In first quarters this season, the Tennessee Volunteers have been awful. Through seven games, they’ve been outscored 69-16 in the first 15 minutes.

If you take out games against East Tennessee State and UTEP, that becomes a 69-3 disadvantage in first quarters.

On Wednesday, Pruitt was asked about the Vols’ slow starts, and expressed confidence in the pregame routines he puts his team through:

The Vols have a winnable game against South Carolina this week, so they’ll need to get out to a much better start. Even in the upset win over Auburn a couple of weeks ago, the Vols trailed 10-3 through one quarter.

If they want to win a second SEC game, they’ll need to do better than that on Saturday.