Tennessee-Florida Final Score 31-17: Vols lose battle of backup QBs

The Vols fell to Florida for the 9th consecutive year this afternoon, losing 31-17 following a disastrous first half. Tennessee goes to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the SEC with games against Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama next on the slate after bit of a breather against South Alabama.

It was yet another episode of "Poor Timing for the Volunteers" as an anemic offense with serious questions at quarterback tried to mix things up at QB and instead added "mistake-prone" to the mix, all at a time when the defense was mostly able to keep a Florida offense with problems of its own in check. It was basically a mirror image of last year, when UT's high-flying offense was completely overshadowed by a horrendous defense that made Florida look better than it was. Sigh. It seems like we've been in reruns for nearly a decade now. When Tennessee's good, Florida's better, and when Florida's bad, Tennessee's worse. Today, as hilariously inept as Florida was, the quarterback that Tennessee decided to throw into the deep end of The Swamp was . . . hilariouser.

This is your post game commiseration thread. A few Talking Points to bat around:

• Was this an overall good day for Justin Worley? Sure, it stinks to lose the starting gig to someone else, but it has to be a bit of a confidence boost to be brought back in to attempt to save the day. And you could see him beginning to throw with a bit more authority. There were still some Worleyballs, I know, but there also seemed to be a few more good, solid passes, too.
• It appeared to me that the team neither quit nor got completely knocked out. Against Florida last year, and against Oregon last week, we were essentially crumpled in the corner in the fetal position by the end of the game, simply unable to do anything to stop the beating we were taking. Not so today. Today, we were still throwing passes into the end zone with about three minutes left, hoping for a TD and a chance at an on-side kick and another TD. That's playing for miracles, yes, but it's playing.
• We still seem to be strong in the middle of the defense, even without Couch and Saulsberry. Maybe that's the Florida offense, though.
• We still seem to have trouble stopping outside runs. Ugh. Let me say that again: Ugh.
• How do y'all feel about the rest of the season? Do we have any chance against Georgia (who were in trouble as late as the third quarter against North Texas today) or South Carolina?