The Week 10 matchup against Oklahoma did not go as expected for HC Josh Huepel’s side. The Volunteers gave away their early lead and lost 27-33, in what was an important game for the playoff contention. Adding insult to the injury was QB Joey Aguilar’s performance, who threw two interceptions. Now that only three games are left, analyst David Pollack believes the Oklahoma loss could be the season-ender for Joey Aguilar and Tennessee.

Pollack discussed the game with Brent Collins. At the start of his review, he reminded Collins about one choice he made concerning Aguilar that doesn’t look that bad anymore. “I’m sure you wanted to apologize to the Tennessee fans, too, about not having Aguilar in the top two because he was one of those guys who deserve to be in that conversation. Dude looked lost tonight.” Pollack said on the 1st November episode of his podcast.

After transferring from UCLA to replace Nico Iamaleava, Aguilar ended up improving on his predecessor. Even in the loss against Georgia, he made plays that shocked Kirby Smart’s defense. Since then, though, it’s been iffy for Heupel’s QB1. Joey Aguilar struggled against a rigid Oklahoma defense, which sacked him four times during the game. His two interceptions in the second quarter came within 4 minutes, which resulted in a loss of yardage and momentum for Oklahoma.

His performance meant that Joey Aguilar is no longer in Heisman contention. More importantly, Tennessee’s postseason hopes may have also ended with the loss. But all of this could have been prevented. Josh Heupel is left to rue costly errors by his team once again.

“They had three sacks in the first half or in the first quarter. In the very first quarter, they scored on a defensive touchdown. They forced multiple picks. Tennessee missed a field goal. It was a comedy of errors early for Tennessee.” Pollack asserted. In a must-win game, Tennessee fumbled its chances, resulting in what David Pollack believes is the end of their season.

This was also what happened against Alabama. After trailing early in the game, the Vols were mounting a comeback, but a pick-six just halted any chance of doing that. Ultimately, the Tide won.

What’s next for Joey Aguilar and Tennessee?

After suffering the heartbreaking loss at home against the Sooners, Tennessee is now in a tight spot. With three games left in the regular season, it becomes an incredibly hard task for Tennessee to qualify for the playoffs. David Pollack believes the Saturday loss was the end of their hopes of qualification.

“(Joey Aguilar) had a bad day against a good Oklahoma team, and now they are basically eliminated from the playoffs,” said Pollack on the issue. Joey Aguilar couldn’t have picked a worse day to perform poorly. Now, he and his team are tasked with going against the odds and winning all three games. Even if they do that, they will have to hope for a miracle that the other sides fumble as well.

Tennessee faces NM State, Florida, and Vanderbilt in its last three games.