Sitting in the Neyland Stadium press box late in the fourth quarter Saturday night, a question popped into my head.

Have I ever seen two consecutive weeks of Tennessee football worse than these?

I’m not sure I have.

Some of Derek Dooley’s teams played bad football, but they usually could score. Some of Phillip Fulmer’s teams were bad, but they could usually stop you.

This Tennessee team, though, might not be able to do either of those things against a decent opponent.

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Most losses, even bad losses, come with teachable moments. Most losses, even bad losses, come with buildable moments.

Saturday’s loss came with neither.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones

Georgia 41. Tennessee 0.

The Vols have had some tough times during their Decade of Debacle, but Saturday’s might have been the lowest. It’s at least in the conversation. And the fact that we’re even having to debate that tells you everything you need to know about the state of affairs at the moment.

Were injuries a factor? Sure.

Should they have resulted in a 41-0 loss? No. Not even close.

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Tennessee will have a lot of questions to answer in the aftermath of its first shutout loss since 1994. Teams with less talent have taken the field in Orange and White (or Smokey Grey) the past 23 years, and all of them at least put something on the board. These Vols didn’t. And they never really looked close to doing that, either. They ran a grand total of two plays in scoring position, and the second ended in a fumble caused by the center sticking his own shotgun snap where the sun don’t shine.

For a second consecutive week, Tennessee made a second-half change at quarterback just for the sake of change. For a second consecutive week, it didn’t matter. Jarrett Guarantano might be a great player one day, but he’s not exactly Mariano Rivera sitting in the bullpen right now. Maybe the Vols bench junior Quinten Dormady and give Guarantano an extended look at the position. Why not? But Guarantano hasn’t outperformed Dormady in practice, and anyone in the program could tell you that. Maybe he’s a gamer. Fine. But this isn’t a situation where benching Dormady and starting Guarantano fixes everything. As loose as Dormady has been with the Vols at times, he’s also given his receivers plenty of chances to make plays that they couldn’t or just didn’t make.

Here’s my point: I don’t know if this team has an answer. I don’t know that this team can get a heck of a lot better. Maybe it could. But I don’t know that I see a path for this team to suddenly make itself a good football team. I think this team entered the season knowing it needed to play darn-near-perfect football to beat good teams, and that was before players like Jauan Jennings, Darrin Kirkland Jr., Evan Berry, Todd Kelly Jr. and many more left the lineup with longterm injuries.

Why does this team have such a razor-thin margin for error in Butch Jones’ fifth season, though? Why does this team not have more options? Why aren’t so many of these players looking worthy of their recruiting rankings? How is this program in this position at that point?

Georgia sophomore wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr.

Those are all fair — firm but fair — questions, and there’s only one common denominator there. And it’s Jones.

Let’s not fall into the trap of discussing all the trees and forgetting the forest. Here’s the forest: Does Jones have control of this Tennessee program right now? More things point to no than yes. Perhaps there’s a more subtle way to put that, but it eludes me at the moment.

Compounding the problem is the simple fact that Jones can’t seem to exit a press conference making anyone feel any better than they did going into the press conference. For all Jones’ bluster about his problems with local media in this market, it’s really not that tough. Really. It’s not. It is big-boy land, though. And it comes with big-boy scrutiny. And you have to be able to handle that. And there’s very little evidence that points to Jones having what it takes to handle that.

If nothing else, Jones has served his purpose around these parts. He pumped some life back into the program. He brought in some better players. He won some games. He took a mess and made at least a better-looking mess out of it. The place is in better shape than it was when he arrived. It’s a little hard to take a step back, widen the camera lens and see that now, but it’s the truth.

This might also be the truth, though: Jones had his moment, and he didn’t seize it. With SEC Eastern Division rivals Florida and Georgia far from their best the past couple of years, he didn’t step up and take the division. He set the table, but he didn’t eat. He got ate. That’s the narrative right now, regardless of whether he or anyone else likes it.

Can Jones change that narrative? Maybe. I rarely if ever completely rule out anyone. But I can’t sit here and honestly tell you I see things going that way. I see a program that doesn’t look organized on the field and doesn’t sound anything like organized off the field, either. I see signs of division in the locker room for a second consecutive season. Different actors. Same problems. I see a program that claims to build itself on DAT — Details, Accountability and Toughness — and seems be so light on details and accountability that even the toughest toughness can’t always overcome it.

And I don’t know that I see a clear path toward a sunnier place.

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Contact Wes Rucker by email at wes.rucker@cbsinteractive.com or ON TWITTER, or FOLLOW GOVOLS247 ON FACEBOOK.