TNinOR
Blood = Orange HEX F77F00
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2013
- Messages
- 284
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- 275
Sure, speed kills. I think we, as Vol fans, have bought into that by now, because that is the type of team Butch Jones is building. But the SEC has nevertheless been more successful than other conferences, including and especially the PAC-10 (or whatever it's called now), because it attacks and dominates at the line of scrimmage (and, yes, to do that successfully requires a healthy dose of speed in its own right).
Now that we have adopted a "West Coast" style, I just hope that Coach Butch Jones doesn't lose sight of what made and continues to make the SEC successful.
Ultimately, I think we can do both: Run a spread offense and still hunker down and smash some mouths when we need to.
I am elated to have heard CBJ acknowledge on several occasions that the SEC is a "line of scrimmage" league, and I hope that signifies that, as much as he loves speed and "spreading it out", he understands that this style of football, in and of itself, does have its limitations on occasion.
For example, Stanford consistently owns Oregon. Why? Because they have made it a policy to take it to Oregon, defensively, by being very physical at the line of scrimmage and knocking Oregon off its game. Similarly, as flashy as Oregon is, it has not yet broken through to a national championship because it has inevitably run into SEC teams that have done the same thing.
It's all well and good to spread 'em out and dazzle them with your speed, but there come times when the other guy either has your number and/or things are just not clicking on your end. When those times come, you just have to be able to line up and smash 'em into submission (like we did against Arkansas in '98, for example). I think, I hope, that is exactly why CBJ has been recruiting guys like Hurd, Weatherd, Bates, TK, etc. The future sure does seem bright!
Now that we have adopted a "West Coast" style, I just hope that Coach Butch Jones doesn't lose sight of what made and continues to make the SEC successful.
Ultimately, I think we can do both: Run a spread offense and still hunker down and smash some mouths when we need to.
I am elated to have heard CBJ acknowledge on several occasions that the SEC is a "line of scrimmage" league, and I hope that signifies that, as much as he loves speed and "spreading it out", he understands that this style of football, in and of itself, does have its limitations on occasion.
For example, Stanford consistently owns Oregon. Why? Because they have made it a policy to take it to Oregon, defensively, by being very physical at the line of scrimmage and knocking Oregon off its game. Similarly, as flashy as Oregon is, it has not yet broken through to a national championship because it has inevitably run into SEC teams that have done the same thing.
It's all well and good to spread 'em out and dazzle them with your speed, but there come times when the other guy either has your number and/or things are just not clicking on your end. When those times come, you just have to be able to line up and smash 'em into submission (like we did against Arkansas in '98, for example). I think, I hope, that is exactly why CBJ has been recruiting guys like Hurd, Weatherd, Bates, TK, etc. The future sure does seem bright!