At a key juncture in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Florida, the Tennessee Volunteers had first-and-goal from the Gators’ one-yard line and failed to score.

That’s because the Vols passed on first down, then drew a penalty on the Gators on second down. The Vols then promptly were whistled for a false start.

On the new first down from the six-yard line, another pass went incomplete. A second-down pass to RB John Kelly lost a yard and QB Quinten Dormady threw an interception to Florida DB Duke Dawson on third down, ending the drive.

Embattled Tennessee coach Butch Jones explained during Monday’s press conference that a run play was called on the original first down, but based on the defensive front the Gators showed, Dormady switched to a pass play.

“That can’t happen on the goal line,” Jones said. “You have first-and-goal from the 1 and we need to score. We had a run play called and they were in a 70 percent, heavy pressure football team with an all-out, cover zero blitz so they have a couple gaps that a couple individuals you can’t account for in your run scheme. We knew that going in.

“Would we have liked to run the ball there? Absolutely. Then the plan there on second down to get under center and do a quarterback sneak or run the football outside. Quinten tweaks his knee and we didn’t think it was fair for Jarrett to have to go in the game and do an underneath center snap when he didn’t have time to practice the underneath center snap. So there’s a lot of nuances throughout the course of those two plays.”

For a coach on a seat as hot as Jones’s, saying things like the backup quarterback didn’t have time to practice under-center snaps isn’t a good look.

If things keep going poorly for the Vols and Jones loses his job, critics will likely look back at this bizarre explanation as one of the big reasons he was fired.