Eli Wolf took a seat in front of a handful of media members on Monday.

But the day didn’t matter much. It could have been any other day this season when Tennessee football players have spoken to the media.

The Tennessee junior tight end immediately fielded questions about why the Vols continue to struggle to run the ball — a weekly issue and a weekly subject.

“We just have to get back to work,” Wolf said.

Tennessee (4-5, 1-4 SEC) ranks last in the SEC in rushing yards per game heading into its clash with No. 12 Kentucky (7-2, 5-2) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

The Vols are averaging 127.7 rushing yards per game — more than 25 yards fewer than second-to-last Vanderbilt — and are the lone SEC team averaging less than 4 yards per carry.

They’re also coming off their worst rushing output of the season, gaining 20 yards on 26 carries against Charlotte with top back Ty Chandler limited due to injury.

“We didn’t block very well,” Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “We basically got whipped at the point of attack. We had some mental errors that we haven’t been having for quite some time. We got free guys in the hole that get you before you get going.”

Now, UT is facing a stout Kentucky defense that was allowing barely 100 yards per game before being slashed by Georgia for 331 yards and three rushing touchdowns last Saturday.

The Wildcats still rank fifth in the SEC, allowing 133.2 yards per game thanks to a stout front seven. Linebackers Josh Allen and Jordan Jones lead Kentucky, with Allen putting together a dominant senior season as the league leader in sacks and tackles for loss.

Pruitt praised the Wildcats as a sound defense and called them a “tremendous challenge.”

“We have to prepare really hard to move the ball against them,” Wolf said.

Part of that preparation for Tennessee could involve changes for an offensive line group that has been poor all season. The Vols, who lost starting left tackle Trey Smith for the season two games ago, made substitutions at both tackle positions against Charlotte after having negative rushing yards through three quarters.

Redshirt freshman K’Rojhn Calbert subbed in at left tackle for sophomore Marcus Tatum late in the fourth quarter after sophomore Nathan Niehaus shifted from right guard to right tackle for Drew Richmond. Junior Chance Hall entered at right guard.

“If we’re not getting a whole lot of production, then why are we not getting production?” Pruitt said. “We try to play the guys that give us the best chance to win and be productive. We’ll do that again this week.”

That’s just one more attempt for Tennessee to find answers to inject any semblance of life into a rushing attack that has been held to less than 70 yards in four of the past five games.

The Vols did seem to take a step in the right direction against South Carolina two weeks ago, when they ran for 144 yards on 34 attempts. But that was the outlier of late.

“It’s hard to win in this league if you can’t run the football — or in any league,” Pruitt said. “We’ve got to be committed to it and we’ve got to find a way to get it done. … You’ve got to be able to run the football to some degree.”