Former Alabama QB correctly calls out Vols for the bad play call that flipped the game against the Crimson Tide

"I don't have a problem going for it on fourth-and-one at your own 47," said McElroy. "I don't, however, like the fact that they handed the ball to Dylan Sampson. I don't. Here's what I would do. Now, hindsight's 20/20. They had multiple fourth-and-short failures. Explain to me this: What have we learned from watching the Philadelphia Eagles the last couple of years? What play is unstoppable? That would be a quarterback sneak with offensive players pushing the quarterback. Your quarterback is 6-foot-5/240 lbs. They need to think strongly about giving the ball [to Milton] in a quarterback sneak situation, in a fourth-and-short, third-and-short situation."

"They need to get the tush-push play installed," added McElroy. "Because nobody has found a way to stop that yet -- especially when you have a strong, physical capable quarterback."

Whether it's the tush push, a traditional quarterback sneak, or handing it off to a bigger running back, there's no doubt that the Vols need to be going under center in those short yardage situations instead of essentially turning a fourth-and-one into a fourth-and-five. 

The idea might be to create more space for a playmaker to make a play, but on this play, the Vols made life more difficult for their offensive line by creating a situation where they needed to sustain blocks for longer because Sampson, who should've been subbed out for a bigger running back (Tennessee used most of the play clock on that play so tempo wasn't a factor), had to run several yards before he even got to the line of scrimmage. It was just a miserably bad play call. 

Tennessee's collapse in the second half against Alabama was a group effort. The poor officiating didn't help (the officiating in the first half was also terribly one-sided and the Vols still held a halftime lead). But ultimately, Tennessee lost the lead in the third quarter because of questionable play calling and poor execution. 

The Volunteers should probably do a little self-scouting this week in addition to game planning for a tough road game against Kentucky. Otherwise, they're at risk of making the same mistakes again in a critical SEC matchup.