Big Stat for Defense

[Mccage]

Take him off our defense and we're way worse..

Oh I don't want him off just hopes he learns to play smarter

 

[RavinDave]

Pruitt’s ability to butcher and discombobulate the English language, caused major problems….. the players had trouble understanding exactly what Baldor was trying to say, to do and or accomplish

Pruitt would have had to know what he wanted to accomplish before he could fail to articulate it. Just sayin’

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

I think there may be something to this. I’m not sure that the advantages of the hurry up offense outweigh the negatives we experienced. It is definitely awesome when we get a 70 yd TD bomb, but I think we see two adverse results from our hurry up.

One, our offensive players dont seem real fresh in the fourth quarter. The o-line is thin and those big boys are hardly catching their breath during a drive. Our pre-snap penalties could be because the focus is to go fast and we lose some focus on snap count, formation, etc. the other adverse thing is when our D is tired after a long drive in the fourth, our offense has a hurry up 3&O and then our defense is back out for a long drive again. Meanwhile, the opposing D gets plenty of rest, thus making the hurry up less efficient against them.

I like the overall premise of the hurry up, but it seems to put a larger strain on our undermanned roster than it does on the other team’s full roster. The flipside is we went slower last year and stunk on O and D, so, what do I know?

Agree with this.

I dont think it has to be all slow down or all hurry up though. Pick and choose a few times a game to slow down a little.

Just think there have been some times when letting this offense catch their breath and focus on getting set would help which alludes to the pre snap penalties you mentioned.

Also think a couple of slower drives a game coming off long drives by the opposing offense would help the defense a little.

I personally dont see this being sustainable where the Vols are getting beat 2:1 or nearly 2:1 on time of possession and 100 plays a game on defense.

 

[BlinghamptonVol]

Agree with this.

I dont think it has to be all slow down or all hurry up though. Pick and choose a few times a game to slow down a little.

Just think there have been some times when letting this offense catch their breath and focus on getting set would help which alludes to the pre snap penalties you mentioned.

Also think a couple of slower drives a game coming off long drives by the opposing offense would help the defense a little.

I personally dont see this being sustainable where the Vols are getting beat 2:1 or nearly 2:1 on time of possession and 100 plays a game on defense.

Yeah, that time of possession ratio is killing us. I like the situational hurry up. I feel like we generally do really well with the first scripted plays of the game when our guys are fresh and have practiced those specific plays. When they are hurrying on the fly, we seem less productive. And our poor D linemen have already played a full season of snaps just from the last two weeks!

 

[OldVolMan]

Through the end of Saturday's games, Tim Banks' defense leads the nation in tackles for loss (70). That is shared by 26 different players. Amazing stat, given how putrid our defenses were with Pruitt.

very impressive, but we have to get better at stopping 3rd downs, especially those longer one’s that we just seem to not be fast enough, or miss tackles

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

I hate to bring up a Butchism but this team needs to do a better job of complimentary football IMO.
The defense has been on the field for 194 plays the last two weeks I believe.
Bama held the ball for over 40 minutes last Saturday.
The offense HAS to get a lot better on third down to extend drives and give the defense a break. Heupel needs to swallow some pride and slow the game down occasionally as well on offense.
Banks has been doing a great job overall despite giving up monster numbers on total offense with a short roster that is being put under tremendous strain.

I respectfully disagree with slowing the game down is the answer ... here is my evidence that ... choosing that course is not as effective as it might first appear:
1) The offense moves fast in order to 'not give the defense time to set up' - that often creates mismatches and we grab larger chunks of yardage.
2) The two games where we DID slow it down in the 2nd half because of big leads ... the offense was not as effective as it was in the first half.
This makes me think, that right now, for our offense to be effective .... we need the small advantage that we gain by NOT allowing the defense an opportunity to get organized.

In all fairness, you can make an argument that there were halftime adjustments by the other teams. That might hold some water.
But the fact that we never really tried to hurry up in the 2nd half of those games is indicative of ... we are not deep enough in talent (ready to contribute) to just put another guy in the game and hammer down.
I absolutely AGREE that we are not playing complimentary football, but coaches make decisions on what they think gives them the BEST chance to win. I do not think the coaches are being ignorant or stubborn. (Lord knows we have had MORE than our fair share of those coaches in the past.)

With all due respect, I suggest, the score was 31-24, very admirable for early in the 4th quarter ... that suggests to me ... we got tired .... we are not deep enough in talent ... for 4 quarters, YET!
Note: Alabama - Ole Miss score at the start of the 4th quarter was 35-7. That plus our game with Ole Miss ... says we are getting very close to being a top 30 team (IMO).
I think we finish 3-1 over the next 4 weeks. (7-5 for the season)

What were we 2-13 on 3rd down? You are right we have to be better on 3rd down ....
There were a lot of weird plays, roughing the punter, targeting that was not called, fumble on the 9 yard line, fumble on the .5 yard line, etc
I content that the officials training at the SEC is creating 'unconscious official bias toward the favorite' in the game. They are 'making the underdog' WIN the game ... which inherently on a sub-conscious level favor the favorite, but what do I know, I am a vol fanatic.

Two key drives:
Down 14, we were nearing midfield ... trying to get it back to a 1 score game, .....when there was an obvious miscommunication between Hooker and his receiver ... and that took a lot of wind our of our sail. Followed by an ALA touchdown.
Then because of clock and being down three scores, we go for it on our own 30 ... that is actually both a horrible decision and fantastic decision. Horrible if you do not make it ... because you are begging AL to put more points on the board. Fantastic, if it works because it gives your defense ( a little more rest) a shot of juice and offense hope. It was a no brainer for me .... right call ... but the way it worked out ... oh well ... I never thought we would even be in the game at the start of the 4th quarter ... so my expectations were exceeded.

 

[901 Orange]

I imagine we are top 3 in defensive snaps as well. It's a good stat but not as significant as many would like to believe.

You can play an unlimited amount of snaps and it doesn't mean you'll create as many negative plays as they have. Keep in mind we played a ton of snaps last year with an offense that was always 3 & out. We weren't top 10 in TFL's

 

[901 Orange]

I hate to bring up a Butchism but this team needs to do a better job of complimentary football IMO.

The defense has been on the field for 194 plays the last two weeks I believe.

Bama held the ball for over 40 minutes last Saturday.

The offense HAS to get a lot better on third down to extend drives and give the defense a break. Heupel needs to swallow some pride and slow the game down occasionally as well on offense.

Banks has been doing a great job overall despite giving up monster numbers on total offense with a short roster that is being put under tremendous strain.

I think the defense needs to get better on 3rd down as well. 15-20 on 3rd down in one game is ridiculous and they were converting long before the defense wore down. The offense does need to sustain drives but it's not like the defense can't help their cause.

 

[GVol1966]

very impressive, but we have to get better at stopping 3rd downs, especially those longer one’s that we just seem to not be fast enough, or miss tackles

100% correct. Many 3rd and longs every game and they can’t get off the field for the reasons above

 

[robmgrig]

Through the end of Saturday's games, Tim Banks' defense leads the nation in tackles for loss (70). That is shared by 26 different players. Amazing stat, given how putrid our defenses were with Pruitt.

The fact is that Heupel’s teams will live or die with the big play…both on offense and defense.
I just wish a few more of those TFL’s were on third down…

 

[TJVol95]

Jeremy Banks has 60 tackles. 7.5 per game.

4 our of bounds.

 

[VolArmy74]

Keep the gas on the floor with the offense. We aren't playing just for this season, we are playing for the future too. Run the system as much as possible. Get ahead and time of possession can get more in line in the second half. Plus the defense never seems to get tired when you've got a big lead.

I like this offense because it works vs Saban. That's why he's spoken out against it in the past and adopted parts of it once it became clear he couldn't hold Clemson to 10 points and win.

Saturday the defense couldn't get off the field vs Alabama but most teams can't do it to them consistently either. We will eventually get to a second string that has quality and experience and time of possession will he less an issue.

 

[JoAllan]

I could be wrong however to me it seemed Tennessee “tried” to work on their slow game in the second half of the Missouri and SC games……..it didn’t look so good.

I highly doubt (right now) Tennessee’s “slow” game would go over too well vs good teams (like Bama or Georgia)………probably why Heupel went out and played fast………that’s how their O works.

I’m sure they would like for the O to “also” work when playing slower……there are times when it is needed……however it’s not there yet.

you want to see Tennessee get beat even worse??……….have them go out and try to play slow right now vs Georgia.

Heupel knows what he’s doing……..sure it sucks, especially for the D…… but for now, it is what it is.

 

[VolsFan-TX]

I'm seeing that they are in 3rd place at 59, but still an impressive stat.
NCAA College Football FBS current team Stats | NCAA.com

There is a disconnect between the official ncaa stats and what utsports.com shows.

 

[MyVolsDropped]

Wonder how our 3rd down defense is?

Doesn't matter if you can stop guys on first and second if you can't stop them on 3rd down!

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

I hate to bring up a Butchism but this team needs to do a better job of complimentary football IMO.

The defense has been on the field for 194 plays the last two weeks I believe.

Bama held the ball for over 40 minutes last Saturday.

The offense HAS to get a lot better on third down to extend drives and give the defense a break. Heupel needs to swallow some pride and slow the game down occasionally as well on offense.

Banks has been doing a great job overall despite giving up monster numbers on total offense with a short roster that is being put under tremendous strain.

The offense does need to extend drives or sure. However, the defense needs to end drives on 3rd and long. Difficult to do when facing the likes of Pickett, Corral and Young but they could reduce their time on the field by getring this figured out.

 

[FBtime]

I wish I had a $1 for every 3rd down QB run/scramble for a 1st down. I swear between Corral and Young that accounts for 80% of 3rd down conversions.