Junior wide receiver Justin Hunter prepares for a catch. (The Herald/ Submitted Photo)

While there was a lot of pain and heartbreak in the Tennessee locker room on Saturday, the Vols didn’t let that carry over to the practice field on Monday, putting the loss to Florida in the past and moving on.

“The [players] were gutted,” Dooley said. “There was a lot of emotional investment in that game by the fans, by everybody associated with Tennessee. It hurt. I think it’s a good sign that kind of pain is on us because we felt like we could go toe-to-toe and we did and we screwed it up.

“They hurt more than I’ve seen one of our teams hurt after a loss, which they should, but today they were great because it is time to move on. We have a lot of confidence in who we are and where we are headed and that little stretch of bad ball that we played, we have to make it what we did and not who we are.”

That stretch began with the Vols leading, 20-13, with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Florida then proceeded to score the game’s final 24 points, including three touchdowns in a span of just eight minutes and 32 seconds.

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