[Warning: Long]
I've watched the Arkansas game and did a little scouting. The following are my thoughts on what Tennessee can do to exploit weaknesses Alabama has.
Overall Keys:
Defense will win this game. Period. If we tackle well, we can stymie them and force Hurts to beat us. He has not had a pressure situation yet, and it is up to us to put him in one. If we do down the stretch of this game, we win.
--Protect the ball on second effort plays; clean up exchanges
--Limit penalties; holding penalties/block in the back penalties will kill us, as will false starts
--Be disciplined in assignments; can't have false steps on coverage or run fits
Defensive Gameplan:
Overall: Bama is an excellent run team; they are an average passing team. Jalen Hurts is serviceable at QB. In watching the Arkansas tape, neither his speed nor his accuracy wowed me. He is a freshman and plays like one at times. Pressure him and he will give us opportunities to get takeaways.
--> On J. Hurts: What he does well is get the ball where Kiffin wants it to go. Most of their passing game is just scheme. Hurts has a good deep ball that he usually crow hops into; he's got decent accuracy and strong arm power. I did not observe him going through progressions. It appeared he looked first option, then check down, then run. Obviously this isn't true of every play but it was something I observed as a whole. I did not observe him fit the ball in any tight windows; most of his nice passes where when a WR or TE was wide open, and I'm talking by about 5-7 yards on either side.
--> D. Harris (Fr. RB) is one hell of a player. He will absolutely kill us if we do not swarm to the ball. He excels in quick, lane shifting cuts and can stick his foot in the ground and surge upfield. He is by far their best back and reads holes well.
--> A. Stewart, C. Ridley, and O.J. Howard can run all the routes and high point the ball. We can cover them though and must limit true one-on-one matchups by slanting the playside safety overtop and making Hurts find his 2nd and third option.
--> B. Scarborough is a cheaper version of D. Henry with less explosiveness but still a great skill set. Have to corral him much in the same way you tackle Henry.
Keys to Victory: Tennessee has to stop the run. Period. This offense can run the ball effectively, but I believe will struggle to pass in 3rd and 8+ situations. I do not believe that Hurts can beat us alone with his arm. Kiffin knows he needs to maintain offensive balance. Tennessee has to be great in its run fits and get a strong initial push to flatten out Harris's runs.
I do not believe Bama has played a DL as strong as ours, and ends like Barnett and Vereen should be able to hold the edge better than anything Arkansas could muster. Arkansas got killed on D because they could not maintain their run fits. Though Bama plays in the spread, they are still running mainly power and trap concepts. We have to be aggressive in stopping the run, and can overplay the RB more than you would initially think. Hurts is a threat but he is not as great a threat as Harris by a long shot.
Finally, we should be able to get significant pressure on Hurts with our front 4. Once again, I do not believe Bama has faced a front 4 like ours. Barnett, Tuttle, MacKenzie and Vereen will be the best they've faced all year. Arkansas was able to get pressure; not as consistent as you would hope, but they got it. If we can get penetration, Hurts will drop his eyes and run laterally giving us opportunities to shut him down.
Offensive Gameplan:
Overall: Bama has a very good defense, but I do not think it is better than in years past regardless of what talking heads want to say. They excelled against Arkansas because Arkansas is not very good at running the football this year, and when Arky passes, they do so on boots and delayed action plays. Most, if not all of the pressures Arky faced were caused by their own offensive scheme, and still, they threw for over 400 yards. When they ran, they were moderately effective. Alabama's corners are good, but they lost numerous one-on-one matchups to receivers that are not as good as ours. They have good speed but they can overpursue. Allen, as limited mobility wise as he was, was able to hurt Bama at times scrambling.
Keys to Victory: Tennessee has to establish a multiple run attack and get Dobbs involved in the run game early. Tennessee's OL will be able to open holes and running lanes that our backs will need to exploit quickly. We will be able to throw the ball on Bama with good effectiveness, and I believe we can beat them over the top as their safeties love to scream up to help stop the run. If we play like we did against Texas A&M and Florida, Tennessee can hang 30+ on this team and we may need to.
Our WRs will need to be physical, and if they do so, they will draw PI penalties against Bama. Their LBs will likely get sucked up into stopping the run, which should open up plays for our slot receivers and TEs. Croom and Wolf absolutely HAVE to have better games and be sure handed. Drops will kill us, and there is no time to feel them out. Hurd should get the bulk of his work in the 2nd half, whereas Kamara should get the lion's share early in the game out of multiple looks, including the 5-wide look that worked so well last week. Putting Bama in that formation with Croom also on the field will force Bama to choose between nickel and dime with a mismatch on Kamara, Byrd or Croom, with the threat of Dobbs running the football.
Screens will hurt Bama, and Dobbs' threat to run will freeze their backers and open more underneath throws. Our offense have to be multiple. If it is, we will give them headaches and put up a ton of yards and points. Then, we have to finish drives with TDs.
Special Teams/Intangibles:
--> We will need to play extremely aggressive, and I believe we will. We should go for 4th downs if across their 40 as opposed to punting, and we should dial up deep shots early and often (one a drive). This will open our running game. We'll need big returns and a great day from Daniel and Medley. I believe this game will be Medley's redemption game, and ole Lynchburg gives us the win with his boot.
In the end, our aggressiveness and empty the bucket strategy will turn the Tide.
34-31 Vols
I've watched the Arkansas game and did a little scouting. The following are my thoughts on what Tennessee can do to exploit weaknesses Alabama has.
Overall Keys:
Defense will win this game. Period. If we tackle well, we can stymie them and force Hurts to beat us. He has not had a pressure situation yet, and it is up to us to put him in one. If we do down the stretch of this game, we win.
--Protect the ball on second effort plays; clean up exchanges
--Limit penalties; holding penalties/block in the back penalties will kill us, as will false starts
--Be disciplined in assignments; can't have false steps on coverage or run fits
Defensive Gameplan:
Overall: Bama is an excellent run team; they are an average passing team. Jalen Hurts is serviceable at QB. In watching the Arkansas tape, neither his speed nor his accuracy wowed me. He is a freshman and plays like one at times. Pressure him and he will give us opportunities to get takeaways.
--> On J. Hurts: What he does well is get the ball where Kiffin wants it to go. Most of their passing game is just scheme. Hurts has a good deep ball that he usually crow hops into; he's got decent accuracy and strong arm power. I did not observe him going through progressions. It appeared he looked first option, then check down, then run. Obviously this isn't true of every play but it was something I observed as a whole. I did not observe him fit the ball in any tight windows; most of his nice passes where when a WR or TE was wide open, and I'm talking by about 5-7 yards on either side.
--> D. Harris (Fr. RB) is one hell of a player. He will absolutely kill us if we do not swarm to the ball. He excels in quick, lane shifting cuts and can stick his foot in the ground and surge upfield. He is by far their best back and reads holes well.
--> A. Stewart, C. Ridley, and O.J. Howard can run all the routes and high point the ball. We can cover them though and must limit true one-on-one matchups by slanting the playside safety overtop and making Hurts find his 2nd and third option.
--> B. Scarborough is a cheaper version of D. Henry with less explosiveness but still a great skill set. Have to corral him much in the same way you tackle Henry.
Keys to Victory: Tennessee has to stop the run. Period. This offense can run the ball effectively, but I believe will struggle to pass in 3rd and 8+ situations. I do not believe that Hurts can beat us alone with his arm. Kiffin knows he needs to maintain offensive balance. Tennessee has to be great in its run fits and get a strong initial push to flatten out Harris's runs.
I do not believe Bama has played a DL as strong as ours, and ends like Barnett and Vereen should be able to hold the edge better than anything Arkansas could muster. Arkansas got killed on D because they could not maintain their run fits. Though Bama plays in the spread, they are still running mainly power and trap concepts. We have to be aggressive in stopping the run, and can overplay the RB more than you would initially think. Hurts is a threat but he is not as great a threat as Harris by a long shot.
Finally, we should be able to get significant pressure on Hurts with our front 4. Once again, I do not believe Bama has faced a front 4 like ours. Barnett, Tuttle, MacKenzie and Vereen will be the best they've faced all year. Arkansas was able to get pressure; not as consistent as you would hope, but they got it. If we can get penetration, Hurts will drop his eyes and run laterally giving us opportunities to shut him down.
Offensive Gameplan:
Overall: Bama has a very good defense, but I do not think it is better than in years past regardless of what talking heads want to say. They excelled against Arkansas because Arkansas is not very good at running the football this year, and when Arky passes, they do so on boots and delayed action plays. Most, if not all of the pressures Arky faced were caused by their own offensive scheme, and still, they threw for over 400 yards. When they ran, they were moderately effective. Alabama's corners are good, but they lost numerous one-on-one matchups to receivers that are not as good as ours. They have good speed but they can overpursue. Allen, as limited mobility wise as he was, was able to hurt Bama at times scrambling.
Keys to Victory: Tennessee has to establish a multiple run attack and get Dobbs involved in the run game early. Tennessee's OL will be able to open holes and running lanes that our backs will need to exploit quickly. We will be able to throw the ball on Bama with good effectiveness, and I believe we can beat them over the top as their safeties love to scream up to help stop the run. If we play like we did against Texas A&M and Florida, Tennessee can hang 30+ on this team and we may need to.
Our WRs will need to be physical, and if they do so, they will draw PI penalties against Bama. Their LBs will likely get sucked up into stopping the run, which should open up plays for our slot receivers and TEs. Croom and Wolf absolutely HAVE to have better games and be sure handed. Drops will kill us, and there is no time to feel them out. Hurd should get the bulk of his work in the 2nd half, whereas Kamara should get the lion's share early in the game out of multiple looks, including the 5-wide look that worked so well last week. Putting Bama in that formation with Croom also on the field will force Bama to choose between nickel and dime with a mismatch on Kamara, Byrd or Croom, with the threat of Dobbs running the football.
Screens will hurt Bama, and Dobbs' threat to run will freeze their backers and open more underneath throws. Our offense have to be multiple. If it is, we will give them headaches and put up a ton of yards and points. Then, we have to finish drives with TDs.
Special Teams/Intangibles:
--> We will need to play extremely aggressive, and I believe we will. We should go for 4th downs if across their 40 as opposed to punting, and we should dial up deep shots early and often (one a drive). This will open our running game. We'll need big returns and a great day from Daniel and Medley. I believe this game will be Medley's redemption game, and ole Lynchburg gives us the win with his boot.
In the end, our aggressiveness and empty the bucket strategy will turn the Tide.
34-31 Vols
