Jeremy Pruitt thought of the movie "Titanic" after Tennesseelost to Georgia State in its season opener.

The movie, he recalled, came out when he was in college and provided a picture of the need for the Vols to rally together.

"When the boat starts going down, remember all those mice running to the top, right?" Pruitt said to the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday. "We have had a few that's left our program, but you will figure out who wants to be a Tennessee Vol and who don't.

"I can tell you this: I want to. I know the standards and expectations that we have and the men on our staff and the character that we have. You will see the best of the players at Tennessee throughout the year."

Tennessee lost its season opener 38-30 to Georgia State, then fell to BYU 29-26 in double overtime Saturday.

"The way I look at this, the last two weeks are over with," Pruitt said. "We had 60 minutes to change the last two Saturdays at Neyland Stadium. We have to move forward. Did we improve the first week to the second week? Absolutely. We have to continue to do that because we have a young, inexperienced football team.

"We have a very high ceiling and we are not there yet — a very high ceiling. We are going to continue to improve and get better. We have lots of opportunities this season. It will be on us to create those opportunities."

Pruitt praised his team's leadership Monday to a crowd of about 200 people, which gave him a standing ovation when he arrived. He said he likes the team as a whole, even with a young roster.

He told the crowd, particularly high school athletes on hand, that he remembers every play from games he played growing up. The only games he remembers now are games that he loses.

“I could make a lot of excuses for why things didn’t go the way we want them (to) go," Pruitt said of UT's 0-2 start. "I can assure you of this: when we are busting our tails during fall camp, the summer and all that, we didn’t envision being 0-2. But you know what? It is what we are. The fastest way to fix it is you own it.”

Pruitt stressed multiple times the need for the defense to force turnovers and play aggressively on both sides of the ball.

Tennessee plays Chattanooga (1-1) on Saturday (noon ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.

"Do we need to win a football game? Absolutely, so I can sleep," Pruitt said.