Tennessee fans judge their coaches by how their teams perform against Florida.

Considering Tennessee has yet to play a competitive game against the Gators in two tries under Jeremy Pruitt, that’s all you need to know when it comes to Pruitt’s approval rating in Rocky Top at the moment.

The Volunteers were expected by many to at least compete with the Gators on Saturday but it was evident early in the game that Tennessee was not going to give Florida a came, eventually losing 34-3 on Saturday.

The big news for the Vols came when Jarrett Guarantano was replaced by freshman QB Brian Maurer in the second half.

On replacing Guaratano in the second half:

“I think Jarrett’s got lots of ability to be a really good player. But there are times you’ve got to take the bull by the horns. We needed a little bit of that. We made a few mistakes there, so we went with Brian to get Jarrett settled down.

“We come out in the second quarter and get a delay of game. We’ve got them confused in empty, open receiver and we miss the throw. Those mistakes we can’t make.

on why Jahmir Johnson did not make the trip to Gainesville:

“Jahmir had a (knee) scope done. He wanted to come but we brought the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win.”

on QB depth chart moving forward:

“Every position for us, we try to play the best players… Who competes the best, who practices, we will see.”

on where Tennessee goes from here:

“I felt like last year, in our bye week, we really improved. We’ve got so many young guys who are itching to play, but they’re not hardly ready. And it’ll help us develop some depth and competition.”

on Maurer’s performance in the game:

“Tough situation, you know? But he came here to play, we tried to give him an opportunity but there are plays he has to improve on.”