Tennessee played good enough defensively to beat Texas last weekend in Neyland Stadium, but the Vols’ offense could never get going against the Longhorns’ stout defensive front in the 20-17 loss.

Most fans and analysts agree on two of the reasons why Tennessee’s offense wasn’t effective: poor offensive line play and true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon’s indecisiveness.

Tennessee’s offensive line gave up 10 sacks, and Brandon looked like an 18-year-old making his first SEC start (which was to be expected).

The other reason that some fans and analysts believe the Vols lost — and not everyone agrees with this one — was the play-calling from head coach Josh Heupel.

“They — they being the coaching staff and play calling — didn’t probably help the quarterback out enough as the game progressed to take some of the pressure off of him,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs this week on WNML’s SportsTalk. “They just continually asked Faizon Brandon to drop back and throw it without having any play action to slow down the pass rush — because nobody was respecting it because they couldn’t run the football. So I think what I learned is that they’ve got to help the quarterback more.”

Former Tennessee quarterback Matt Simms thinks Josh Heupel called a good game against Texas

Former Volunteers quarterback Matt Simms had a different take on the play-calling on Wednesday during an appearance on WNML’s SportsTalk.

Simms, who admitted he’s been critical of Heupel’s play-calling at times, thought Tennessee’s staff called a good game.

“I have been sometimes a little critical of Heupel and how he strings plays together,” said Simms. “I thought he put his quarterback in a good position to win the football game the other day. I would like the offensive line, of course, to be a little bit better in the run blocking game. I thought at times they lost the punch of attack at the line of scrimmage and gave up a little bit too much penetration. But also, again, the sacks were a part of why the run game and everything else kind of got out of whack in the game, too.

“So I think Coach Heupel did a good job calling the game. There were opportunities for them to win. There were opportunities for Faizon to get into the rhythm of the game. … I know that’s not what everyone wants to hear, but that’s the truth of it. They had their [opportunities] and now it’s all about can you clean up your eye discipline and really just get locked in with, ‘Hey, what are your favorite plays in these critical moments that we know you’re going to be able to operate at a high level?’ Those are the things that I look for. The sacks, of course, bleed into the running game, which bled into the Texas defensive line just winning at the point of attack a little aggressively because they smelled blood in the water. And that is something that kind of takes a toll on the entire offense.”

I’m no Xs and Os savant, but I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. There were plays to be made, but Brandon either didn’t see it because of the pressure, or he wasn’t quick enough to pull the trigger.

Ultimately, I think Tennessee’s staff could’ve done a better job of calling plays that Brandon may have seen better against the Texas defense: screens, rollouts, quick slants, etc.

But at the same time, what they called should’ve worked against Texas — the Vols just lost too many one-on-one matchups up front to give Brandon a real chance to execute the game plan.

Ultimately, Brandon will grow significantly because of that experience against Texas.

And the good news is that Tennessee won’t see another defensive front that scary for the rest of the regular season.