To say Tennessee’s offensive line struggled on Saturday would be an understatement. The Vols allowed five sacks and eight QB hurries in a 34-10 loss to Oklahoma this past weekend, with the line taking a large portion of the blame.

Facing one the nation’s top pass rushing groups, Tennessee was outmatched by a far more experienced unit in the trenches. However, the Vols saw success blocking for freshman Jalen Hurd, who finished with a season-high 97 yards thanks to some big late-game runs.

“It was definitely a good confidence building mainly because the past few games, we really haven’t had many long runs or breakout runs,” center Mack Crowder said. “We’ve just been in there pounding away, pounding away and every now and then, you need one of those big runs to build your confidence and know that we’re making holes and they’re going to break big runs like that.”

With a young, inexperienced offensive line, Tennessee is making sure to have better communication in the trenches moving forward. Crowder noted that without good communication, there’s no chance of the play even going.

“I’m sure it has to be difficult for them but the older guys on offensive line have been trying to do a great job of making sure they’re on the same page,” said Crowder. “Every now and then, they’ll ask us questions and we make sure we have the right answer to them as soon as possible. We’re definitely helping them out up front but obviously Coleman [Thomas] and Jashon [Robertson] are doing a great job with it. I definitely have to give them some credit.”

For Kyler Kerbyson, the task of playing multiple positions on the offensive line has been tough. Kerbyson began camp as a right guard, switched to right tackle before the season and has moved to left tackle in the absence of injured starter Jacob Gilliam (torn ACL).

“I mean it has been a little rough, but we are all so close as a O Line that it really doesn’t matter,” Kerbyson said. “We spend so much time together outside of football. It’s not oh no I’m playing next to this guy. It’s oh good I get to play next to one of my friends.”

Tennessee will use its bye week to correct several flaws before traveling to No. 13 Georgia on Sept. 27.