Article:Cut on Short yards effectiveness

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

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#1
Wesley Rucker at TFP wrote this today. Just Going to go ahead and post the whole thing....


There was a time when short-yardage situations weren't all that complicated.
The quarterback handed the ball to a back, who ran behind a man-to-man, drive-blocking offensive line. The team with better pad leverage or a dominant physical advantage usually won.
Those days are gone, according to Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe.
"With the level of defensive players that are out there now, third-and-2 is not necessarily a run (only) down any more," Cutcliffe said. "You can't just line up and say you're going to make third-and-2, because the safeties and fits and gaps, there's nowhere to run sometimes, unless you're just a whole lot better than the team you're playing, and that rarely happens to us any more with our schedule."
The Vols had five third downs of three or fewer yards in Saturday's loss at California. They converted just once.
Tennessee also was stopped on a crucial 4th-and-goal from the Golden Bears 1-yard-line in the third quarter. Arian Foster ran 42 yards to the Cal 3, but the Vols failed to score on two passes and two runs -- one by wide receiver Lucas Taylor, who lined up as a shotgun quarterback on third-and-goal from the 2.
Senior quarterback Erik Ainge threw an incomplete pass for Foster in the flat on fourth down.
"What we can't do is lose football games because of third-and-short and goalline," Ainge said. "At Tennessee, when it's third-and-short, when you're on the 2-yard line, you score touchdowns.
"You don't go four downs from the 2 and not score. That doesn't happen to us."
It happened Saturday. Four times.
Driving near Cal's 40-yard line with the score tied early in the second quarter, Ainge completed a third-and-1 pass to Josh Briscoe -- for a loss of 2 yards. On the next play, Cal's DeSean Jackson returned a low Britton Colquitt punt 77 yards for a touchdown that gave the lead and momentum back to the Bears.
"That was extremely disappointing," Cutcliffe said. "We picked what we thought was our No. 1 play (on third down), and we had an assignment error on it."
Cutcliffe said he planned on Cal playing as conservatively as they did on defense, and that the first and second-down execution of that plan generally went well.
"Our plan coming into the game was to try to move the chains and get it to third-and-3, third-and-2, third-and-1," Cutcliffe said. "They could convert at 80 percent; that's what I thought we could do, which would mean we would keep the ball and keep that talented offense off the field, and it blew up in our face."
Not only did the Vols fail at the exact rate Cutcliffe hoped they would convert, they failed to capitalize on their one third-and-short success. Ainge found Taylor for four yards on a third-and-3 on the game's first series, and a pass interference call two plays later moved the ball into Cal territory.
But no one picked up blitzing linebacker Zack Follett on the next play, and he crunched Ainge from the backside to force a fumble that Worrell Williams returned 44 yards for a touchdown.
"California did some things to freeze us up, but a lot of that was on us," senior tight end Chris Brown said. "We just didn't execute, and that's why they stopped us."
Because of that -- well, that and a Swiss-cheese defense -- the Vols lost despite gaining 382 yards of total offense and having more time of possession.
Tennessee's tailbacks averaged nearly 5.3 yards per carry Saturday, but they only had 22 carries. Though Cal's 17-point, second-half lead forced Cutcliffe to throw the ball more than he'd like, he said that still wasn't enough carries. The Vols attempted 47 passes and 27 runs, though Cutcliffe said Ainge checked out of several runs.
"You make a plan going in after seeing 11 games from a year ago, where they're going to be, and what they're going to do, and then it ends up a little different than what you thought," Cutcliffe said. "That's why we play the games. It's exciting and challenging. You've got to challenge yourself to be better.
"We're always going to mix run and pass in those short-yardage situations. Maybe by doing that, it will make us a better run team in short-yardage the rest of the way."
Foster -- who had 89 yards on just 13 carries -- said "it's hard to gain yards when you get a minimal amount of carries.
"I feel like we could have been productive doing that, but my job isn't to call the plays or question the play-calling at all," Foster said. "I feel like that's what Coach Cutcliffe gets paid for, and he'll do way better than I can, so I'm just going to go out there and give everything I've got into what he calls.
"I feel like he called a great game."
Coach Philip Fulmer, offensive line coach Greg Adkins and Cutcliffe all said putting an offensive lineman in at fullback is possible. Considering the losses of tight end/fullback hybrids Brad Cottam and David Holbert, it might be necessary.
"There's been a lot of discussion about a lot of different things," Adkins said. "Certainly we could do that. We have talked about that."
Asked if it could happen as soon as Saturday, Adkins said "maybe."
"You think I would tell you right now? It's something that we've talked about," he said.
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#2
#2
there's a lot in that article that is quite disturbing to me.:no:
 
#5
#5
allvol123 said:
1 of 5 on 3rd and 3 or less. Disgusting.
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yep. over the course of the past two years, i'd of killed to be in 3rd and 3 or less that many times. most of the time when we don't covert, it's because we ran for 2 yards on 1st down, inc. pass on 2nd and boom, 3rd and 7 or 8...punt.

to see that kind of stat....really has me shaking my head. 89 yards on 13 carries for Foster. 6.8 per carry.

oh my head is starting to hurt...can't do this again today....
 
#6
#6
Fine Vol said:
I like that he said 2 yards is not always a run play. Keeps the D off balance.
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i don't disagree, but to keep hearing about people missing assignments gets old.

and now we've got Ryan Karl telling us that they played "too fast" on defense and CDC is telling us that we're "over thinking" the offense.............:crazy:

and don't get me wrong or misunderstand me....i do think there is some validity to both statements.

but it's just the fact that those things are happening that is infuriating enough. just go play.
 
#7
#7
jakez4ut said:
i don't disagree, but to keep hearing about people missing assignments gets old.

and now we've got Ryan Karl telling us that they played "too fast" on defense and CDC is telling us that we're "over thinking" the offense.............:crazy:

and don't get me wrong or misunderstand me....i do think there is some validity to both statements.

but it's just the fact that those things are happening that is infuriating enough. just go play.
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:thumbsup:agreed
 
#8
#8
jakez4ut said:
...to see that kind of stat....really has me shaking my head. 89 yards on 13 carries for Foster. 6.8 per carry.

oh my head is starting to hurt...can't do this again today....
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This is crazy.... you look at that number and think.. 'there really is a run game there'... you look at the game, and.... crazy.
 
#9
#9
orange+white=heaven said:
This is crazy.... you look at that number and think.. 'there really is a run game there'... you look at the game, and.... crazy.
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:yes:
the other thing that bothers me about this article is that it literally comes off the page that we aren't going to adjust to what these guys do best. you look at the running game at one point....and you have to wonder......why did we stop? you have to wonder...how do you get in to so many 3rd and shorts and NOT convert!!!!????

why is your "plan" to get in to 3rd and short? not that i think that was the goal of every series, but it reads like 2nd down wasn't all that important....i dunno....i really try to stay away from the "sky is falling" tone....but i got to tell you, there's just a lot in that article that really has me questioning CDC's game planning and play calling abilities.

and for hte most part, i do think it was called pretty well. but we get in to some of these situations like we got in and we "outsmart" ourselves.......really? are you kidding me?????????
 
#11
#11
I'm hoping Lamarcus Coker's speed can open things up a little on third and short...let him take a pitch around the end and try to make some people miss.
 
#12
#12
Cut is over thinking this stuff. 1st down and 3 is where the O-line earns their stripes.
you run it on 1st down.... if you get knocked back past the five then open up the playbook.
 
#13
#13
RockEmSockEm said:
Cut is over thinking this stuff. 1st down and 3 is where the O-line earns their stripes.
you run it on 1st down.... if you get knocked back past the five then open up the playbook.
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You would think that what RockEmSockEm said is common sense but it seems that our coaches don't listen to reason. Don't get me wrong, it's great when I see Ainge fake the handoff from the 5 yard line and find a wide open back for an easy touchdown but when you are on the 3 yard line with first down, you punch it in with your power game. Did our coaches fear Cal's d-line so much that they didn't think we could get 3 yds on 4 downs or did they try to get cute and outsmart themselves?Whatever the case, it was and is unacceptable not to get a score in that situation.
 
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