Heartbreaking Loss to Florida Shows Tennessee Is Still O-Line Away from Return

As much blame as Tennessee senior quarterback Justin Worley should shoulder for Saturday's inexcusable 10-9 loss to Florida, one fact became even more painfully clear: The Volunteers can't win in the SEC without better offensive line play.

Despite the positive buzz surrounding a young team that looks close in some areas, the biggest hole remains one of the most important to fielding a respectable offense.

They've got to fix the issues up front first.

It's reared its ugly head all season, and against the Gators, it was no different. Worley was sacked six times, the Vols mustered just 28 rushing yards on 29 carries and UT's one-dimensional offense failed to score a touchdown.

Worley had been gutsy and come up huge for the Vols prior to the pivotal SEC East showdown. But he proved again that he simply isn't a good enough quarterback to carry the offense by himself.

A poor offensive line forces Worley to be perfect and try to make elite plays that he can't consistently.

UT's signal-caller posted arguably his worst performance since last year's game at Oregon. Worley finished a respectable 26-of-39 for 205 yards, but he made three critical blunders that lost the game.

His momentum-swinging fumble can be directly attributed to the five players charged to protect him.

With the third quarter winding down and with UT clinging to a 9-0 lead, Worley was sacked by blitzing Gators freshman defensive back Jalen Tabor.

As Worley hit the deck again and the ball hit the ground, 102,455 fans in a jacked-up Neyland Stadium could have told you what would happen next. The sack-fumble gave the Gators the football at UT's 30-yard line.

Newly inserted freshman quarterback Treon Harris led a drive that resulted in the game's only touchdown. From the moment of the sack, a nine-point Volunteers lead flipped to a heartbreaking loss.

Should Worley have seen Tabor? He hung onto the ball too long on the play and should have thrown it away, but the bottom line is he was drilled by a defender yet again—a sight all too familiar for the Vols this season. 

With the six times Worley was sacked against UF, that makes 18 on the season.

Worley made enough miscues on his own, throwing an interception immediately following UT linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin's to start the second half.

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Then, with UT down by a point late and after Pig Howard had just made a great, diving catch on 4th-and-10 to extend the drive, Worley rushed a throw into double coverage downfield that was picked off to end the Vols' hopes.

So much blame can go around in an offense that wasted a brilliant defensive performance against a bad Florida team Tennessee had no business losing to. But all of it can be traced back to line play.

Since the Vols can't muster anything on the ground, they're forced to try to move the football in the short passing game. Defenses don't have to stay honest when that's the case.

The high-percentage passes may lead to a lot of completions, but there's no sizzle in those stats because UT can't do anything downfield.

On Saturday, Florida's defenders pinned back their ears and came after Worley. By the end of the game, folks should have been selling "Honk if you sacked Worley" bumper stickers back in Gainesville.

When Worley does drop back and try to hang in the pocket to let plays develop, he winds up taking sacks or getting hit. He just doesn't have enough time to let things happen.

Worley regressed without question against Florida, but the Vols are forced to put the game in his hands, and he has rarely proven he can win the big game. The one time he did, it took a miraculous, one-handed catch by Marquez North last year to upset South Carolina.

There would be no miracles Saturday as head coach Butch Jones was forced to answer questions about one that Tennessee simply let get away. It slipped through UT's fingers like Florida's defenders through the Vols' porous offensive line.

Unfortunately for UT, there are no clear-cut fixes in sight, either.

Senior left tackle Jacob Gilliam practiced this week in pads, according to GoVols247's Wes Rucker (subscription required), just more than a month removed from tearing his anterior cruciate ligament against Utah State. But even if he completes an unbelievable return, he won't be enough to fix the issues.

Jones has commitments from four offensive linemen in the 2015 recruiting class, but freshmen routinely struggle to adapt to life in the SEC trenches. The Vols are playing with two—Jashon Robertson and Coleman Thomas—this year, and see how that's working out.

Even if all four can play, they won't be able until next year, and the Vols need to make a bowl game this season. It looks like they'll have to in spite of their offensive line.

The Vols answered that question resoundingly against Florida: You lose.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics gathered from UTSports.com. All recruiting information gathered from 247Sports.com.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.