From Jeremy Pruitt's vantage point on the sideline, there was no doubt that South Carolina tailback Rico Dowdle fumbled on the play before the Gamecocks scored a third-quarter touchdown.

The officials didn't have a camera view to prove that, though, Pruitt said Monday.

“There was definitely a fumble. I saw that," Pruitt said. "Unfortunately for the officials, they only have certain angles that they could see. And from their angles, they didn’t see that.”

Pruitt said the officials didn't prematurely blow the play dead. Rather, they didn't have a camera angle to show a fumble occurred, and the call on the field was that Dowdle was down at the 1-yard line.

Pruitt said Tennessee's video crew had an end zone view that showed a fumble happened, but officials aren't privy to that video.

“It was disappointing for me," Pruitt said, "because I felt like I could see it from the sideline, but you know what, they have a tough job to do, just like we have a tough job to do.”

Pruitt didn't blame the officials for the Vols' 27-24 loss Saturday, noting that it wasn't the officials' fault that Tennessee couldn't stop the run or had nine penalties. Six of those penalties weren't judgement calls. The Vols had five false starts and once broke the huddle with 12 men.

On the controversial play, linebackers Daniel Bituli and Darrin Kirkland stopped Dowdle on second down shy of the goal line. Bituli emerged from a mess of bodies with the ball, but officials ruled that Dowdle was down after getting stuffed for no gain.

South Carolina scored on the following play, and Jake Bentley's two-point conversion run tied the game at 24.

“They just didn’t see the fumble and counted him down," Pruitt said.

There was no stoppage for a video review, but, as Pruitt noted, every play is reviewed by a head replay official even without a stoppage.

Pruitt only wishes an end zone camera had been available for that replay official to inspect.

"It'd probably make a whole lot of sense in the SEC, with as much money as we've got, to get end zone cameras," Pruitt said. "But, again, that was a big play in the game, and it’s unfortunate that it happened that way, but we made plenty of errors in the game."

Sticking with Jarrett Guarantano

Jarrett Guarantano steered the offense throughout Saturday's game and completed 27 of 39 passes. Backup Keller Chryst didn't play.

“You don’t want the (starting quarterback) looking over his shoulder," Pruitt said. "You want him to be able to play and play with confidence.”

“We were going to go with Jarrett," he added. "If we needed to make a move, we would make a move."

Guarantano exited in the second quarter of the previous game against Alabama after linebacker Mack Wilson drilled him after he released a pass. Chryst was steady in relief.

Guarantano and Chryst "took the same amount of reps" in practice last week, and it was "a game-time decision" whether Guarantano would play, Pruitt said.

Pruitt said he never guaranteed Chryst that he would play against South Carolina, unlike a couple nonconference games, before which he assured Chryst that he would have a role.

“I don’t want to tell a kid something that you can’t follow through with," Pruitt said.

Marcus Tatum 'played hard'

Marcus Tatum took every snap at left tackle in place of Trey Smith. UT announced last week that Smith is out indefinitely due to blood clots in his lungs.

Tatum, making his first start of the season, contributed to one of the Vols' top offensive performances.

Tatum had been UT's backup right tackle. He had never started a game at left tackle.

“Marcus is a smart guy," Pruitt said. "He played hard for a guy that’s not been playing left tackle.”