4 things to take away from this game.

[LittleDTO]

Wanted to wait a bit after the game to post these observations.

1: DeBord is horrible. Not a fan of this offensive scheme either, but the play calling and play selection were abysmal.

2: Dobbs is a game manager. That's it. Threw blindly into coverage several times, the heave before halftime was something a freshman does, and he is inept at seeing the field. He rolled into pressure several times when the O line did provide protection. His accuracy hasn't gotten better at all. I'm sure he will have a good passing game this season, but in general, his inability to pass downfield, limits this team big time. Appy State lined up and dared Dobbs to throw all game.

3: Tge Oline still looks bad. Jack Jones needs to be playing center. Ours guards never got a push.

4: Hurd is big, strong and fast. However, he has poor vision and poor elusiveness.

 

[UTK]

1. Our o-line looks terrible.
2. Out o-line looks terrible.
3. Our o-line looks terrible.
4. Our o-line looks terrible.

 

[gobraves101035]

Debord is super predictable which might cost us a game this year. Hurd is an amazing back just in the wrong offensive scheme. Coleman should of been benched at halftime. Dobbs is Dobbs. Super overrated and has no accuracy

 

[volberry]

Debord is super predictable which might cost us a game this year. Hurd is an amazing back just in the wrong offensive scheme. Coleman should of been benched at halftime. Dobbs is Dobbs. Super overrated and has no accuracy

So if you just concentrate on Hurd ( who will not get 1000 yards) and make Dobbs make plays he will be 50/50 at best. He will make a few plays but will turn that ball over and miss throws. Any Sec team can duplicate that defensive performance. And just pound it.

 

[UTK]

But. I'll talk other stuff.

Dobbs, I'm not going to hate on him for his passing just yet. He had heat on him almost all game, but I think he made plays when he had time to pass at least. I'm not saying he was lights out by any means, but its hard to be when you're running to the sidelines for your life most of the game.

Hurd was okay, but dude went down WAY too easy sometimes. Yes run blocking sucked big time, but Hurd should almost never go down to the first guy.

Playcalling sucked. Where was Kamara? We needed speed to get out to the outside majorly. I think if we use him, and let Dobbs run more, the game isn't nowhere near as close.

Kudos to Malone for making a clutch catch. But. Where was Josh Smith at?

Defense had some issues with jet sweeps and the option. Not sure whats up with that? Have to get that fixed. Otherwise they did a great job in the 2nd half.

Evan Berry will still be a threat in the KR team if he gets chances. Dude seriously needs some touches on offense imo.

 

[nash101]

Agree Debord needs to go. Most coaches have a play book, he barely has a play page

Dobbs seems to decide who to throw to before the snap and keys in on them. Not sure how else to explain why he throws into coverage and misses the guys who are standing wide open and no one in the same zip code.

Toss the OL coach too. 4 years of his mess is 3 1/2 years too many,

Hurd is alright - he just gets hit in the backfield almost every time (see #3) and earns his yards the hard way.

 

[UTK]

So if you just concentrate on Hurd ( who will not get 1000 yards) and make Dobbs make plays he will be 50/50 at best. He will make a few plays but will turn that ball over and miss throws. Any Sec team can duplicate that defensive performance. And just pound it.

Hurd will easily get 1000 yards. Relax homie.

 

[gobraves101035]

So if you just concentrate on Hurd ( who will not get 1000 yards) and make Dobbs make plays he will be 50/50 at best. He will make a few plays but will turn that ball over and miss throws. Any Sec team can duplicate that defensive performance. And just pound it.

I think Hurd will have 1000 yards this year but I think if we lose, it'll be Dobbs fault. You've got to be able to pass the ball to win a championship. Yes defenses win championships but they can't bail you out every single game.

 

[UTK]

I think Hurd will have 1000 yards this year but I think if we lose, it'll be Dobbs fault. You've got to be able to pass the ball to win a championship. Yes defenses win championships but they can't bail you out every single game.

Yeah, even if the online remains terrible, we will still run Hurd 30 times a game. He will average about 4 a carry. It'll be a mediocre 1000 yards, but he will get it. Lmao

 

[gobraves101035]

Agree Debord needs to go. Most coaches have a play book, he barely has a play page

Dobbs seems to decide who to throw to before the snap and keys in on them. Not sure how else to explain why he throws into coverage and misses the guys who are standing wide open and no one in the same zip code.

Toss the OL coach too. 4 years of his mess is 3 1/2 years too many,

Hurd is alright - he just gets hit in the backfield almost every time (see #3) and earns his yards the hard way.

I've always said that Dobbs knows who he is throwing to before the play is even started and that truly sucks. That's not a quarterback. A quarterback reads defenses and throws to the open man. Dobbs doesn't do that, he locks in on one man and if he isn't open he throws it anyway into double coverage or tries to run even though it's to late at that point and gets sacked. Dobbs is a wide receiver who plays quarterback.

 

[CornDontGrow]

That worked for one team before

 

[gobraves101035]

That worked for one team before

Well it won't work against Alabama this year

 

[volberry]

the defense can't hold up to this all year.

 

[1985Vols]

Wanted to wait a bit after the game to post these observations.

1: DeBord is horrible. Not a fan of this offensive scheme either, but the play calling and play selection were abysmal.

2: Dobbs is a game manager. That's it. Threw blindly into coverage several times, the heave before halftime was something a freshman does, and he is inept at seeing the field. He rolled into pressure several times when the O line did provide protection. His accuracy hasn't gotten better at all. I'm sure he will have a good passing game this season, but in general, his inability to pass downfield, limits this team big time. Appy State lined up and dared Dobbs to throw all game.

3: Tge Oline still looks bad. Jack Jones needs to be playing center. Ours guards never got a push.

4: Hurd is big, strong and fast. However, he has poor vision and poor elusiveness.

Can't disagree with anything you said. Coleman Thomas was horrible last night. Dobbs looked like a freshman . Hurd needs to start running north and south and stop trying to bounce outside every single play. DeBord's play calling is the worst since the Clawfense.

 

[Cosmo]

To me, it looked like they went out there expecting to win on talent alone. I'm not just talking about the players either. The coaches seemed to not have a game plan going into the game. I know this team has outstanding talent, but at this level you can't rely on talent alone. I think the the whole team is looking ahead to Florida.

 

[illinoisvolfan1]

1. Offensive execution sucked
2. Play calling sucked
3. Dobbs passing no better at all vs last year
4. Defense wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped.

 

[davethevol]

This is the same kind of stuff we keep dealing with every year. At some point the coaches (all of them) have to be held accountable. Dooley sucked, but at least there was a huge improvement in offense from year 1 to year 3. Our QB still plays like he did his freshman year. Our OLine still sucks. Butch is not the offensive guru he wants everyone to think he is.

 

[austin_vol]

1. Our OL is terrible
2. Dobbs can't throw
3. We have one play we run
4. Our coaching sucks

 

[jackaro]

I thought that this offense was built around misdirection but I did not see any of that.

This was the worst I have ever seen Hurd play. I have seen him enough to give him the benefit of the doubt and I fully expect him to take this personally and be a beast from here on out.

Making the decision to not let Dobbs run neuters his ability to play the position. Let Dobbs be Dobbs, counting on him to make throws is a bad idea.

Our O line is pathetic. It is hard to be optimistic about this, I think it is going to be a weekness all year.

Did having so many players in green jersey's in camp leave this team unprepared for the first game?

Butch, the staff and the players can't seem to handle the hype. Tavis Stephens made the point in the game thread that they were acting like primadonnas. Hopefully this close call will bring them back down to earth.

I am concerned. I have been waiting 10 years for this year. This is the year. Get it done or GTFO Butch.

 

[allenrikvik]

First game - exposed some dents in our armor. It causes some concern, but mostly provides something to watch as we progress. If we show the same issues on the second game, I will get worried.

 

[lonelawyer]

1. DeBord calls a timid game.
2. Dobbs holds ball too long making a decision.
3. Only aggressiveness I saw from defense was in overrunning misdirection plays.
4. Receivers are good enough to make plays if we would lose the fear and indecision.

 

[orangerush]

I know the offensive plays we are going to run, if I know I am sure the opposing team knows.

 

[lonelawyer]

Last night felt like a WWE house show where the champ puts over a jobber because his mama was in the audience.

 

[illinoisvolfan1]

Thank our lucky stars that they had a freshman kicker miss a PAT and a very makable field goal. Or we'd be where Michigan was 9 years ago.

 

[overseasorange2]

1) At least we did not blow a 17 point 4th quarter lead.
2) Dobbs is a tuff competitor but, he needs to hold on to the ball in the end zone (Think that was the 3rd time in 2 years I remember him losing the ball in the end zone).
3) Our offensive line best improve quickly.
4) Games like this will not help our 2017 recruiting class. We did not look prepared at all.

Other than that great game