- Officiating — Saturday night’s officiating crew has long had issues in their work. They were involved in some controversial calls years ago. They were on the call for the Memphis-Mississippi State earlier this year where one official was apparently suspended for a game.
My biggest issue with this crew upon rewatch is their struggles to spot the ball. They seem not to be near the ball when the play is over to spot it. On the scramble at the start of the 4th quarter where the flag was for hands to the face by Ole Miss, the side judge doesn’t runs down the sideline following Hooker. Hooker is up off the ground looking for an official to give the ball to before the side judge ever comes in and marks the ball.
This crew didn’t measure on a 4th down play in the second quarter where Corral scrambled. I think he made it but the same side judge motioned the chains to move immediately.
Then you have the Jacob Warren play. The side judge never moves till the ball is thrown. He’s 25 yards from Warren and comes running in to make the spot. There’s no way he can make an accurate spot. As for the review, there’s simply not a replay angle that shows where the ball is when Warren’s knee it. Why we can’t have more angles I don’t know, but without a replay with that angle there’s nothing to overturn the officials spotting of the ball some 12-15 yards behind the play.
2. Missed first half opportunities — After the bizarre call wiping off a touchdown on the scoop and score, the Vol offense had two opportunities for huge plays on that series. Javonta Payton had a deep ball down the sideline that upon re-watch I thought he should have caught. Then on third down, Velus Jones had his man beat but Hooker overthrew him because of pressure in his face from a linebacker who beat Spraggins on the play. Two early shots for 30+ yard plays that they couldn’t execute.
In the second quarter with 7 minutes to go and down 17-9, linebackers Aaron Beasley on a delayed blitzed and Jeremy Banks on the sideline couldn’t get Matt Corral on the ground and he turned 3-12 into a first down. A stop there and Ole Miss is pinned back and having to punt. Ole Miss took advantage of the mistake and went on to score making it 24-9.
3. Where was Hooker in the run game in the first half? — In the first half it looks like Hooker had 2 designed runs and he was sacked 4 times. In the second half, Hooker was sacked once and his legs got going. Taking out the sack, Hooker ran for 137 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
I am surprised they didn’t call more things for him running the ball in the first half. Of course now the question is where is he health wise after the injury on his final run of the day.
4. Tennessee struggled to handle Ole Miss’ pressure — Tennessee gave up 5 sacks after giving up 6 last week and that’s with a mobile quarterback. The offense struggled when Ole Miss brought extra pressure particularly off the right edge. It wasn’t all Dane Davis. Some of it was running back and tight end blitz pick up. I mentioned it after the Tennessee Tech game that I didn’t think Heupel got to his bench quick enough. He didn’t against Missouri either. Davis was forced to play Saturday night after the injury to Cade Mays and played 80 snaps. He only got 7 snaps in a blowout win against Bowling Green He got 47 against Tennessee Tech. He got 26 against Missouri and 6 against South Carolina. It’s a next man up mentality and Davis effort was good, but he had growing pains. Tennessee only gave up one sack in the second half so he improved the game went on. The Vols lack of depth in the offensive line is clearly an issue.
5. Just too many self-inflicted wounds — Or too many negative plays and they cost Tennessee. Five sacks, two key second half holding penalties turning 1st and 10 into 2nd and 20. The muffed punt. The missed field goal. Joe Milton not throwing the ball in the final play of he game. Some clear missed assignments or busts offensively. Tennessee didn’t half to play perfect. They needed to play clean and they didn’t play clear enough and had some really ill timed mistakes that killed momentum and scoring chances.
