THE WAY FORWARD
A tough loss to a bitter rival in a game the Volunteers had a lot of opportunities to win is always a bitter pill to swallow. Especially if that rival is the Florida Gators. But everyone involved with the Big Orange coaches, players and fans had to swallow hard. Maybe wash it down with a little Gatorade.
So what do you do when you have a mess on your hands? You find out what caused it, clean it up and move forward. That is what this 2017 Volunteer football team is doing this week. Identify where the problems are, how to fix those problems and then initiate the fixes. Really pretty simple if you have answers to why and if you have the material (players) to fix the problems. There were really two key areas of this game that created most of the mess: 1) The last play of the game and 2) the handling and execution of the 1st and goal at the 1 yard line. Yes there were other problems: three interceptions, three missed field goals, missed open field tackles, a taunting call, an overall sub performance from the most efficient part of this team….the kicking game. Those and a few others can be improved by practice. But the two key problem areas go deeper than that. How each was handled by the coaching staff is the big item IMO on Coach Jones plate.
Let’s start with the 1st and goal situation. Some lessons that must be learned…..1) Have a call that does not allow any quarterback to check out of the play called. Everyone watching knows that John Kelly should have been given the ball and I am sure that was the call but the mechanics were not in place to inform the QB to run the play regardless of defensive alignment. The offensive staff must fix this. 2) There is simply no reason to be in the spread formation with a QB not under center in this instance. NONE! As Coach Jones explained after the game the formation called did not allow us to block the necessary defenders to execute the run play called. A power run formation with the QB under center and someone lead blocking would have likely resulted in a touchdown and then we would not be having this conversation. You either have this type of run formation or you are going to throw every time you are on the goal line. Then we have the sequence that followed…..the starting QB got dinged on the play, the backup QB came into the game and two five yard motion penalties followed along with an eventual interception that cost the Vols at least three points. Again coaching decisions were big here. Let me start with this personal opinion….if our starting QB expects to be the leader of this offensive football team he better find a way to stay in the game in a situation like this. If you can come back in after only one play are you injured or merely hurting?…..big difference. Harsh I know but I can’t imagine taking yourself out of the biggest game of the year in such a situation without a bone sticking out. Was a time out called for? Hindsight…yes but in real time it’s a coin flip. You certainly expect as a coach your backup QB to come in and execute and time outs are precious in the fourth quarter of a game like this, but again this could have all been solved by the proper formation call. Play calling after the ten yards in penalties? Again hindsight says run instead of throwing every down but 10 yards on the goal line is tough to pick up in three downs. 1st and goal from the 10 is statistically hard and a huge advantage for the defense. The interception on the 1 yard line was on a young wide receiver playing in the biggest game of his career….he simply didn’t finish the route called. This can be fixed by coaching and game experience. One thing you can bet on….this situation will come up again this year.
The last play of the game……The situation: score tied at 20-20, 9 seconds remaining, Gators have ball on their own 37 yard line, they have a time out remaining, they have a kicker capable of not only attempting a 55 plus yard field goal but a good chance of making it, a completion of 23-25 yards gets him in that range, the clock stops automatically after a first and ten in college football. 9 seconds is plenty of time to complete a 25-30 yard pass play and attempt another offensive play. Teams practice this every week. You’re the head coach and/or defensive coordinator, you have a timeout you can call…..what do you do? Hindsight says call a time out, make sure everyone is on the same page, make sure you have the personnel in the game you want and everyone understands what you as a coach want done. That is what I would have done as a defensive coordinator……but a Hall of Fame coaching buddy of mine that I do a weekly radio show with said “not so fast my friend without any head coaching experience”. He pointed out a time out would also let Florida get their ducks in a row for the final two play sequence…..a good point from someone who has been there. So which option is correct? Hind sight says the former but the fact is that if a very experienced safety plays his technique correctly the game is decided in overtime.
With all the mistakes on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game this team fought their butts off and gave themselves an opportunity to win not only the Florida game but also future games. Effort can often be taken for granted but I saw a lot of downfield blocks, backside pursuit by defenders 20 yards down the field, punishing running by a couple of excellent ball carriers and more nasty tackling by a defense than has been seen around here for quite a while. Of course the effort of Justin Martin gave us a chance to win. Maybe, just maybe this can be the spark of confidence that propels Justin into the type of corner he has the talent to be…a lock down man coverage corner. Build on this!
GOING FORWARD: What came out of the Florida game from a personnel perspective? We have some playmakers coming on both sides of the ball. On defense Bituli, Gaulden, Warrior, Taylor, Kongbo get their hands on balls. They are all heavy hitters and get to the football with the intent to knock runners backward. Sapp is a coming and he fits into the above category. Get them on the field….they can’t make plays standing by the coach on the sideline. On offense our line is getting much better regardless of what you hear or read. 37 passes against Florida and only one sack is outstanding. Kelly is excellent and Chandler is coming fast. Calloway, Johnson, Palmer and other young receivers can play. Lastly Dormady is clearly the man at QB. The challenge for this offensive staff is to maximize his pluses (throwing the ball) and find formations that do not require him to run.
U Mass is 0-4 and would probably be an underdog to Indiana State…..so like the ISU game this is a great opportunity to get back on the winning track. A chance to get prepared for the four game SEC stretch that starts next week with Georgia. Realistically, and Talk will address this more next week, a loss to Georgia would make the eastern division title a wish/hope situation.
THE BIG MUSTS: Defensively these things MUST happen. McDowell is out at OLB….choices for his replacement = Evan Berry, Jumper or Sapp. It MUST be Sapp as the other two have shown they can’t win in this league. Plus they are seniors and seniors must be either first team or third team. Reid a true freshman needs to be in the bullpen. Todd Kelly Jr is out, who will be the third safety….MUST be Theo Jackson. Buchanan MUST get a lot of reps this week at nickel behind Gaulden. Shamburger MUST get reps at corner. Johnson MUST get reps at defensive end. And by all means Bituli MUST become a fixture at MLB. Here’s what we have potentially on defense right now…..Taylor and Kongbo at defensive end, Gaulden and Warrior in the secondary, Bituli and Sapp at linebacker = six athletic, explosive heavy hitters that make plays, get their hands on balls. What a six pack for a defensive coordinator to build around. Plus Martin and Moseley are capable corners and Abernathy is a solid safety. Tuttle is coming along fast. So, if these playmakers are on the field this defense is very capable of being a very good unit.
Offensively I think we have the right people in place. Coaching wise we need to figure out exactly what type of offense is best suited for our Dormady because he is our QB and we must do what he can execute. Clearly we need to become a 40+ rushing play offense that takes opportunities down field when they arise. Oh and one other thing….get that power run formation ready for Georgia!
A tough loss to a bitter rival in a game the Volunteers had a lot of opportunities to win is always a bitter pill to swallow. Especially if that rival is the Florida Gators. But everyone involved with the Big Orange coaches, players and fans had to swallow hard. Maybe wash it down with a little Gatorade.
So what do you do when you have a mess on your hands? You find out what caused it, clean it up and move forward. That is what this 2017 Volunteer football team is doing this week. Identify where the problems are, how to fix those problems and then initiate the fixes. Really pretty simple if you have answers to why and if you have the material (players) to fix the problems. There were really two key areas of this game that created most of the mess: 1) The last play of the game and 2) the handling and execution of the 1st and goal at the 1 yard line. Yes there were other problems: three interceptions, three missed field goals, missed open field tackles, a taunting call, an overall sub performance from the most efficient part of this team….the kicking game. Those and a few others can be improved by practice. But the two key problem areas go deeper than that. How each was handled by the coaching staff is the big item IMO on Coach Jones plate.
Let’s start with the 1st and goal situation. Some lessons that must be learned…..1) Have a call that does not allow any quarterback to check out of the play called. Everyone watching knows that John Kelly should have been given the ball and I am sure that was the call but the mechanics were not in place to inform the QB to run the play regardless of defensive alignment. The offensive staff must fix this. 2) There is simply no reason to be in the spread formation with a QB not under center in this instance. NONE! As Coach Jones explained after the game the formation called did not allow us to block the necessary defenders to execute the run play called. A power run formation with the QB under center and someone lead blocking would have likely resulted in a touchdown and then we would not be having this conversation. You either have this type of run formation or you are going to throw every time you are on the goal line. Then we have the sequence that followed…..the starting QB got dinged on the play, the backup QB came into the game and two five yard motion penalties followed along with an eventual interception that cost the Vols at least three points. Again coaching decisions were big here. Let me start with this personal opinion….if our starting QB expects to be the leader of this offensive football team he better find a way to stay in the game in a situation like this. If you can come back in after only one play are you injured or merely hurting?…..big difference. Harsh I know but I can’t imagine taking yourself out of the biggest game of the year in such a situation without a bone sticking out. Was a time out called for? Hindsight…yes but in real time it’s a coin flip. You certainly expect as a coach your backup QB to come in and execute and time outs are precious in the fourth quarter of a game like this, but again this could have all been solved by the proper formation call. Play calling after the ten yards in penalties? Again hindsight says run instead of throwing every down but 10 yards on the goal line is tough to pick up in three downs. 1st and goal from the 10 is statistically hard and a huge advantage for the defense. The interception on the 1 yard line was on a young wide receiver playing in the biggest game of his career….he simply didn’t finish the route called. This can be fixed by coaching and game experience. One thing you can bet on….this situation will come up again this year.
The last play of the game……The situation: score tied at 20-20, 9 seconds remaining, Gators have ball on their own 37 yard line, they have a time out remaining, they have a kicker capable of not only attempting a 55 plus yard field goal but a good chance of making it, a completion of 23-25 yards gets him in that range, the clock stops automatically after a first and ten in college football. 9 seconds is plenty of time to complete a 25-30 yard pass play and attempt another offensive play. Teams practice this every week. You’re the head coach and/or defensive coordinator, you have a timeout you can call…..what do you do? Hindsight says call a time out, make sure everyone is on the same page, make sure you have the personnel in the game you want and everyone understands what you as a coach want done. That is what I would have done as a defensive coordinator……but a Hall of Fame coaching buddy of mine that I do a weekly radio show with said “not so fast my friend without any head coaching experience”. He pointed out a time out would also let Florida get their ducks in a row for the final two play sequence…..a good point from someone who has been there. So which option is correct? Hind sight says the former but the fact is that if a very experienced safety plays his technique correctly the game is decided in overtime.
With all the mistakes on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game this team fought their butts off and gave themselves an opportunity to win not only the Florida game but also future games. Effort can often be taken for granted but I saw a lot of downfield blocks, backside pursuit by defenders 20 yards down the field, punishing running by a couple of excellent ball carriers and more nasty tackling by a defense than has been seen around here for quite a while. Of course the effort of Justin Martin gave us a chance to win. Maybe, just maybe this can be the spark of confidence that propels Justin into the type of corner he has the talent to be…a lock down man coverage corner. Build on this!
GOING FORWARD: What came out of the Florida game from a personnel perspective? We have some playmakers coming on both sides of the ball. On defense Bituli, Gaulden, Warrior, Taylor, Kongbo get their hands on balls. They are all heavy hitters and get to the football with the intent to knock runners backward. Sapp is a coming and he fits into the above category. Get them on the field….they can’t make plays standing by the coach on the sideline. On offense our line is getting much better regardless of what you hear or read. 37 passes against Florida and only one sack is outstanding. Kelly is excellent and Chandler is coming fast. Calloway, Johnson, Palmer and other young receivers can play. Lastly Dormady is clearly the man at QB. The challenge for this offensive staff is to maximize his pluses (throwing the ball) and find formations that do not require him to run.
U Mass is 0-4 and would probably be an underdog to Indiana State…..so like the ISU game this is a great opportunity to get back on the winning track. A chance to get prepared for the four game SEC stretch that starts next week with Georgia. Realistically, and Talk will address this more next week, a loss to Georgia would make the eastern division title a wish/hope situation.
THE BIG MUSTS: Defensively these things MUST happen. McDowell is out at OLB….choices for his replacement = Evan Berry, Jumper or Sapp. It MUST be Sapp as the other two have shown they can’t win in this league. Plus they are seniors and seniors must be either first team or third team. Reid a true freshman needs to be in the bullpen. Todd Kelly Jr is out, who will be the third safety….MUST be Theo Jackson. Buchanan MUST get a lot of reps this week at nickel behind Gaulden. Shamburger MUST get reps at corner. Johnson MUST get reps at defensive end. And by all means Bituli MUST become a fixture at MLB. Here’s what we have potentially on defense right now…..Taylor and Kongbo at defensive end, Gaulden and Warrior in the secondary, Bituli and Sapp at linebacker = six athletic, explosive heavy hitters that make plays, get their hands on balls. What a six pack for a defensive coordinator to build around. Plus Martin and Moseley are capable corners and Abernathy is a solid safety. Tuttle is coming along fast. So, if these playmakers are on the field this defense is very capable of being a very good unit.
Offensively I think we have the right people in place. Coaching wise we need to figure out exactly what type of offense is best suited for our Dormady because he is our QB and we must do what he can execute. Clearly we need to become a 40+ rushing play offense that takes opportunities down field when they arise. Oh and one other thing….get that power run formation ready for Georgia!
