Chris Hannon saw just 17 points on the scoreboard but quite a bit more on the field.
"We left a lot of stuff out there," he said.
Two weeks ago, the Vols lost 16 percent of their passing offense to dropped passes alone in the 17-10 victory over UAB in the season opener. And the message has been made very clear in the meeting rooms since that day.
That kind of result won't cut it in The Swamp tomorrow.
"We've been working hard at catching the ball instead of trying to run before the catch," Hannon said. "That's what the majority of us tried to do against UAB at times. We're just trying to take our time right now, and catch the ball first and then react later."
When Tennessee plays Florida tomorrow night at 7, it will be a matchup of arguably the two best receiving corps in the Southeastern Conference. But Chad Jackson four touchdown catches in two games and the Gators have gotten off to a more auspicious start than the Vols.
"Those are the playmakers on our team," UT starting quarterback Rick Clausen said, referring to the Vols wide receivers. "Those guys need to come to the bat and play every single day."
At moments, Tennessee's receivers showed in the first game flashes of how good they can be. Both Vols' touchdowns against UAB came on acrobatic catches by receivers.
Hannon started the scoring with a nifty, over-the-shoulder grab on a fade from Erik Ainge. C.J. Fayton later made a diving catch in the end zone to snare one of Clausen's passes.
But Fayton also dropped a gimme earlier that drive. All told, several of the receivers' drops were drive-killers for the Vols.
"They didn't play very well," Coach Phillip Fulmer said. "They would tell you that. They made two good catches."
Tennessee scored on only two of its four trips to the red zone against UAB. UT receiver Jayson Swain said a slipped tackle here or a tough catch there would have made all the difference in capitalizing on those opportunities.
"We need touchdowns," Swain said. "(Offensive coordinator Randy) Sanders made a real point that we had a lot of big drives last game, but we really didn't capitalize on the touchdowns. Yards after the catch is a real big thing."
The Vols have company when it comes to marquee teams failing to capitalize on trips to the red zone. Ohio State twice last week had to settle for first-half field goals in a 25-22 loss to Texas.
Two weeks ago, Miami fell apart inside the 20 on its final drive of the game in a 10-7 loss to Florida State.
"I think (the receivers) realize that all those drops we had against UAB, we can't win games if we do things like that," Clausen said. "You saw against UAB. We almost lost that game."
Opportunities for the big play should be there for Tennessee's receiving corps. In Urban Meyer's first two games as the head coach at Florida, the Gators have played mostly man-to-man in the secondary.
"If they play a lot of man-to-man, we need to throw it out there, get it caught, break a tackle and make some plays that way," Sanders said. "If it is man-to-man, then there are times you have to take your shots down the field, but you have to be smart when you do it."
