{"id":450159,"date":"2026-09-28T14:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450159\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T14:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:18:09","slug":"sec-network-insider-breaks-down-each-element-of-tennessees-loss-against-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450159\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Network Insider Breaks Down Each Element of Tennessee\u2019s Loss Against Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Tennessee\"Tennessee<\/a>KNOXVILLE, TN \u2013 September 26, 2026 \u2013 Defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby #18 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson\/Tennessee Athletics<\/p>\n

Many SEC fans have come to anticipate Cole Cubelic\u2019s Sunday night conference breakdowns on X<\/a>, as the SEC Network sideline reporter and former Auburn lineman breaks down each team in the SEC using an easy-to-understand and comprehensive format.<\/p>\n

Cubelic reviewed Tennessee\u2019s 20-17 loss agains Texas from Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. The Vols\u2019 offense struggled to get anything going throughout the day, but kept it close overall due to a special teams touchdown from Qua Moss. Tennessee had a chance at a last-minute miracle following an onside kick recovery in the fourth quarter, but the opportunity slipped away and Tennessee lost its first game of the season.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at how Cubelic assessed each side of the Vols\u2019 team:<\/p>\n

Offense<\/p>\n

\u201cOL disappointing. Lost a few in slide pro. Lost some 1 on 1\u2019s. Left side struggled. Got beat on a twist. Just some simple breakdowns. Needed a bit more push in run game but numbers were being added late. LBs up to LOS & safeties down into the box. Ball needed to get out. Middle of the field was there on multiple occasions. Missed a few layups. Couldn\u2019t connect on shots. Can\u2019t have TE on 1 in pass pro. A few more intermediate answers may have helped. Threw into pressure early. Inserts were not consistent in run game. Had some (missed assignment)\u2019s up front in run game as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

\u201cDef played hard. (Xavier Gilliam) dominated, dented pocket, penetrated vs run. He really got after it. LBs didn\u2019t fit duo well enough. DC did a great job of forcing OL to be wasted. (Daevin Hobbs) got good push. Safeties solid in run support. (Weathersby) & (Norman) had good reps off the edge. Couple bad angles on back end. Took ball away. (Mariyon Dye) played backside of run well. (Hobbs) tough inside. Thought they were disruptive enough up front. Didn\u2019t overdo it with pressure. We\u2019re going to lose a jump ball or two. Affected QB but lost rush integrity at times. (Arion Carter) played pullers well. Played well enough on that side.\u201d<\/p>\n

TENNESSEE: Tough one. OL disappointing. Lost a few in slide pro. Lost some 1 on 1\u2019s. Left side struggled. Got beat on a twist. Just some simple breakdowns. Needed a bit more push in run game but numbers were being added late. LBs up to LOS & safeties down into the box. Ball\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) September 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

More From RTI:\u00a0South Carolina Indefinitely Suspends Star Player, One Month Before Tennessee Game<\/a><\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s defense played very well in this game, stopping Texas from reaching the endzone or moving the ball down the field on multiple occasions. At one point in the middle quarters of the game, Tennessee held Texas to just three offensive plays on five out of six straight drives. The Vols\u2019 defense gave its offense ample opportunities to get points on the board, but the offense just couldn\u2019t muster anything.<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s lone offensive touchdown came with just 1:22 left in the fourth quarter. Up to that point, Tennessee\u2019s offense was allergic to the checkerboards. Texas\u2019 defensive line was dominating the matchup, and Tennessee couldn\u2019t find any way to get the run or pass game going to switch things up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffensively, just not anywhere close to being good enough to beat a team like this,\u201d Josh Heupel said after the game. \u201cEverybody will have a hand in it when we go back on Monday with the tape, with the guys. Up front, not good enough. Quarterback, not good enough. Everybody\u2019s got a hand in it. Ultimately, we\u2019ve got to be better.<\/p>\n

No. 17 Tennessee will host Auburn (3-1) at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. The Vols will be wearing their new Neyland Legacy Smokey Grey uniforms for the SEC matchup.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for Tennessee Football news, notes, and coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KNOXVILLE, TN \u2013 September 26, 2026 \u2013 Defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby #18 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50134,50135,27,29,537,28],"class_list":["post-450159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-tennessee-football","tag-tennessee-vols","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}