It has been said that the devil is in the details … simple situation with hidden complications … fine print … the part most of us miss while focusing on the big picture.

Josh Heupel said details took down Tennessee, mistakes on too many little things in the loss at Alabama. The Vols also made larger mistakes.

If this was a national championship team (think 1998), if the end result had threatened alignment of the planets, the Joey Aguilar 14-point misfire would fall in line not too far behind the famous Arkansas stumble and fumble. The Tide interception and goal-to-goal runback was an absolute disaster.

There was a major mistake before Joey threw the ball to the wrong place. It was a bad play call. The power run formation didn’t fool anybody. First half time was running out. The Vols had to throw. For some strange reason, they didn’t have primary receivers as available targets.

Alabama secondary coach Maurice Linguist spotted that. Cornerback Zabien Brown said Lindguist issued a warning during the timeout, “On alert, alert the pop pass.”

Brown got the message. He jumped the Miles Kitselman route.

“The ball fell right into my hands.”

The 100-yard dash (officially 99) was on. It was historic. It will be unforgettable.

There was another tidbit. DeSean Bishop gave chase. He got two fingertips on a Brown foot, enough to cause a stagger. Bishop’s never-give-up effort was a small but awesome detail.

The little (big?) mistakes Coach Heupel is reviewing undoubtedly include missed tackles, the 10 penalties, dropped passes and on-going failure to set firm defensive edges.

Are those correctable? Probably not. Tennessee has played seven games. Many practices have been in between. The issues are not new. If a simple solution existed, you would have seen it by now.

Missed tackles go back to August. Because of questionable depth at several positions, Heupel chose touch instead of takedowns, bumps instead of blasts in scrimmages. He didn’t want to risk injuries. To me, that decision was and remains damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Heupel said the Vols can choose “what type of team we want to be down the stretch.”

Preparation for Kentucky (Saturday in Lexington, 7:45 or later kickoff, cold weather rumored) is loaded with what-ifs. Will the Vols bounce back mentally from losing a main event? Does Aguilar have an injury problem more serious than bumps and bruises? Can the Vols piece together scoring drives against the gritty Wildcats?

They look better than their 0-4 record in Southeastern Conference wars. They lost to Ole Miss by a touchdown.

Kentucky dominated the Texas game statistically. The Longhorns rushed for 47 yards. Their offensive total was just 179. Arch Manning went 12-27 for 132. He was sacked three times.

Two Texas punt returns provided favorable field position and led to scores. Texas won with a field goal in overtime.

“Guys stepped up (on defense),” coach Mark Stoops said. “They responded the way we expect them to. Played extremely hard. They played a lot of snaps and they have a lot of character. We came up six inches short.”

Bits ‘n pieces: Four Tide sacks of Aguilar matched total from six previous games … caution lights in Pro Football Focus grades from Alabama game … David Sanders was 10 points better than Lance Heard and 15 or more ahead of all other offensive linemen … hard-nosed walk-on Ben Bolton led linebackers … Colton Hood was last among defensive backs … early betting line favors Tennessee over Kentucky by eight or nine points.

Just in case it matters: Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer says he is not yet into cigar smoking … Kentucky QB Cutter Boley says his favorite karaoke song is “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash … Stoops’ buyout as coach of the Wildcats is $37,687,500.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com