Tennessee couldn’t get it done against Texas on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium despite a strong effort from the Vols’ defense, falling 20-17 in a wild one.

The Longhorns struggled offensively for most of the game — quarterback Arch Manning did not look like a future first round draft pick — but they were able to string a couple of drives together which was enough thanks to Tennessee’s offensive woes of their own.

Tennessee had no shot in this game due to the Texas defensive front. True freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon didn’t have a good game, but he didn’t really have many chances to make plays, either.

The Vols’ offensive line struggled mightily against the Longhorns’ defensive line. Texas finished with 10 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Even when Brandon wasn’t getting sacked he was quickly pressured and forced to either vacate the pocket or make a premature throw that fell incomplete.

Tennessee’s complete inability to move the ball is all because of the play of the offensive line.

And that’s frustrating for Vols fans because they heard all offseason how this was an experienced and talented unit that should be among the best in the SEC. But what we saw on Saturday against Texas was one of the worst offensive line performances since the Butch Jones era.

Tennessee is never going to take the next step until the offensive line can at least give the quarterback a chance against elite teams. This is a $35 million roster with an offensive line that wilted in its first real test.

And look, the Texas defensive line is good — no one expected them to finish the game with zero sacks — but Tennessee isn’t going to be able to compete for a national championship until the offensive line plays at a high level.

To this point, we’ve yet to see an elite offensive line during the Josh Heupel era. And it’s concerning that it’s a unit that seems to be regressing under offensive line coach Glen Elarbee.

A $35 million-plus roster should have an offensive line that can give the team a chance against the top opponents in the SEC. If the Vols had that, they would’ve beaten Texas on Saturday.

But instead, Tennessee’s offensive line had one of its worst performances of the Heupel era and the Vols let a very winnable game slip away because of it.

A year ago, Tennessee’s defense and strength and conditioning weren’t good enough, and Heupel made the necessary changes.

There’s still a long way to go this season, but if the offensive line play doesn’t improve, it’ll be on Heupel to make changes in the offseason to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Because ultimately, the offensive line play is holding this program back.