If you were driving around UT campus late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, you may have noticed the popular rock on campus usually used to display team pride, was painted with a call to action.
Fans are still unhappy with the result of the Florida-Tennessee game and some of the play calling that went into it.
The first thing defensive coordinate Bob Shoop did during media availability Tuesday was defend Coach Jones, and take ownership for the call on the last play that resulted in Florida's 63-yard touchdown for the win.
"I want to say this, and this is from my heart. I think some of the criticism of Coach Jones is unfair," said Shoop. "We're very, very disappointed with how the game ended, but I think we have a good group of people in that room and a good team."
Shoop continued to defend the team's defense as well, stating they've only given up 20 first-half points in all three games combined so far. At the same time, they need to improve on finishing games.
"The kids have played hard at the beginning, we've actually played at a decent level through the first half of the game. What we need to do a better job is finishing. The same things are showing up, we're playing to our style of play but not consistent enough to beat really, really good teams," he said.
Freshman offensive guard Trey Smith spoke to the media for the first time since the season began. The team has praised him for being mature beyond his years, and that was displayed in his response to dealing with his first loss at Tennessee and the backlash the team and his head coach is experiencing.
"My dad always taught me, in life you're going to get knocked down," said Smith. "Everything's not going to go your way. The shame is just sitting there and taking it. Now if you get back up and you keep going, and you have success and people are with you again, it's ok. But, the shame is staying there, so my mentality is just keep going."
The team says they've already moved on to their matchup against UMass on Saturday.