Recruiting Forum: UNofficial Oklahoma Pre-Game Thread

#1
nicksjuzunk

nicksjuzunk

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#1
The Vols got to continue to test their mettle against weaker opponents during week two, notching a 34-19 victory over Arkansas State. While not as dominant as they were against Utah State, a win is a win, and the Vols look forward to their first road trip of the season, and it's a big one... #4 Oklahoma.

I apologize for the lack of optimism in my prediction, but I try to be objective, so here it is.

Keys to the game:

1. Passing game MUST grow: Ok, first the good news. Justin Worley is completing 65% of his passes on the season. He looks confident, accurate and is doing a good job. Now, the bad news. He has yet to connect on a deep ball, and has done below average with any ball in the air for over 15 yards.

Now, you will begin to see teams with real Division 1 talent lock our receivers up on the line to take away the short game, and to force Worley to throw downfield. The worse news... the OL will not be able to give him time to even have a chance at that. Worley does not do well on the run, or when his feet are not set. Sacks, forced throws, and weak throws are about to begin to happen, and it will not be pretty.

2. Open up the run game: Through the first two games, TN still has not broken a huge run. This should be of great concern, given the supposed talent differential. Hurd just had a nice game, having several runs of around 6 yards. However, about half the time, he is getting popped as he gets the ball, or when he reaches the line of scrimmage. It's the same with Marlin Lane.

The offensive line, especially on the left side is collapsing way too fast, and when you have a talented team such as Oklahoma coming on the blitz, this could get messy.

OK has allowed 148 rushing yards, with most of that coming well after the game was decided, and a paltry 2.34 YPC. With TN averaging 3.3 YPC, look for more of the same. Worst case scenario would be one of those terrible negative rushing yard games that we have had against Florida, and that is not completely off the table, IMO.

3. Slow down Oklahoma: The Sooners are explosive on offense. They have scored 100 points while totaling 1016 yards of offense. Against Tulsa, 8.4 yards per pass, and 8.4 yards per carry. Pick your poison.

Players to watch include RB Keith Ford 7.26 YPC and WR Sterling Shepherd 18.83 YP catch

The Tennessee defense is greatly improved this year, so this will be a real test for them. The defense needs to hold.

How TN could win: Tennessee continues to use the short passing game effectively, keeping the Sooner offense off of the field, and the defense, cheating up gets beat on some long balls. Bajakian tries some new things in the running game (fullback or dropping the read option) to get a decent ground game going (highly unlikely). The defense is able to force turnovers, and TN capitalizes on them.

How it will go: The Oklahoma game will provide a barometer of where the Vols are at. I think the offense will struggle in an awful way, and while the defense plays a hard game, is still outgunned by the talented Sooner offense.

TN 10
OK 38
 
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#2
#2
Worley is not going to connect on the long ball. The receivers got behind the defenders, but JW didn't have the arm to get it there. He is brilliant within his range. The coaches need to devise routes that isolate our receivers on medium routes and let them run after the catch. Every 60-80 yard pass play from Lenny Dawson to Otis Taylor had the ball in the air for 5-15 yards. JW can do that, but he can't sling it 40 yards.
 
#3
#3
I think u need to add to the ou score..IMO

I think depth shows on def n off we r easy defend so far. Oc could change it but we will see
 
#4
#4
92volalum said:
I think u need to add to the ou score..IMO

I think depth shows on def n off we r easy defend so far. Oc could change it but we will see
Click to expand...

I can see your point, but defense has been our strength, and I'll call it that way till proven otherwise. If anything, we may not score as much as I predict
 
#5
#5
cgbtn said:
Worley is not going to connect on the long ball. The receivers got behind the defenders, but JW didn't have the arm to get it there. He is brilliant within his range. The coaches need to devise routes that isolate our receivers on medium routes and let them run after the catch. Every 60-80 yard pass play from Lenny Dawson to Otis Taylor had the ball in the air for 5-15 yards. JW can do that, but he can't sling it 40 yards.
Click to expand...

I agree, but I think he can physically throw it that distance... He just isn't accurate over 20 yards
 
#6
#6
cgbtn said:
Worley is not going to connect on the long ball. The receivers got behind the defenders, but JW didn't have the arm to get it there. He is brilliant within his range. The coaches need to devise routes that isolate our receivers on medium routes and let them run after the catch. Every 60-80 yard pass play from Lenny Dawson to Otis Taylor had the ball in the air for 5-15 yards. JW can do that, but he can't sling it 40 yards.
Click to expand...

He can easily sling it 40 yards. Just because he hasn't connected on the long ball doesn't mean he can't or won't. Dumb statement by you. You don't have to throw the deep ball to win.
 
#7
#7
There have been a lot of dropped balls that were accurate.

There were several good catches yesterday that we just out of bounds.

Clean that up and we are looking pretty good minus the lack of deep ball threat.

The run game... That's a mess.

Lack of push from the line is causing backs to get hit at the line of scrimmage. Worley isn't a big run threat making the zone read very predictable. I'd like to see the run game plan changed up a little to compensate for our weaknesses.
 
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#8
#8
nicksjuzunk said:
The Vols got to continue to test their mettle against weaker opponents during week two, notching a 34-19 victory over Arkansas State. While not as dominant as they were against Utah State, a win is a win, and the Vols look forward to their first road trip of the season, and it's a big one... #4 Oklahoma.

I apologize for the lack of optimism in my prediction, but I try to be objective, so here it is.

Keys to the game:

1. Passing game MUST grow: Ok, first the good news. Justin Worley is completing 65% of his passes on the season. He looks confident, accurate and is NOT doing a bad job. Now, the bad news. He has yet to connect on a deep ball, and has done below average with any ball in the air for over 15 yards.

Now, you will begin to see teams with real Division 1 talent lock our receivers up on the line to take away the short game, and to force Worley to throw downfield. The worse news... the OL will not be able to give him time to even have a chance at that. Worley does not do well on the run, or when his feet are not set. Sacks, forced throws, and weak throws are about to begin to happen, and it will not be pretty.

2. Open up the run game: Through the first two games, TN still has not broken a huge run. This should be of great concern, given the supposed talent differential. Hurd just had a nice game, having several runs of around 6 yards. However, about half the time, he is getting popped as he gets the ball, or when he reaches the line of scrimmage. It's the same with Marlin Lane.

The offensive line, especially on the left side is collapsing way too fast, and when you have a talented team such as Oklahoma coming on the blitz, this could get messy.

OK has allowed 148 rushing yards, with most of that coming well after the game was decided, and a paltry 2.34 YPC. With TN averaging 3.3 YPC, look for more of the same. Worst case scenario would be one of those terrible negative rushing yard games that we have had against Florida, and that is not completely off the table, IMO.

3. Slow down Oklahoma: The Sooners are explosive on offense. They have scored 100 points while totaling 1016 yards of offense. Against Tulsa, 8.4 yards per pass, and 8.4 yards per carry. Pick your poison.

Players to watch include RB Keith Ford 7.26 YPC and WR Sterling Shepherd 18.83 YP catch

The Tennessee defense is greatly improved this year, so this will be a real test for them. The defense needs to hold.

How TN could win: Tennessee continues to use the short passing game effectively, keeping the Sooner offense off of the field, and the defense, cheating up gets beat on some long balls. Bajakian tries some new things in the running game (fullback or dropping the read option) to get a decent ground game going (highly unlikely). The defense is able to force turnovers, and TN capitalizes on them.

How it will go: The Oklahoma game will provide a barometer of where the Vols are at. I think the offense will struggle in an awful way, and while the defense plays a hard game, is still outgunned by the talented Sooner offense.

TN 10
OK 38
Click to expand...


fyp (#1)
 
#9
#9
We have NOTHING for their pass rush, Eric Striker is a speed rush specialist. Hoping we compete, excited to be attending but afraid its going to be a long day.
 
#11
#11
.
nicksjuzunk said:
I agree, but I think he can physically throw it that distance... He just isn't accurate over 20 yards
Click to expand...

I love your breakdowns. Thank you for these, and I respect your opinion. When you rewatch any game. Watch the long throws. He will throw it over 50 yards, but after the read option fake it took 5-6 seconds for the ball to get there. Which means the receiver was already past running under it, And actually had to slow down to try to receive it, making it these jump balls we see deep, that looks underthrown. Worley has missed some throws, for sure. But that is a long time waiting on the ball to get there. Same as 3 seconds sometimes for our rb to hit the hole. Over 2 seconds every option read handoff. These guys have called me every name in the book for saying this, but it's on the DVR. Am I the only one that sees this? Thanks.
 
#13
#13
Saying this years defense will give up 56 points is just as delusional as saying we will win
 
#14
#14
Midweek heat wave forecasted in Norman, but cooling off for the weekend. Maybe even in the 60s for most of the game
 
#15
#15
For the most part the rest of the season can be summed up with two questions:
Can teams consistently pressure worley with a 4 man rush.

Can TN consistently get pressure on the QB with a 4 man rush.

Everything on offense good or bad comes back to these two things. Sure a 5th man can help but more than that & you give the offense a distinct advantage.

The games we can answer no to the first & yes to the second we win.
The games we split will be a toss up
The games we say yes to the first & no to second we lose.
 
#16
#16
Spoke with a friend who works in Norman. His coworker is a dad to a GA at Oklahoma. I jokingly asked him if they were gonna go easy on us and he said the GA was in work last week and said, "Three games the coaches talk most about all off season were Texas, Baylor, and Tennessee." He said they are confident they win but they say if our young talent shows out that all bets are off.

I think it's cool how many schools across the country realize Butch is turning us around.
 
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#17
#17
92volalum said:
I think u need to add to the ou score..IMO

I think depth shows on def n off we r easy defend so far. Oc could change it but we will see
Click to expand...

Worley has overthrown almost every deep ball thus far. A couple under thrown but mostly over.
 
#19
#19
nicksjuzunk said:
The Vols got to continue to test their mettle against weaker opponents during week two, notching a 34-19 victory over Arkansas State. While not as dominant as they were against Utah State, a win is a win, and the Vols look forward to their first road trip of the season, and it's a big one... #4 Oklahoma.

I apologize for the lack of optimism in my prediction, but I try to be objective, so here it is.

Keys to the game:

1. Passing game MUST grow: Ok, first the good news. Justin Worley is completing 65% of his passes on the season. He looks confident, accurate and is doing a bad job. Now, the bad news. He has yet to connect on a deep ball, and has done below average with any ball in the air for over 15 yards.

Now, you will begin to see teams with real Division 1 talent lock our receivers up on the line to take away the short game, and to force Worley to throw downfield. The worse news... the OL will not be able to give him time to even have a chance at that. Worley does not do well on the run, or when his feet are not set. Sacks, forced throws, and weak throws are about to begin to happen, and it will not be pretty.

2. Open up the run game: Through the first two games, TN still has not broken a huge run. This should be of great concern, given the supposed talent differential. Hurd just had a nice game, having several runs of around 6 yards. However, about half the time, he is getting popped as he gets the ball, or when he reaches the line of scrimmage. It's the same with Marlin Lane.

The offensive line, especially on the left side is collapsing way too fast, and when you have a talented team such as Oklahoma coming on the blitz, this could get messy.

OK has allowed 148 rushing yards, with most of that coming well after the game was decided, and a paltry 2.34 YPC. With TN averaging 3.3 YPC, look for more of the same. Worst case scenario would be one of those terrible negative rushing yard games that we have had against Florida, and that is not completely off the table, IMO.

3. Slow down Oklahoma: The Sooners are explosive on offense. They have scored 100 points while totaling 1016 yards of offense. Against Tulsa, 8.4 yards per pass, and 8.4 yards per carry. Pick your poison.

Players to watch include RB Keith Ford 7.26 YPC and WR Sterling Shepherd 18.83 YP catch

The Tennessee defense is greatly improved this year, so this will be a real test for them. The defense needs to hold.

How TN could win: Tennessee continues to use the short passing game effectively, keeping the Sooner offense off of the field, and the defense, cheating up gets beat on some long balls. Bajakian tries some new things in the running game (fullback or dropping the read option) to get a decent ground game going (highly unlikely). The defense is able to force turnovers, and TN capitalizes on them.

How it will go: The Oklahoma game will provide a barometer of where the Vols are at. I think the offense will struggle in an awful way, and while the defense plays a hard game, is still outgunned by the talented Sooner offense.

TN 10
OK 38
Click to expand...


All we gotta do is score more points than them and we win...... Simple formula to winning but the best formula that I can come up with.
 
#22
#22
I think coach jake is the key here. Defense plays like it has thus far, and coach jake calls a game like Georgia last year and we will have a lot of vols fans on their feet till the end of this game.

This is football anything can happen.
 
#23
#23
deaconkane said:
.

I love your breakdowns. Thank you for these, and I respect your opinion. When you rewatch any game. Watch the long throws. He will throw it over 50 yards, but after the read option fake it took 5-6 seconds for the ball to get there. Which means the receiver was already past running under it, And actually had to slow down to try to receive it, making it these jump balls we see deep, that looks underthrown. Worley has missed some throws, for sure. But that is a long time waiting on the ball to get there. Same as 3 seconds sometimes for our rb to hit the hole. Over 2 seconds every option read handoff. These guys have called me every name in the book for saying this, but it's on the DVR. Am I the only one that sees this? Thanks.
Click to expand...

:hi:

His arm strength has improved this year, to the point of being average. He does need to get the back out of his hands quicker, and putting more air under it would allow him to do that, but also increase the likelihood of a safety running under it.

The read option is not being effective for us at the moment, in any real sense. Worley keeps it 2-3 times per game, and the defense is content to let him pick up his 8 yards while making sure the RB's get nothing for the rest of the game.

I don't get paid to coach, but if I did, I would make some adjustments to my offensive scheme to fit my personnel. Run that read option when you have a that to run. I think a West Coast offense would fit nicely right now, with some tweaks
 
#24
#24
I predict a toss up going into the 4th quarter. I think we've been running a very basic version of how the offense is gona go. Just got a feelin flame on.

I think the reverse pass last week was just an effort to get DY involved as he has not been given many opportunities. Not exactly an attempt by the O staff to dive into the playbook.
 
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#25
#25
good-luck.gif
 
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