forward. He emphasized not creating penalties that make it harder to get a first down.

“You don’t really think about it, but starting first-and-10 vs. first-and-15, it’s totally different,” he said. “It changes the play-calls. It changes the way you think about the plays. It changes what you’re able to do.”