After looking sluggish during the first two weeks of the season, Tennessee’s emphasis leading up to the UTEP game was on starting out fast. So much for that.

While Tennessee pulled away in the second half, winning 24-0 over UTEP on Saturday, the Volunteers’ sluggish starts continued for the third consecutive game to start the season as Tennessee went four and out on its first possession, had to go for it on 4th down to extend the second drive of the game, and managed only three points in the first quarter, via a Brent Cimaglia 38-yard kick on the second possession of the game.

Tennessee’s first touchdown of the game came in the second quarter when Tim Jordan punched it in from three yards out.

On the bright side of things, Tennessee’s defense was dominant for much of the day against a UTEP offense that appeared severely limited in the passing game. Daniel Bituli led the Vols in tackles in this one with six, Tennessee had 19 players record a tackle in this game. As a unit, the Vols registered two sacks, seven tackles-for-loss, and one forced fumble.

Here’s a breakdown of every UTEP drive of the game: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, halftime, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt and, finally, you guessed it, punt.

Jeremy Pruitt will take that every day of the week and twice on Saturday.

While Tennessee managed to move the ball effectively in the first half, the Vols failed to capitalize on several opportunities in the red zone, which has become a similar theme this season. One possession ended in a lost fumble inside the one-yard line by Jeremy Banks. That lost fumble was Tennessee’s first turnover of the season.

The Vols weren’t done coughing up the ball, however, as Marquez Callaway muffed a punt return that was recovered by the Miners. Jeremy Pruitt gave Callaway an earful following his next punt return opportunity, as Callaway was hesitant to field a ball that ended up bouncing down the field and giving away several yards of possession.

Pruitt’s biggest “ass chewing” on the day was reserved for linebacker Deandre Johnson. Clearly frustrated with his team’s play in the first half, check out this exchange between the head coach and one of his defenders during the first half of the game:

That type of reaction is something Tennessee fans can relate to, as Pruitt’s team did not show up to play early against a UTEP team ranked No. 130 in the nation (out of 130) by S&P+ entering this game. At least the program’s leader was doing what he could to fire up his team during the Noon kickoff affair.

However, while Pruitt was doing what he could to fire up his troops, some of the decisions by the offensive staff didn’t make much sense. For example, backup quarterback Keller Chryst came in on the final drive of the first half in a two-minute situation. Vols went three and out on the possession after running twice to start and throwing an incompletion.

Why you put in Chryst only to run the clock down, then put him in an obvious passing situation didn’t make much sense. The lack of urgency for a team up only 10-0 at the time was baffling.

Tennessee had 259 yards of total offense, 140 passing, 119 rushing, on 12 first downs and went 1 for 6 on third down with two turnovers during the first half. The team also had three penalties for 25 yards. Coming into the game, the Vols led the SEC in fewest penalties and had not suffered a single turnover.

Here’s what Pruitt said stood out to him heading into halftime following his team’s largely ineffective offensive performance against UTEP.

“Well, first off turnovers,” Pruitt noted. “Turned the ball over, penalties, shooting ourselves in the foot. Not a whole lot of guys playing with a lot of intensity, so not very good.”

Not very good was putting it kindly.

The good news? Ty Chandler came out early in the second half and basically sealed this game with an 81-yard touchdown run.

It was a good showing by Chandler, who missed the ETSU game after leaving the West Virginia game due to injury. Chandler finished the game as Tennessee’s best offensive player, rushing for 158 yards on only 12 carries and the one score. As a team, Tennessee rushed for over 300 yards in the game.

Jarrett Guarantano connected on several deep balls in the game, which has to be nice to see looking ahead to next week’s Florida game. Guarantano finished the game completing 12 of 16 passes for 168 yards and one score.

Next week, Tennessee hosts Florida in Neyland Stadium at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m (the official time will be determined by Sunday).