Tennessee remains on the road as they travel to Missouri in a winnable game. We empty the notebook in our weekly installment of 10 things I think I think.
Missouri has been awful against the run and Tennessee’s running backs were much better running the ball at Florida then they were against Pitt or Tennessee Tech. The Vols are averaging 4.5 yards a carry and 204.5 yards a game.
Now, the run game is different with Cooper Mays out of the line up. How much better will Jerome Carvin be playing his third game at center and can Tennessee’s offensive interior move people? Against Missouri, it would appear their chance for success is pretty good.
Tennessee better be successful on the ground if they are going to win on the road. Tiyon Evans is Tennessee’s most talented back. Running backs coach Jerry Mack was pleased with what he saw out of Evans at Florida. He’s just looking for more consistency.
“The biggest thing I told Tiyon is that you can see the level (of play) and the strength levels in the SEC are a little bit different in some of the opponents we were playing against. There are probably several NFL prospects on that field that are going to make a lot of money playing this game one day. The way he ran the ball, always making sure that he plays with a low pad level, and always making sure that he is locked and loaded and in tune to what is going on. I think the thing we take away from the game is, don’t ever play to the level of your competition no matter how good or how bad. I want to see the same Tiyon Evans every single week. I was a little disappointed coming away from Tennessee Tech. I thought maybe he didn’t play as hard, or run with great pad level at times. You saw this game a different Tiyon, so this is a great learning tool to showcase what you need to be doing for the rest of the season.” On the connection
2. The ball is my friend —
Tennessee’s tight ends and receivers have 8 drops in four games this season. They had four last week at Florida.
The reality is that Tennessee’s receivers have to be better. The Jimmy Callaway drop was obviously critical last week. Princeton Fant’s drop in the first half was big as well. The Vol offense need more rhythm. One thing that will help that is stringing together positive plays and that means catching the ball particularly in critical situations.
“At the end of the day, you have to go execute on the field. Handle the environment, handle the competitive situation, throw and catch it; things that we’ve seen those individuals do at a high level. At the end of the day, we have to go perform on Saturday and finish the play.”
3. Tighten up in the middle; create pressure —
After a week of trying to figure out how to play contain and chasing Emory Jones all over the field, the Vols face a quarterback in Connor Bazelak, who’s not looking to run which means there is opportunity to rush the quarterback. However, Tennessee has to be smart. They can’t lose contain like they did with Jones and like they did a couple of times with Pitt’s Kenny Pickett.
Now, Bazelak doesn’t hold the ball a lot. He’s only been sacked twice this season and he’s a middle of the field passer. Against Boston College, Bazelak was 25 of 28 for 271 and a touchdown between the hashes. Outside the hashmarks he was 5 of 11 for 32 yards.
Against Kentucky, he was 22 of 32 for 196 yards in the middle of the field.
Tennessee likes to play zone coverage. To be effective, their front needs to create some pressure and they need to tighten up the windows in the middle of the field.
“We didn’t do a great job of using our pre-snap tendencies and our pre-snap rules to keep contain on the football with the quarterback,” linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said. “It’s one of those things where, versus the run, I thought we were building. Obviously, it’s a little bit of a different animal this week—not the same type of running quarterback. Regarding the pass, we’ve been in a lot of the right spots and sometimes it appears—because it’s underneath coverage or the running back is catching the ball—that it’s on the linebackers. We do play a lot of zone defense. That might not be apparent to the naked eye, so it’s not always on the linebackers when it’s a running back or tight end (catching the ball). We’ve had our fair share of not being in the right spot in those instances also.”
4. Stay locked in, don’t get caught watching the paint dry —
Jean-Mary talked about his group not doing a great job with pre-snap tendencies and rules at Florida. That will be a challenge on Saturday at Missouri who will show a lot of formations. They will do a lot of motions and shifts.
Tennessee must handle that pre-snap eye candy (again that’s football eye candy not BigKat’s hump day posts).
The Vol defense must get aligned and not give up leverage or out number themselves allowing Missouri to have a big play.
Much like Heupel believes in his up tempo plan to create a schematic advantage for his offense, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz feels the same way about his motions and shifts pre-snap.
Oh it’s Friday, you need one eye candy pic right….
5. Get off the field —
Missouri started the season dreadful on third down. The Tigers were just 1 of 11 against Central Michigan on third down week one. Since then Missouri has found a way to stay on the field.
The last three weeks the Tigers are 28 of 42 on third down (67%).
Last week Florida was 9 of 14 on third downs. Pitt was only 8 of 20 on third downs in week two.
The Vol defense must get off the field on third down tomorrow especially if they get Missouri in a 3rd and long situation.
- Run the ball —
Missouri has been awful against the run and Tennessee’s running backs were much better running the ball at Florida then they were against Pitt or Tennessee Tech. The Vols are averaging 4.5 yards a carry and 204.5 yards a game.
Now, the run game is different with Cooper Mays out of the line up. How much better will Jerome Carvin be playing his third game at center and can Tennessee’s offensive interior move people? Against Missouri, it would appear their chance for success is pretty good.
Tennessee better be successful on the ground if they are going to win on the road. Tiyon Evans is Tennessee’s most talented back. Running backs coach Jerry Mack was pleased with what he saw out of Evans at Florida. He’s just looking for more consistency.
“The biggest thing I told Tiyon is that you can see the level (of play) and the strength levels in the SEC are a little bit different in some of the opponents we were playing against. There are probably several NFL prospects on that field that are going to make a lot of money playing this game one day. The way he ran the ball, always making sure that he plays with a low pad level, and always making sure that he is locked and loaded and in tune to what is going on. I think the thing we take away from the game is, don’t ever play to the level of your competition no matter how good or how bad. I want to see the same Tiyon Evans every single week. I was a little disappointed coming away from Tennessee Tech. I thought maybe he didn’t play as hard, or run with great pad level at times. You saw this game a different Tiyon, so this is a great learning tool to showcase what you need to be doing for the rest of the season.” On the connection
2. The ball is my friend —
Tennessee’s tight ends and receivers have 8 drops in four games this season. They had four last week at Florida.
The reality is that Tennessee’s receivers have to be better. The Jimmy Callaway drop was obviously critical last week. Princeton Fant’s drop in the first half was big as well. The Vol offense need more rhythm. One thing that will help that is stringing together positive plays and that means catching the ball particularly in critical situations.
“At the end of the day, you have to go execute on the field. Handle the environment, handle the competitive situation, throw and catch it; things that we’ve seen those individuals do at a high level. At the end of the day, we have to go perform on Saturday and finish the play.”
3. Tighten up in the middle; create pressure —
After a week of trying to figure out how to play contain and chasing Emory Jones all over the field, the Vols face a quarterback in Connor Bazelak, who’s not looking to run which means there is opportunity to rush the quarterback. However, Tennessee has to be smart. They can’t lose contain like they did with Jones and like they did a couple of times with Pitt’s Kenny Pickett.
Now, Bazelak doesn’t hold the ball a lot. He’s only been sacked twice this season and he’s a middle of the field passer. Against Boston College, Bazelak was 25 of 28 for 271 and a touchdown between the hashes. Outside the hashmarks he was 5 of 11 for 32 yards.
Against Kentucky, he was 22 of 32 for 196 yards in the middle of the field.
Tennessee likes to play zone coverage. To be effective, their front needs to create some pressure and they need to tighten up the windows in the middle of the field.
“We didn’t do a great job of using our pre-snap tendencies and our pre-snap rules to keep contain on the football with the quarterback,” linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said. “It’s one of those things where, versus the run, I thought we were building. Obviously, it’s a little bit of a different animal this week—not the same type of running quarterback. Regarding the pass, we’ve been in a lot of the right spots and sometimes it appears—because it’s underneath coverage or the running back is catching the ball—that it’s on the linebackers. We do play a lot of zone defense. That might not be apparent to the naked eye, so it’s not always on the linebackers when it’s a running back or tight end (catching the ball). We’ve had our fair share of not being in the right spot in those instances also.”
4. Stay locked in, don’t get caught watching the paint dry —
Jean-Mary talked about his group not doing a great job with pre-snap tendencies and rules at Florida. That will be a challenge on Saturday at Missouri who will show a lot of formations. They will do a lot of motions and shifts.
Tennessee must handle that pre-snap eye candy (again that’s football eye candy not BigKat’s hump day posts).
The Vol defense must get aligned and not give up leverage or out number themselves allowing Missouri to have a big play.
Much like Heupel believes in his up tempo plan to create a schematic advantage for his offense, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz feels the same way about his motions and shifts pre-snap.
Oh it’s Friday, you need one eye candy pic right….
5. Get off the field —
Missouri started the season dreadful on third down. The Tigers were just 1 of 11 against Central Michigan on third down week one. Since then Missouri has found a way to stay on the field.
The last three weeks the Tigers are 28 of 42 on third down (67%).
Last week Florida was 9 of 14 on third downs. Pitt was only 8 of 20 on third downs in week two.
The Vol defense must get off the field on third down tomorrow especially if they get Missouri in a 3rd and long situation.
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