KNOXVILLE — No. 17 Tennessee (2-2, 2-2 SEC) suffered a Week 4 SEC, 34-7, loss to Kentucky (2-2, 2-2 SEC) Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee totaled 287 yards (112 passing, 175 rushing) against Kentucky. The Vols committed four turnovers stemming from three interceptions and one fumble.
Following the game, third-year Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt discussed his team’s offensive performance and how they can protect the ball better and limit turnovers going forward.
“Just looking at today, the first time on the fumble, we were obviously running an RPO and were going to throw the ball out there,” Pruitt said. “We’ve got to do a better job of communicating and getting the ball. The quarterback’s going to throw the ball and the back is running the play and knocks the ball out of his hands. We’ve got to do a better job coaching. That’s on me. The one interception down the middle, we should have thrown the check down. We were throwing four verticals. They dropped in zone coverage. We should have thrown the check down but didn’t and got a little greedy there. We’ve got to take the check down.
“Where’s the offensive players to get the guy on the ground? I’ve been coaching a long time, 20 something years, and I’ve seen more defensive touchdowns against our offense or the other team starting on our 10-yard line, 8-yard line, 15-yard line, 25-yard line than all my years of coaching, in the last three years. It’s something that has to stop, for us to win a game. The other turnover out on the sideline, that’s a bad throw and I think’s it’s a bad call, throwing a 54-yard out for four yards. What’s the risk versus the reward there? Again, that goes back to me from an organization standpoint, making sure that we’re doing the things that I want done in that down and distance. So, it isn’t anybody’s fault but mine.”
