Doug Mathews - Big Orange Sunday - Post-Gator Bowl Edition

TennesseeTuxedo · Jan 5, 2020

Doug Mathews - Big Orange Sunday - Post-Gator Bowl Edition

Last year, after Jeremy Pruitt's first season, Pruitt was asked "how would you grade your first season at Tennessee?" Pruitt responded, "I will remember it like it was yesterday, 5-7."

You are judged on your record.

If Pruitt were to be asked how he would grade this season, he would probably say, "8-5".

Several ways to look at and evaluate this past season.

Mathews is going to look at the 2019 season from 3 different aspects.
1) Coach's Perspective
2) Lessons Perspective - learn your lesson from each game.
3) Program Building Perspective - where we were and where we are now

Year 3 has really begun - started with signing class, Gator Bowl Bowl practice (got in 15 extra practices), and Gator Bowl victory. Now is time for the grunt work. S & C.

Coaches use this time to evaluate the players to look at their progress Coaches also use this time to evaluate their own coaching staff and make decisions on whether they will be retained or not.

Gator Bowl 23-22 Victory

Missed opportunities - 3 red zone trips and 2 field goals to show for the effort.
Opportunities that we took advantage of - down 22-9 with a little over 7 minutes remaining in the game and scored 14 points on in that period of time.
Well executed onside kick.
Quick drive to score
Not an impressive win, but a victory none the less.
No such thing as an ugly win. You can win ugly.
Tennessee was noticeably better than IU.

Bowl Practice

What is the early bowl practice and how does it help the team?
Mathews said that winning is nice, but the most important aspect of going to this bowl game for the program was the 15 extra practices afforded to the program.
We are not at the stage of being a championship level program and the extra practices will go a long ways in developing the players.
First 5 Bowl practices were 100% focused on building and instilling fundamentals - Tackling, blocking, leverage.
Freshmen players that jumped out and grabbed DM's attention largely due to the extra practices that they got: Henry T - played like a veteran, Jaylen McCollough, Kurrot Garland, Quavarious Crouch, Roman Harrison, Eric Gray, Ramel Keyton, Morris, Wright.
All younger players got significantly better due to the extra practices.

Defense In Gator Bowl

Defensively, the lost story is how well our defense played for most of the game.
Defense only gave up one extended drive all game long - 10 drive 69 yard drive.
Held IU to a field goal after a turnover on our side of the field.
IU had 11 possessions in the game.
7 of the 11 possessions - Tennessee forced IU to punt.
Limited IU to 303 total yards.
Tennessee had tackles and sacks for a total of 40 yards of losses on IU offense.
Only allowed 76 rushing yards (most by the QB on scrambles).
4 sacks for (-26 yards).

Offense In Gator Bowl

Up and down - but mostly down.
Gave up only 1 sack.
2 interceptions - 2 bad interceptions - 1 was returned for a TD.
No lost fumbles.
374 yards of total offense. We averaged 365 yards of total offense a game this past season.
First red zone possession where we there 4 straight passes - should have been a TD. All were good plays that the QB should have thrown for TDs.
Tennessee went into this game believing that they could throw the ball on IU.
Tried throwing early but #2 was not throwing the ball well - Changed game plan due to lack of QB play.

Running Backs

DM's personal opinion - his critique of our use/rotation of RBs in our system.
Gray and Chandler need to play every snap of the game.
DM said that he understands the thought process of having fast quick RBs for downs 1and 2 and then having a power back for short yardage situations. Tim Jordan is not that guy for the power back role. Go with the hot hand at RB.
Top RBs need to have at least 20 carries/touches in a game. It takes 15 or so carries to get into a rhythm.

Handling of Jarrett Guarantano

Pruitt, Chaney, and Weinke know JG and that if he is playing well, throw the football. If he is not playing well, take him out of the game. It is unconventional but effective coaching on their part.
Pruitt made a statement that is on UTsports.com - to the effect, if you are not playing well, you need to be taken out of the game.
Analysts criticism of putting #2 back in after pulling him, are based on a QB's personal perspective.
The Vols staff has noticed that when #2 is pulled, he watches the game intently and sees and learns what he needs to do better. It is unconventional but very effective in his case. He usually goes back and plays better.
Pruitt said that #2 know him and he knows #2. Guarantano has tough skin.
Pruitt's approach is that if you are the starting QB or if you are the 85 player on scholarship…if you are not playing well, you will be taken out of the game.

Lessons - Positive and Negatives

Negatives

Coach Pruitt - Improved as a head coach this season. Starting with bringing in a DC(Ansley). Still active in defensive play calling.
Pruitt has to improve as a game day coach and manage the clock better. He improved from his first season and will continue to improve with another season.
Red Zone - we have to find some answers to improving our production in the red zone.
Lack of a power run game (Crouch at the goal line)
Hidden yardage - can amount to 1-2 missed long TD drives
Punt return - way too many balls hitting the ground. (My high school coaches emphasized getting to all punts and fielding the punts, even if you get nor return). Allowing hidden yardage hurts a team. Penalties - we have do a better job in eliminating silly pre-snap and post-snap penalties. Team did a good job until late in the season.
Played good red zone defense.
Team Discipline will be emphasized this spring. - coaching and player.
QB consistency must improve - we have 3 QB coaches in this team. If this team is going to get better, we need much better QB play.
4 man pass rush is not good. We have to work on getting better. - We had a lot of inexperienced DL this past season. We must address and improve their technique.
Defensive staff is excellent in blitzing. In fact, DM said that this defensive staff is OUTSTANDING in defeating pass blocking schemes via the blitz.
We need more speed at WR. Returning WRs Palmer and Keyton are fast. Addressed in recruiting.
We need more big splash plays
We need a power RB - we will see if it was addressed in this recruiting class. We will always have Crouch there if needed. Crouch is not going to move over to RB full time. Crouch is going to play OLB.
We have to find a punter. We are very average at best in putting. (my note - I have seen better high school punters this past season) DM has no clue as to why their punting skills got worse this past season.
We have to develop some tight ends. Neither TE from last years singing class were developed enough to contribute much. We need them to get better so they can contribute.
Don't devalue points - take points that you get and live with them. We have a very good FG kicker.

Positives

We developed good depth on the DL, in the secondary, and at RB.
The OL developed but is still not developed as well as the before mentioned position groups.
Develop overall defense - tackling, containment, leverage, not giving up many splash plays.
Pass Protection - only gave up 21 sacks this year ( my note - many if not most we due to the QB holding onto the ball too long).
Punt coverage - only gave up 87 total yards of returns this season.

rexvol · Jan 5, 2020