I am not going to push the panic button on this team after the first game. That would be premature after watching many other highly touted teams lose their first game to an underdog opponent. Thankfully UT was one of the teams to squeak by (even if they didn't deserve it) in the opening CFB weekend. There are plenty of issues to address on both sides of the ball, however, most of them will be on the offensive side of the ball. Obviously, I cannot pinpoint their attitude and mindset going into the game, but it looked like a team that had been reading a lot of their own press before the season. The Volunteers did not look like they had any respect for the Appalachian State team. The simple fact is that App St. came to play Thursday night and the Vols did not. The Big Orange were lucky to get out of there with a win. Tennessee looked unprepared on the offensive side of the ball for most of the game. The biggest concern is the Offensive Line, followed by quarterback play.
- 1. The offensive line play on Thursday night was terrible vs. App State, and if the struggles continue, terrible will be an understatement when facing any SEC front seven. Although it wasn't the only concern, IMO, I think it is the biggest going into the Battle at Bristol next Saturday. Tennessee decided to start Coleman Thomas at center and his play alone will have to improve from what looked like a Senior in High School to where he should be as an experienced Junior in a top tier program. There were more than a handful of plays in the first half of the game alone where Thomas was beat one on one by a defending lineman. Let me re-phrase. Thomas was "humiliated" by their defensive tackles. It is not my intention to solely pick on Thomas, but his play was the most demonstrative of the poor performance by the O-Line unit as a whole, which had a 50 lb and 4 in. advantage on the opponents defensive line. The Mountaineers were getting pressure on Dobbs by rushing only 3 or 4 defenders. That is inexcusable. Virginia Techs defensive coordinator is probably licking his/her chops watching the game tape of the Vols offense. As big of a concern the offensive line is, unfortunately it is not the only concern.
- 2. Joshua Dobbs has to be better next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. He made some good throws and the receivers did a good job for the most part. However, his decision making has to improve. He rushed a number of throws (where there was no pressure) and didn't go through his progressions to find a better option. I know its tough to say that since the pass protection was terrible for most of the game. However, Dobbs has to be able to look off defenders and throw to the other side of the field if we stand a chance throwing the ball down field this year. His completion percentage would have been well over 60% if he would have gone through his progressions.
- 2.1 Joshua Dobbs has to run the football. It looked like he was on a mission to throw the ball after reading and listening to all of the media criticize him on his throwing abilities. I understand that its the first game of the season and he wanted to come out and show the world what he had been working on all off season and he made some really good throws. But he made some bad throws also. However, we needed him to come out running the ball in certain scenarios in the first half of the game. There were too many times where Dobbs needed to keep the ball on the run-option. That alone would have helped Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, and the passing game.
