DG's Takeaways from the Auburn Game

#1

DiderotsGhost

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#1
I haven't felt so elated on a Fall Saturday in a long time! Not only did we end the SEC losing steak, but we ended the even worse SEC West losing streak. The last time we had beaten an SEC West opponent was in 2010 in Derek Dooley's 1st year when we beat Ole Miss. And the win came against a top 25 opponent!

Feels great to finally get a big win.


Offense

The Guarantano Express. Ever since the West Virginia game, I've been beating the horn on the idea JG and these WRs are our best offensive weapons. This game demonstrates that more than any other. JG has a breakout game completing 21 / 32 passes for 328 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, and 10.3 yards per pass.

9.03 ypa. JG has been averaging 9.03 yards per pass for the season. He's the best Tennessee QB at throwing deep ball since at least Tyler Bray. His 9.0 yard average is higher than Tyler Bray in 2012, Erik Ainge in 2006, Casey Clausen in 2001, and even Peyton Manning in 1996. Albeit, that average will likely take a hit next week against Bama, but it's time to stop selling JG short. He's the most underrated QB in the SEC right now.

O-line getting better at pass protection; still sucks at run blocking. I haven't been able to rewatch the game yet (and I'm not sure if Freak has posted it on YouTube yet), but without reviewing the tape, my initial thought is that the pass blocking has improved immensely. Yet, the run blocking is still terrible. However, the issue (as it has been all year) is that we're getting overpowered on the line, which is not an easy fix. It's going to take recruiting and more time with S&C to fix the run game issues.

You can't blame Butch for illegal formations. The fact that we are weak at O-line is absolutely Butch's fault, but the fact that we constantly have illegal formation and other line-of-scrimmage penalties is not. Coaching staff really needs to fix this. We've seen it all season and there have been a few where we've been lucky that they didn't flag us.

We still need to pass more. I get it ... Pruitt comes from the Saban school of pounding the rock. He wants to be a run-first team. At the same time, he's also said he wants to play to the team's strengths. Right now, the passing game is the strength and the run game is a weakness. We were more balanced in this game than some others (36 runs, 32 passes), but I'd honestly say we should be passing 55% - 60% of the time. In this game, we averaged 10.3 yards per pass and 1.9 yards per run. That's a huge disparity!

How about those wideouts! JG deserves credit for delivering some perfect deep passes, but Josh Palmer, Jauan Jennings, and Marquez Callaway also came down with some great catches! This WR unit is really starting to hit its stride. And David Johnson is one of the WR coaches in the country.

Tyson Helton. Helton is a great OC and he's taken some unfair flack this season for problems that have little to do with him. The O-line issues have limited the playbook. He called a great game against Auburn.


Defense

Defense made great adjustments. I thought we were in for another long afternoon during the 1st Quarter as Auburn was running over our D, but gotta give credit here ... our coaches and players figured out how to adjust and stop Auburn. After 10 early points, Auburn only scored 14 the entire game (and 7 of those shouldn't have counted).

Auburn's last TD shouldn't have counted. Am I crazy or did the Auburn WR not have possession? I've watched that play two dozen times and I'm 100% convinced he never had the ball. He bobbled it the entire way and our guy got the interception. I'm not sure how that didn't get reviewed. After that happened, I was so terrified that the Tennessee curse was still on and we were going to lose the game.

The pass rush continues to get better. Speaking of improvement, our pass rush has improved more than any other aspect since Game #1. We went from getting no pressure at all during that West Virginia game to consistently getting pressure in this game.


Miscellany

Happy for this team and coaching staff. They deserved a big win.

Gus Malzahn on the hot seat. I knew if we won this game, Malzahn would be on the hot seat. He's a good coach, but he's been weirdly inconsistent. Auburn looked like a national championship team last November, before losing the SECCG to Georgia. Their offense has struggled this season.

Constant improvement. One thing I am really happy about is that we've seen consistent progress in almost every game this year. The 1st Half of the Florida game is the only real exception to this, but otherwise, we've looked better on offense and defense every single week. That's a good sign to me.

The caveats. I'm happy we got the win, but let's be honest ... Auburn made a lot of big mistakes. It's good that we avoided turnovers this game (though we had a few "big mistakes" in the form of penalties), but I'm not so sure we still don't get beat if Auburn had played its "A" game or even its "B" game. We still have a long way to go.

Next week. Enjoy it now, because we're getting clobbered next week versus Bama. Bama has looked like one of the best teams in college football history this season. We'll be lucky to keep it within 3 touchdowns. The things I'm hoping to see: (1) we slow the game down, (2) minimize dumb mistakes / turnovers / penalties, and (3) continue to improve.

South Carolina and beyond. I hate to write-off the Bama game, but realistically, the most important stretch of our season starts in two weeks in Columbia, South Carolina.

Bowl game is possible. Still a tough road ahead, but winning 2 of 4 between SCe, Mizzou, Vandy, and Kentucky is much more doable than 3 out of 4. I think we're about even with South Carolina so far this season, so that'll be a critical game. Kentucky is looking much better than expected, so the SCe and Mizzou games are even more important now.


That's all I got.

GBO!
 
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#3
#3
The SEC West losing streak is a little over stated. We play 2 West teams a year, with one of them being the best team in the last decade. So we lost to what, 7 West teams not named Alabama during the worst decade of Tennessee football ever? Ok
 
#5
#5
well, I got to eat some crow here and give JG and the whole entire team...even Kongbo ... props for the way they played together yesterday to win this game!!!...they finally came together as a team!!...it was so awesome and fun to see that!!...got to give props to the coaching staff as well for getting our guys ready to knock off a top 25 team!!! JG and the wrs were on fire!!! ...wow...still cant believe it!!!...defense played great too!!! everyone gets an A from me!!!....GBO!!!
 
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#6
#6
The SEC West losing streak is a little over stated. We play 2 West teams a year, with one of them being the best team in the last decade. So we lost to what, 7 West teams not named Alabama during the worst decade of Tennessee football ever? Ok

Overstated? We were 0-15 against the SEC West from 2011 to 2017. We were 1-17 for the decade. Even against teams not named "Alabama" we were 1-9 and we lost to every single SEC West team during that timeframe at least once.
 
#7
#7
Pretty much agree.

Couple things...
1. Winning this game was/is an upset, so usually for that to happen it takes the favorite helping the underdog a little and the underdog doing something they haven't. Both boxes got checked yesterday.
2. The only issue I had with the coaching was the first down play calling. It just wasn't good and honestly, when you're behind the chains like we were most of the day you wind up calling plays you have to, not plays you want to. Still would like to see that balance you mentioned more on first down.

Last... The series after the Kongbo int... That was just bad. We left plays on the field in the first half that could have mattered to the out come.

The good news in all that is that's where we were in the game. That those kind of situations existed.

Past that I do think the coaching overall was very good.

Very excited about that game, and happy the players and coaches get some pay off for the work they're doing.... They earned it. Especially JG and the wrs.... Great day for them.
 
#8
#8
Malzahn on the hot seat helps us recruiting wise with Pappoe and Wright.

I wanted to see 20 touches for Chandler and 5-10 for JJ. Palmer is a surprise to me, but the third down catches JJ made and turned into a first down were big. He just doesn't go down on the first hit.

JG had a breakout game. I have been waiting for 300+ yards and 4TD type game didn't see that coming with Auburn who had the best pass D in the SEC.

IF we can avoid anymore OL injuries, we should be able to get 2 out of the 4 of Kentucky, Vandy, USCe, Mizzou. All are beatable, but I don't think we win them all. USCe right after Bama scares me the most.
 
#9
#9
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#10
#10
Overstated? We were 0-15 against the SEC West from 2011 to 2017. We were 1-17 for the decade. Even against teams not named "Alabama" we were 1-9 and we lost to every single SEC West team during that timeframe at least once.
Isnt the stat for a win over a west team on the road even longer? Radio guys mentioned 2007, or something.
 
#12
#12
Overstated? We were 0-15 against the SEC West from 2011 to 2017. We were 1-17 for the decade. Even against teams not named "Alabama" we were 1-9 and we lost to every single SEC West team during that timeframe at least once.
Yes, overstated. When roughly half of those losses are against Bama, that is overstated; or stated in a different way: inflated.
 
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#13
#13
Good review.

However, it's actually good that we tried to run so much, even though it wasn't successful. Because they had to at least respect it. If we just went straight pass on all three downs, then they could drop that extra defender back, and cover them. But, even the announcers commented that it was good they stuck to the run, because it made Auburn stay honest to it and opened up the passing game.

You are correct that our pass block is better than our run block. It's good that we're good at keeping people away, but pushing people out of the way and forming a hole can only come with strength and offseason workouts. Especially against great lines like Georgia's, Auburn's, and Bama's.

Really hoping that the injuries to Kongbo and DWA aren't serious and they'll be back. As well as Jahmir Johnson. Need full strength for Bama.

You know, I know Bama is great, and logic says that they should destroy us. But....Iowa State beat WV yesterday, and held Grier to only 100 yards passing. We beat Auburn yesterday. Virginia beat Miami. Plenty of upsets, and I admittedly did not think we had a chance in the world against Auburn. But, that's why we play the game. The guys are hyped, and seemed like yesterday we instilled some belief and found a gameplan that worked.

We may not win next week, but I'm not going to say we CAN'T. I think these guys will fight tooth and nail, and you KNOW that Pruitt wants this game badly.
 
#14
#14
South Carolina and beyond. I hate to write-off the Bama game, but realistically, the most important stretch of our season starts in two weeks in Columbia, South Carolina.

Thanks for the thoughts. I generally agree. I see a team that has generally been a little better every week and I like that.

Its sad that the games after Bama is the most important stretch for us. I remember times past when all those games were "gimmes." The Florida/UGA/Bama games were the ones that would define the season, not UK, Vandy, South Carolina. But hey. Thats the way it is now. Brick by brick - is that what we're saying these days? Just kidding.

Eat more cornbread.

GBO.
 
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#15
#15
2. The only issue I had with the coaching was the first down play calling. It just wasn't good and honestly, when you're behind the chains like we were most of the day you wind up calling plays you have to, not plays you want to. Still would like to see that balance you mentioned more on first down.

Jake, I'll refine your observation even more:

There was a hand signal JG used during the game (never saw it before, think it was new), where he was under center, surveyed the defense, and then--sometimes--put his left hand behind his back and wiggled his fingers at the tailback.

Every time he made that read and gave that signal, Chandler got the ball for a run between the tackles. It usually happened on first down. It never got more than a yard. Sometimes lost a yard. It was the single most ineffective read of the game, on either side of the ball.

And the worst thing was, the signal was completely visible to almost half of the Auburn defense. If they didn't know what it meant the first time, or the second time, they were almost certainly keying off it by the 5th or 10th time. Really bad signal to use, off what seems to have been a routinely ineffective read in the first place.

I don't know what that new read was, I just know we gotta stop using it, and that signalling method, immediately.

UNLESS...

...unless they're playing chess, and that read was put in the Auburn game purely for Bama's consumption.

If we see JG use the same hand signal next Saturday, then throw the ball downfield, we'll know it was the long game.

Otherwise, they gotta get rid of that.


p.s. Great write-up as always, DG, thanks for it!
 
#16
#16
Would disagree at this point with Helton being a "great" OC.

His best game was yesterday and it wasnt just more of the same that finally worked. Hes still too green for that description even tho he took a step forward yday.
 
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#17
#17
I think getting to a bowl game is monumental. To me, getting to one means we have improved significantly and would solidify Pruitt as a coach who knows what he's doing and took a really dysfunctional group of players and made a legit team out of them. Side Note: It was very satisfying to see CFP out on the field again enjoying the moment and congratulating players. For at least a short time, all was right in the universe again.

Keep grinding guys, the Vol Nation is onboard for the ride!
 
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#19
#19
Jake, I'll refine your observation even more:

There was a hand signal JG used during the game (never saw it before, think it was new), where he was under center, surveyed the defense, and then--sometimes--put his left hand behind his back and wiggled his fingers at the tailback.

Every time he made that read and gave that signal, Chandler got the ball for a run between the tackles. It usually happened on first down. It never got more than a yard. Sometimes lost a yard. It was the single most ineffective read of the game, on either side of the ball.

And the worst thing was, the signal was completely visible to almost half of the Auburn defense. If they didn't know what it meant the first time, or the second time, they were almost certainly keying off it by the 5th or 10th time. Really bad signal to use, off what seems to have been a routinely ineffective read in the first place.

I don't know what that new read was, I just know we gotta stop using it, and that signalling method, immediately.

UNLESS...

...unless they're playing chess, and that read was put in the Auburn game purely for Bama's consumption.

If we see JG use the same hand signal next Saturday, then throw the ball downfield, we'll know it was the long game.

Otherwise, they gotta get rid of that.


p.s. Great write-up as always, DG, thanks for it!
Yeah I noticed that too... Didn't really know what it meant tbh... Good observation.
 
#20
#20
I saw some great open field tacking and some good shots inside. The defense played like a UT defense. They gave up some big plays but came right back at them.

The tackling was still bad. It got better in the 2nd half. I agree, it's getting better.
 
#21
#21
Would disagree at this point with Helton being a "great" OC.

His best game was yesterday and it wasnt just more of the same that finally worked. Hes still too green for that description even tho he took a step forward yday.
Agreed. The runs in first down felt like a script. And we didn't deviate.

We have to mix it up more on first down. As great as yesterday was you just can't make a living when you're in 2nd and 3rd an long.

First down offense had to get better. Period.
 
#23
#23
Jake, I'll refine your observation even more:

There was a hand signal JG used during the game (never saw it before, think it was new), where he was under center, surveyed the defense, and then--sometimes--put his left hand behind his back and wiggled his fingers at the tailback.

Every time he made that read and gave that signal, Chandler got the ball for a run between the tackles. It usually happened on first down. It never got more than a yard. Sometimes lost a yard. It was the single most ineffective read of the game, on either side of the ball.

And the worst thing was, the signal was completely visible to almost half of the Auburn defense. If they didn't know what it meant the first time, or the second time, they were almost certainly keying off it by the 5th or 10th time. Really bad signal to use, off what seems to have been a routinely ineffective read in the first place.

I don't know what that new read was, I just know we gotta stop using it, and that signalling method, immediately.

UNLESS...

...unless they're playing chess, and that read was put in the Auburn game purely for Bama's consumption.

If we see JG use the same hand signal next Saturday, then throw the ball downfield, we'll know it was the long game.

Otherwise, they gotta get rid of that.


p.s. Great write-up as always, DG, thanks for it!

Great observation with the hand signal. I thought the same thing... I was thinking during the game, please stop or is JG misreading something. I would like to see a bomb after a signal. That would be cool and a great idea/call by you.
 
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#24
#24
I haven't felt so elated on a Fall Saturday in a long time! Not only did we end the SEC losing steak, but we ended the even worse SEC West losing streak. The last time we had beaten an SEC West opponent was in 2010 in Derek Dooley's 1st year when we beat Ole Miss. And the win came against a top 25 opponent!

Feels great to finally get a big win.


Offense

The Guarantano Express. Ever since the West Virginia game, I've been beating the horn on the idea JG and these WRs are our best offensive weapons. This game demonstrates that more than any other. JG has a breakout game completing 21 / 32 passes for 328 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, and 10.3 yards per pass.

9.03 ypa. JG has been averaging 9.03 yards per pass for the season. He's the best Tennessee QB at throwing deep ball since at least Tyler Bray. His 9.0 yard average is higher than Tyler Bray in 2012, Erik Ainge in 2006, Casey Clausen in 2001, and even Peyton Manning in 1996. Albeit, that average will likely take a hit next week against Bama, but it's time to stop selling JG short. He's the most underrated QB in the SEC right now.

O-line getting better at pass protection; still sucks at run blocking. I haven't been able to rewatch the game yet (and I'm not sure if Freak has posted it on YouTube yet), but without reviewing the tape, my initial thought is that the pass blocking has improved immensely. Yet, the run blocking is still terrible. However, the issue (as it has been all year) is that we're getting overpowered on the line, which is not an easy fix. It's going to take recruiting and more time with S&C to fix the run game issues.

You can't blame Butch for illegal formations. The fact that we are weak at O-line is absolutely Butch's fault, but the fact that we constantly have illegal formation and other line-of-scrimmage penalties is not. Coaching staff really needs to fix this. We've seen it all season and there have been a few where we've been lucky that they didn't flag us.

We still need to pass more. I get it ... Pruitt comes from the Saban school of pounding the rock. He wants to be a run-first team. At the same time, he's also said he wants to play to the team's strengths. Right now, the passing game is the strength and the run game is a weakness. We were more balanced in this game than some others (36 runs, 32 passes), but I'd honestly say we should be passing 55% - 60% of the time. In this game, we averaged 10.3 yards per pass and 1.9 yards per run. That's a huge disparity!

How about those wideouts! JG deserves credit for delivering some perfect deep passes, but Josh Palmer, Jauan Jennings, and Marquez Callaway also came down with some great catches! This WR unit is really starting to hit its stride. And David Johnson is one of the WR coaches in the country.

Tyson Helton. Helton is a great OC and he's taken some unfair flack this season for problems that have little to do with him. The O-line issues have limited the playbook. He called a great game against Auburn.


Defense

Defense made great adjustments. I thought we were in for another long afternoon during the 1st Quarter as Auburn was running over our D, but gotta give credit here ... our coaches and players figured out how to adjust and stop Auburn. After 10 early points, Auburn only scored 14 the entire game (and 7 of those shouldn't have counted).

Auburn's last TD shouldn't have counted. Am I crazy or did the Auburn WR not have possession? I've watched that play two dozen times and I'm 100% convinced he never had the ball. He bobbled it the entire way and our guy got the interception. I'm not sure how that didn't get reviewed. After that happened, I was so terrified that the Tennessee curse was still on and we were going to lose the game.

The pass rush continues to get better. Speaking of improvement, our pass rush has improved more than any other aspect since Game #1. We went from getting no pressure at all during that West Virginia game to consistently getting pressure in this game.


Miscellany

Happy for this team and coaching staff. They deserved a big win.

Gus Malzahn on the hot seat. I knew if we won this game, Malzahn would be on the hot seat. He's a good coach, but he's been weirdly inconsistent. Auburn looked like a national championship team last November, before losing the SECCG to Georgia. Their offense has struggled this season.

Constant improvement. One thing I am really happy about is that we've seen consistent progress in almost every game this year. The 1st Half of the Florida game is the only real exception to this, but otherwise, we've looked better on offense and defense every single week. That's a good sign to me.

The caveats. I'm happy we got the win, but let's be honest ... Auburn made a lot of big mistakes. It's good that we avoided turnovers this game (though we had a few "big mistakes" in the form of penalties), but I'm not so sure we still don't get beat if Auburn had played its "A" game or even its "B" game. We still have a long way to go.

Next week. Enjoy it now, because we're getting clobbered next week versus Bama. Bama has looked like one of the best teams in college football history this season. We'll be lucky to keep it within 3 touchdowns. The things I'm hoping to see: (1) we slow the game down, (2) minimize dumb mistakes / turnovers / penalties, and (3) continue to improve.

South Carolina and beyond. I hate to write-off the Bama game, but realistically, the most important stretch of our season starts in two weeks in Columbia, South Carolina.

Bowl game is possible. Still a tough road ahead, but winning 2 of 4 between SCe, Mizzou, Vandy, and Kentucky is much more doable than 3 out of 4. I think we're about even with South Carolina so far this season, so that'll be a critical game. Kentucky is looking much better than expected, so the SCe and Mizzou games are even more important now.


That's all I got.

GBO!
Thank you DG
 
#25
#25
Agreed. The runs in first down felt like a script. And we didn't deviate.

We have to mix it up more on first down. As great as yesterday was you just can't make a living when you're in 2nd and 3rd an long.

First down offense had to get better. Period.

While I could be wrong, most of that seems to be coming from Pruitt, not Helton. Pruitt is the one pushing the idea that we're a run-first offense and that's "our identity". Unfortunately, it's not "our identity", because the O-line is incapable of winning the battle at the line of scrimmage in its present form.

Helton comes from the Brohm / Petrino school of though. At Western Kentucky in 2014 and 2015, Helton passed about 55% of the time. Compare that to this season at UT, where we've only passed 36% of the time in spite of the passing game being much stronger than the run game.

To the extent we're getting better, it's largely because Helton is getting his way more and we're passing the ball at a higher rate. We passed 47% of the time against Auburn and the results were obvious. Really, that needs to be up at 55% - 60%. I get that Pruitt wants to be more like Bama and UGA in the long-term, but in the short-term, we have a better chance at winning games by passing more.

So I agree with you to a large extent; I just see Pruitt being the primary reason for this more so than Helton.
 
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