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KNOXVILLE -- At least the Tennessee Volunteers have some time off to fix their mistakes. Whether it's enough remains to be seen.

The Vols dropped out of The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday hours after several glaring mistakes and a lack of consistency on both sides of the ball cost them their No. 18 ranking and a 27-24 overtime loss at UCLA Monday night.

"Whether it was offensively, defensively or the kicking game -- you can choose any one of them," coach Phillip Fulmer said after the game. "They are things that are fixable."

Tennessee, which lost its season opener for a second straight year on the West Coast, is off this weekend and won't play again until hosting its home opener Sept. 13 against UAB. That might help some of the problems, most notably an inconsistent offense. Then the Vols' schedule features No. 5 Florida, No. 9 Auburn and No. 2 Georgia.

Figuring out which area to concentrate on first won't be easy. Penalties and eight three-and-outs by the offense couldn't offset four first-half interceptions by the Vols' defense.

The offense managed only one scoring drive before halftime, an 11-yard rushing TD by Montario Hardesty. That drive featured four Tennessee penalties, including a pair of false starts by linemen. The Vols wound up penalized nine times for 55 yards compared with UCLA's 25 yards on two penalties.

Jonathan Crompton struggled with accuracy, overthrowing wide-open receivers and completing only 19 of 41 passes for 189 yards. New offensive coordinator Dave Clawson tried to force the passing game in his debut, even though Tennessee averaged 5.2 yards per carry.

The quarterback, making only his second career start, was intercepted once and nearly gave the ball up a second time with a fumble he recovered. He looked flustered as he tried to make adjustments in the loud Rose Bowl environment and tripped over a teammate more than once.

A drive that started at the UCLA 26 ended three plays later with Crompton sacked for a loss of 8 yards and a delay of game penalty on the punt. Five drives ended on incomplete passes. An eight-play drive covered 73 yards only to end when Arian Foster fumbled on the UCLA 6.

"I don't think we found any kind of rhythm on offense during the course of the evening," Fulmer said. "You have to give UCLA a lot of that credit. They did a good job getting the pressure on."

The Vols' defense seemed to find a good rhythm in the first half, picking off UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft four times and limiting the Bruins to 85 yards total offense. But Craft settled down at halftime and started picking apart the Vols, at one point completing eight straight passes.

Craft, who started the offseason as the third-string quarterback, finished 25-for-43 with 259 yards passing.

Even the Vols' special teams struggled. UCLA's Akeem Ayers wasn't touched as he blocked a Chad Cunningham punt that was then scooped up by Sean Westgate and returned 17 yards for the Bruins' lone touchdown until the fourth quarter.

Daniel Lincoln, who sent the game into overtime with a 47-yard field goal at the end of regulation, missed a 34-yard attempt.

According to Fulmer, the damage had been done well before then.

"It did not come down to one kick. You can't put this on Daniel Lincoln," Fulmer said.

"We made enough mistakes tonight to lose three, four or five football games."