First Impressions are everything

#1

LittleVol

Of course I can help you, Coach Heupel.
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#1
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...
 
#2
#2
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...
Very interesting I remember us starting extremely quick and fading off throughout most games but I didn’t realize it was that much of a drop off from quarters 1 to 3. I think our defense was above average as well but as you stated left far too many drives scoreless or a fast turn around for the other teams O to get right back to it. IMO we need more depth in the secondary this year and things may look a little better overall defensively. Need to improve on points in the second for sure but I think that’s more the other team adjusted to our game speed even for just a few drives. We need for our defense to be on the field as little as possible in the first half this year so we come at in 3rd hair on fire trying to create turnovers and quick possessions not being so winded by the 2nd drive we’re already fatigued from the first half. It will be an interesting season to see if the guys in the backend of the D can step up and be ready to contribute, we have solid LB core and a above average Defensive line, have to improve in the secondary all around and we could be solid
 
#3
#3
To be fair you did have to do a complete turnaround from Jeremy / Chaney slow offense to this, so the guys got tired, but I agree definitely need to stop taking our foot off the gas as the game progresses. Will definitely have to do this next year if we want 9-3 / 10-2.
 
#5
#5
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...
Insightful post, thanks for it, Little.

One has to wonder at all the possible reasons for the slowdown in offense as the game goes on.

Consider, for instance:

In the 2nd Qtr and beyond, three key things are happening:

(a) the other team's coaches are learning to adjust to our blistering offensive speed, to some extent (some better than others). Call it on the job training. They learn to call and communicate plays faster. They learn to keep their lads in the most generally suitable formation, only attempting to call a specific defensive play when necessary ... they learn to substitute even more than normal when they can, so more guys are fresher ... and they learn...

(b) that having a bunch of fainting goats on the defense helps a lot. I'm not saying any specific coach actively directs his defenders to start faking injuries to add time between plays...but I'm not saying they don't, either. In any case, the fainting goats start coming out in force in the 2nd quarter, and stay with us throughout the 2nd half. That negates some of our offensive advantage as well. Finally, ...

(c) our starters get tired. We all acknowledge that we were thin last year, on both offense and defense. That gets better with every good recruiting class, but the tank was absolutely half empty in 2021. And the thinner team will usually perform less well, compared to a deeper opponent, as the game goes on.

I think Josh Heupel's offense (the scheme, the playbook, the play calling, and the execution by the lads) are all truly as good as our 1st quarter stats show them to be. A potentially elite offense. But for us to be scoring just as prolifically in Qtrs 2, 3, and 4 as we do in 1, we're going to have to solve two of the three problems above. Funny enough, recruiting more quality depth is the easiest of the three.

Thanks again, Little, for a thought-provoking thread.

Go Vols!
 
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#6
#6
Good post. Unfortunately many people use similar facts to argue against our tempo or suggest that we slow it down occasionally.

I completely disagree because tempo IS OUR EDGE. You can’t assume that we’ll be able to execute as well at a slower pace. Fast is what we do. It’s where our confidence comes from. Is where our aggression comes from. It’s where our advantage comes from. It’s where our advantage comes from.

Yes, we need to possess the ball longer... but not at the expense of tempo. We’ll get there by running the ball better and converting more first downs.
 
#8
#8
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...

If the defense can ever improve enough to get off the field and not permit long drives they would solve it themselves. Don't blame the offense.
 
#10
#10
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...
FYI… we had 3 games with 28 Pt leads after first quarter
 
#11
#11
It always seemed like they lose that intensity and focus once building a lead.

Hopefully some mature leaders emerge and help everyone keep their focus and intensity.

CFB is a game of momentum, and when you lose it, it can be hard to regain. We need leaders who aren’t afraid to yell and scream and slap people around when they lose focus.

That’s why we all loved Al Wilson. He kept everyone up.
 
#12
#12
To sharpen two points already made, probably no practice offense can execute at our pace, so the first quarter is the first time an opposing D has worked at that pace. But they adjust their individual internal clocks, and their coordinator points out what mistakes were made in the first few series.

As for our offense--specifically, our offensive line--in some interview I heard or read that after 12-13 plays, our offensive line coach is in Heupel's ear, saying "We've gotta get off the field, now!" So, yes--fatigue becomes a problem for our bigs not too long after it does for the defensive bigs.

I'm not sure how long it will take (if it's even realistic) to get enough O-line depth to "semi-platoon" our way through a game.

What I do believe is that running backs with elite speed are the more realistic key to cutting the time our offensive line is on the field. Speed was the difference between many 20+ yard runs becoming 40+ yard runs, and most being touchdowns.
 
#13
#13
Have to be able to line up on 3rd and short and 4th and short, be physical and push people around. I love the cute and fancy and super athletic. They can score quickly and it's very entertaining. But if you want to compete with the big boys in the league, you are going to have to win in the trenches at the end of the day.
 
#14
#14
Have to be able to line up on 3rd and short and 4th and short, be physical and push people around. I love the cute and fancy and super athletic. They can score quickly and it's very entertaining. But if you want to compete with the big boys in the league, you are going to have to win in the trenches at the end of the day.
Agree, James Cook was fancier but UGA was bludgeoning Bama with Zamir White in the 4th quarter of the NCG. Bama bludgeoned people with Brian Robinson, both always seem to have that big power back.
 
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#15
#15
Have to be able to line up on 3rd and short and 4th and short, be physical and push people around. I love the cute and fancy and super athletic. They can score quickly and it's very entertaining. But if you want to compete with the big boys in the league, you are going to have to win in the trenches at the end of the day.
Never wanna see Jaylen Wright on third or fourth and short again
 
#17
#17
FYI… we had 3 games with 28 Pt leads after first quarter
Perhaps you are mistaken.
We scored 28 points in the first quarter in two games.
South Carolina trailed 28-0.
Missouri trailed 28-3
The only other game we scored more than 14 points in the first was Purdue at 21.
FYI , we scored first quarter points
FL 7
Bama 14
GA 0
Hardly the first quarter juggernaut you describe.
 
#18
#18
Noticed another interesting thing about those numbers you included in the OP, Little.

Check this out:
We ranked 7th in scoring!
--1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
--what about 2nd qtr?- 59th
--what about 3rd qtr? - 29th
--so 4th qtr scoring! - 47th

If you average 1st, 59th, 29th, and 47th, it comes out to 34.

But we weren't 34th in the nation over the duration of an entire game. As you said, we were 7th. That's a big difference.

What gives? How does a great 1st quarter put us so high up in the overall standings on this metric?

As tnutater points out, it's not because we're scoring crazy big numbers in the 1st quarter. Just two games saw us score 28...a third game was 21 points...and all the rest of our 1st quarters were 14 or less. We may have been #1 in the nation in the 1st Qtr, but we clearly weren't ahead of everyone else by 20-30 points.

Mathematically, then, there's only one possible answer: EVERY team scores less in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters.

It might just be a feature of the game of football. The silhouette of a typical college football game may have a lump of scoring in the first, then taper dramatically off the rest of the game.

In other words, to a certain extent, it is possible that this just isn't something you bother too much to solve. It's just how football goes. Maybe.

I'm not saying we shrug our shoulders and forget about it all, but the math is pointing at a quirk we ought to understand before coming to any big conclusions.
 
Last edited:
#19
#19
Noticed another interesting thing about those numbers you included in the OP, Little.

Check this out:


If you average 1st, 59th, 29th, and 47th, it comes out to 34.

But we weren't 34th in the nation over the duration of an entire game. As you said, we were 7th. That's a big difference.

What gives? How does a great 1st quarter put us so high up in the overall standings on this metric?

As tnutater points out, it's not because we're scoring crazy big numbers in the 1st quarter. Just two games saw us score 28...a third game was 21 points...and all the rest of our 1st quarters were 14 or less. We may have been #1 in the nation in the 1st Qtr, but we clearly weren't ahead of everyone else by 20-30 points.

Mathematically, then, there's only one possible answer: EVERY team scores less in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters.

It might just be a feature of the game of football. The silhouette of a typical college football game may have a lump of scoring in the first, then taper dramatically off the rest of the game.

In other words, to a certain extent, it is possible that this just isn't something you bother too much to solve. It's just how football goes. Maybe.

I'm not saying we shrug our shoulders and forget about it all, but the math is pointing at a quirk we ought to understand before coming to any big conclusions.

Love the application of logic. I admire Math people like a quadriplegic admires world class athletes.
 
#20
#20
We had some growing pains. I have faith Heupel will have this team playing much better this year and will make adjustments. Weren’t we running a very vanilla offense last year and didn’t open it up? I think if we stay healthy, we will be much improved,
 
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#21
#21
Perhaps you are mistaken.
We scored 28 points in the first quarter in two games.
South Carolina trailed 28-0.
Missouri trailed 28-3
The only other game we scored more than 14 points in the first was Purdue at 21.
FYI , we scored first quarter points
FL 7
Bama 14
GA 0
Hardly the first quarter juggernaut you describe.
Thanks for technicality’s! We only scored 21 on Pitt because Milton couldn’t hit 1 freaking deep ball! Same happened in the bowl game only refs wouldn’t call pass interference because we were already killing them. In both of those games 28 should have been the bottom!
Who else scored 14 on Bama in the first?
Florida was another game of missed opportunity!
In both maybe not 28 but plays were definitely there!
 
#22
#22
We've all heard the saying.
At First impression, our OFFENSE looks amazing and super explosive. But is it "efficient "?

We ranked 7th in scoring!
- Excellent
We ranked 1st in scoring for the 1st Qtr!
- excellent again!
But what about 2nd qtr?
- 59th...🙄
Well we had a good 1st qtr so we can drab a little on the 2nd qtr maybe. But an explosive offense will pick it up in the 2nd half!
So what about 3rd qtr?
- 29th...🤔
Not awful...but we're kind of in a lull.

What about this saying?
" Its not about how you start but HOW YOU FINISH "
So 4th qtr scoring!
- 47th....🤨

All the while this 3 qtr lull is happening and we're only possessing the ball for 24 mins a game 😣.
Time of possession
- 130th or, dead last.

We ranked 7th in scoring but 13th in points per play🤔...
That's not bad really. So we're getting a good amount of plays (opportunities) and on average are doing decent with overall scoring.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM: We're getting
a good number of continous opportunities early on BECAUSE the defense is getting STOPS in early half of the game.
But as you look at our 2nd and 3rd qtr output.(59 and 29th) ..we're not really pouring it on the opponent, IN ADDITION to not using a lot of time 😐.

So our defense has gotten turnovers and stops, but our offense hasn't really put things away and now we're gassed...

Again: We have gotten offensive possessions....so it's not like the other team is just chewing up clock and keeping our offense off the field. NO...it's our offense getting off the field too quickly with many scorless possessions and putting our average defense RIGHT BACK on the field.

THIS was the difference between
10-3 and 7-6 imo

I just wanted to present this so that everyone can see that it's not that we have great offense and a bad defense...NO, we just play at a slightly Above average level as an overall team.

Great Recruiting will help obviously, but please I encourage you all to take a closer look at what's actually happening out there.
We need improvement all around! Not just defense...
I can remember a number of UCF fans being happy Heupel was leaving. They were tired of his bombs away approach. When it works, it's a lot of fun. Then when it doesn't....

I'm old so I'm still a believer in defense, special teams, and being under center for short yardage situations. Time will tell
 

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