Does Dobbs make our OL better?

#26
#26
LargeOrange1 said:
Yeah....an oak tree with its roots in cement. He was painful to watch sometimes. But he is a VFL and I will always respect that.
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He appeared to stop standing in cement and did pretty decent, then looked like he gained too much faith in the OL and let himself get sacked more again.
 
#27
#27
Even though our O-line was horrible last season, they did begin to progress a bit towards the end--- Our O-line this year is still the weakest link in our total performance package, but it will definitely be better overall than last season, which is great.
 
#29
#29
Thanks, OP, you provided insightful and interesting research. I really appreciated reading it.

We hypothesize that the OLine probably actually did get better as 2014 went along--after all, most people tend to get better as they practice something over and over--but no one has yet found a way to demonstrate it actually happened. I was hoping you'd broken the code. :)

But it's still a very insightful write-up, thanks again. :)

volroadwarrior said:
Dobbs does make the OL look better, but he also played against worse opponents. Because Vandy and KY are always at the end of UT's season, the late games are always easier.
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Yeah, that's simply not true, RoadWarrior. The front of our schedule usually has 2 OOC cupcakes; the back of our schedule usually has Kentucky, Vandy, and another cupcake. The middle is usually where the bulk of the heavy lifting is. 2014 was no different; it fit that pattern perfectly.

Worley led the team against 3 cupcakes, 1 peer, and 3 Top-25 teams. Dobbs led the team against 2 cupcakes, 2 peers, and 2 Top-25 teams. The front half and back half of the schedule were pretty much balanced.

Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Saying something positive about Dobbs on this site? NOT ALLOWED. You're only allowed to dismiss or minimize his contributions to the team last year. And instead wonder why Dormady hasn't been given a shot to start yet.
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D4H, I like you man, but you gotta get over this paranoia that everyone's out to tarnish Josh Dobbs.

There are like 3,000+ people logged in to VN at any given moment. You could probably count on one hand those who truly have something against Josh and who don't have high hopes for him as our "CEO" the next two years.

To repeatedly cry out in indignation, even in threads where those handful of people haven't even shown up, is...well, it's getting kinda weird.

Calm yourself, man. :good!:
 
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#30
#30
I love Dobbs. I bristle at the notion that Jones was wrong to start Worley and attempt to RS Dobbs. D4H majors on it to ridiculous and unnecessary extremes
 
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#33
#33
Pacer92 said:
Without a doubt he makes it better...

The tuck and run has to be accounted for. Worley was an oak tree..
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Yep. You could see a drastic change in defensive philosophies after the Alabama game. No longer were those ends just teeing off. They were thinking a lot more knowing that JD could make them pay dearly. MO's DEs were so good that they destroyed our pathetic OL and got Dobbs anyway. I pity the thought of what they would have done to Worley. Would have made OU (Stryker etc) look like a cake walk.

Didn't make our OL one ounce "better". But, he took the pressure off our #1 weakness by keep Ds at home instead of sending the house every other play.

I will admit that our OL did look much more cohesive in the Iowa game after the break. I'm hanging my hat on that and the off-season S/C prog, to convince myself that our OL is at least up to SEC average this year.
 
#34
#34
OP didn't include the Chatt game (FCS opponent) into the analysis, but to everyone saying "Oh well Worley faced the tougher part of the schedule.." Chattanooga scored FIVE sacks against us. That alone makes the talent part a little less significant.

Worley faced UGA, UF, Ole Miss, OU, Utah St, Ark St, and Chatt
(ordering in relative formidable-ness of the pass rush/front seven)

Dobbs faced Bama, Mizzou, Kentucky (who had two? guys get drafted from their front seven), Iowa (who had the #23 overall defense), Vandy (who despite their offensive issues, Mason came from Stanford-- a school that prided itself on shutting down high-flying Oregon), and South Carolina.

I'll still concede that Worley faced tougher teams, but factoring in these tidbits about Dobbs' schedule and the fact that we gave up FIVE to Chatt, it shouldn't be ignored.

Plus our run game was noticeably better with Dobbs running the option.
 
#35
#35
Rightly or wrongly, OL's are often compared based on statistical measures such as sacks allowed and rushing yds gained. In both of these categories, Dobbs will help "make the OL better." No question about it.
 
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#36
#36
JMO, but I feel like Butch had no choice but to start Worley at the beginning of last year. As far as he knew, Worley was the most consistent option he had, and from reading the practice reports, nobody knew what Dobbs was capable of and he needed time to grow and develop. To the topic at hand, and having played O-line with a dual threat QB and a pro style QB, I can safely say that having a guy that's mobile and a legit running threat without question makes it easier on an offensive line. If the opposing defense knows that the guy taking the snaps isn't going to tuck it and go, they're more liable to pin their ears back and send the house. Having a guy with wheels playing QB if nothing else makes defenses have to respect that fact and makes them a lot less likely to play as aggressive than if he doesn't. A split second can make all the difference between a guy having time to make a block and having somebody bullrush you and hit you in the mouth. Everybody in the stadium knew Worley wasn't going anywhere after the ball was snapped when he was holding the reigns. With Dobbs, defensive ends can't just rush up the field to bust up the pocket out of fear of losing outside contain and Dobbs beating them to the edge. Our offensive line might have been pretty awful, but they did improve over the year and Dobbs was a huge factor in that improvement. Just my two cents.
 
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#37
#37
I think if he used those black stickie things that football players put below their eyes, but he put it where eyebrows should be...that would be funny.:rofl:
 
#45
#45
I wish I could change the title to "look better."
The purpose of this post was to dispell the myth that our numbers proves because of the competition Dobbs faced. My analysis controls for the strength of schedule. Our numbers improved because we had a mobile QB.
 
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#46
#46
UTVOLKeith said:
I don't think so the OL really had nothing to do with it. Only one variable was changed.
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When's the last time you did something repeatedly over a 4 month period and didn't get any better at it?

It's a near-certainty they improved. The question is, how much? And how on earth would one tell how much, given that we switched mid-season to a QB whose very being makes "OLine stats" look better?

But did they get at least a smidgen better? Naturally.

In an 11-on-11 game, there's always more than one variable. And variables tend to vary.
 
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#47
#47
When the Vols line up against Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia and Alabama and need 2 yds on 3rd down or 1 yd on 4th down, is this when the Oline question will be answered? We'll definately know by then I'm afraid.
 
#49
#49
As has already been posted by several posters, the O line did not get better. When the D line knows that a QB is going to drop back and pass the majority of the time, it's a minus for the O line. With Dobbs athleticism and abilities, the D line has to guess which puts the O line on a more positive footing. It allows for more aggressive play calling. As one, or more, journalist put it, the good is that the O line is returning; the bad is that the O line is returning. I think that if we have aggressive play calling on O and D, this could be a magical season. Some/many are worried about Dobbs getting hurt and going down. After watching him take hits last season, only some weird freak of nature hit is going to hurt him. His running alone shows he knows how to take a hit and keep on ticking.
 
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#50
#50
VFL-82-JP said:
When's the last time you did something repeatedly over a 4 month period and didn't get any better at it?

It's a near-certainty they improved. The question is, how much? And how on earth would one tell how much, given that we switched mid-season to a QB whose very being makes "OLine stats" look better?

But did they get at least a smidgen better? Naturally.

In an 11-on-11 game, there's always more than one variable. And variables tend to vary.
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So was variable OL was made better?
 
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