Not convinced our offense will look inept vs Florida

#1
wtmvol

wtmvol

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#1
There is a lot of doom and gloom on this forum. Some of it is rightfully out of concern for the injuries we've sustained on defense. Some of it is also rightfully out of despair at how our OL has looked so far. I understand both of those concerns, but I guess I'm an optimist, so here goes...

Last year we ran all over Florida with both Dobbs and Hurd. We were able to do that with virtually no passing game. Jauan Jennings nearly out-passed Dobbs for the game with his 1 throw on the trick play. Our WRs this year I believe are a definite upgrade over what we had last year in the Florida game (of our actual WRs, Josh Smith led the group with a whopping 6 receiving yards). If Malone can continue to show he can move the sticks, it will keep Florida off-balance just enough.

wtm, have you even watched the 1st 3 games?

I sure did - well, actually I had to listen to the Ohio game on the radio, but I am up to speed on how we've looked so far. For whatever reason, especially in the App St and Ohio games, it's like we just mailed in the gameplan and just said, ok we'll just out-talent these guys and move on to the next week. I believe our scheme doesn't work if you remove even 1 cylinder from the engine. Some teams with big, powerful OLs can just overwhelm weaker opponents by just running up the middle. Our offense depends on misdirection and timing to be effective. I don't agree with Butch's decision to play it like that because it's not like teams don't have film of last year to go by, but we clearly weren't showing much against Ohio and App State.

wtm, if Chance Hall can't go, Florida's DL will destroy Dobbs and Hurd.

I really hope Chance can go this Saturday, but you know who didn't start last year against Florida? Chance Hall. Our OL from left to right was Kerbyson, Robertson, Thomas, Wiesman, and Kendrick. I think the OL will magically start looking better once we fire up all the cylinders in the gameplan. Are they great? No. But they're not as bad as they've looked so far this year.
 
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#3
#3
It is going to be tough to run the ball against Florida's front the way our offensive line has been playing. I hear your point about the personnel on our O-line being similar to last year's, but for whatever reason they aren't playing well and I don't see how they dramatically improve for this game.

I hope (certainly don't expect) Josh Malone gets lots of chances to make a play against Tabor in single coverage. DeBord has shown reluctance all year, despite Malone's obvious physical talent and high number of TD catches, to let Malone make a play against a CB in a 1-on-1 situation. He gets 1, maybe 2 shots a game. To beat Florida, I think it is going to require that. Also need to see slants over the middle and get the TEs involved. We have not done that this year and seemingly haven't even really tried to.
 
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#4
#4
I think it is great you are optimistic. I would like nothing better than to agree with you. But the inadequacies in our scheme, the porous offensive line, and the lack of consistency are not due to some master plan. The coaches didn't dial it down for less talented competition. We've got legitimate problems in our offense which are not likely to resolve in 1 week.
I hope we beat UF. But we are not a good football team right now.
 
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#6
#6
Not convinced our offense will look inept vs Florida

Hmmm, so ya think we have a chance???

Well, hope you are correct and that our play callers have been holding back and that they learn how to read defenses between now and Saturday. Go Vols
 
#7
#7
Obiously OP hasn't seen the play calling. The bobcats are the same team that gave up 27points to Kansas. The same Kansas team that has won only 1 game in 1 plus years. Offense is so damn sketchy. Blind man could see that
 
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#8
#8
fingers crossed this has just been some vanilla nonsense the first few games to not show anything to the SEC teams. I hope we crush them with physical downhill runs and bootlegs tosses to the back pylon.....
again this is my hope, however the tape suggests that might not happen....this team can win the game, i dont doubt that but its gonna be a tough defensive game IMO.....
 
#10
#10
I don't know about "opening up the playbook," but I am quite certain they'll be some wrinkles in this week's offense that we haven't seen before. Whether or not the team can execute them, who knows. We'll all have to hang up and listen.
 
#11
#11
Spawn said:
Obiously OP hasn't seen the play calling. The bobcats are the same team that gave up 27points to Kansas. The same Kansas team that has won only 1 game in 1 plus years. Offense is so damn sketchy. Blind man could see that
Click to expand...

It is not just play calling. There were a lot of plays that were not executed well. Either by the qb or the receiver, just think about it...a pick, a couple of wide open receivers overthrown. Game changing events along with some key penalties. Time to clean all of this misfiring up and execute!
 
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#12
#12
I just don't understand how virtually the exact same personnel got worse with another year under their belt. I thought for sure they would have grown, matured, and learned to gel together better than what they have. Seems like they actually took a couple of steps backwards. Mind boggling.
 
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#13
#13
Time to play preseason is over. Would love to see Kamara,Hurd ,and Kelly on the field at the same time. That being said Berry on defense would definitely bring speed to the ball.Injuries are part of the game and next man up.. Love the Vols and look forward to better play on both sides of the ball. GBO
 
#14
#14
wtmvol said:
There is a lot of doom and gloom on this forum. Some of it is rightfully out of concern for the injuries we've sustained on defense. Some of it is also rightfully out of despair at how our OL has looked so far. I understand both of those concerns, but I guess I'm an optimist, so here goes...

Last year we ran all over Florida with both Dobbs and Hurd. We were able to do that with virtually no passing game. Jauan Jennings nearly out-passed Dobbs for the game with his 1 throw on the trick play. Our WRs this year I believe are a definite upgrade over what we had last year in the Florida game (of our actual WRs, Josh Smith led the group with a whopping 6 receiving yards). If Malone can continue to show he can move the sticks, it will keep Florida off-balance just enough.

wtm, have you even watched the 1st 3 games?

I sure did - well, actually I had to listen to the Ohio game on the radio, but I am up to speed on how we've looked so far. For whatever reason, especially in the App St and Ohio games, it's like we just mailed in the gameplan and just said, ok we'll just out-talent these guys and move on to the next week. I believe our scheme doesn't work if you remove even 1 cylinder from the engine. Some teams with big, powerful OLs can just overwhelm weaker opponents by just running up the middle. Our offense depends on misdirection and timing to be effective. I don't agree with Butch's decision to play it like that because it's not like teams don't have film of last year to go by, but we clearly weren't showing much against Ohio and App State.

wtm, if Chance Hall can't go, Florida's DL will destroy Dobbs and Hurd.

I really hope Chance can go this Saturday, but you know who didn't start last year against Florida? Chance Hall. Our OL from left to right was Kerbyson, Robertson, Thomas, Wiesman, and Kendrick. I think the OL will magically start looking better once we fire up all the cylinders in the gameplan. Are they great? No. But they're not as bad as they've looked so far this year.
Click to expand...

Go to the opening sentence of the second paragraph. If we can run all over Florida then we can run on anybody. We are a running team. Establish the run to setup the passing. In the first 3 games, we have been trying to establish the pass to setup the run. We are not a passing threat team. Second, the reason this team hasn't played well is do to the pressure. Everybody knows the next 4 games is the season.
 
#15
#15
wtmvol said:
There is a lot of doom and gloom on this forum. Some of it is rightfully out of concern for the injuries we've sustained on defense. Some of it is also rightfully out of despair at how our OL has looked so far. I understand both of those concerns, but I guess I'm an optimist, so here goes...

Last year we ran all over Florida with both Dobbs and Hurd. We were able to do that with virtually no passing game. Jauan Jennings nearly out-passed Dobbs for the game with his 1 throw on the trick play. Our WRs this year I believe are a definite upgrade over what we had last year in the Florida game (of our actual WRs, Josh Smith led the group with a whopping 6 receiving yards). If Malone can continue to show he can move the sticks, it will keep Florida off-balance just enough.

wtm, have you even watched the 1st 3 games?

I sure did - well, actually I had to listen to the Ohio game on the radio, but I am up to speed on how we've looked so far. For whatever reason, especially in the App St and Ohio games, it's like we just mailed in the gameplan and just said, ok we'll just out-talent these guys and move on to the next week. I believe our scheme doesn't work if you remove even 1 cylinder from the engine. Some teams with big, powerful OLs can just overwhelm weaker opponents by just running up the middle. Our offense depends on misdirection and timing to be effective. I don't agree with Butch's decision to play it like that because it's not like teams don't have film of last year to go by, but we clearly weren't showing much against Ohio and App State.

wtm, if Chance Hall can't go, Florida's DL will destroy Dobbs and Hurd.

I really hope Chance can go this Saturday, but you know who didn't start last year against Florida? Chance Hall. Our OL from left to right was Kerbyson, Robertson, Thomas, Wiesman, and Kendrick. I think the OL will magically start looking better once we fire up all the cylinders in the gameplan. Are they great? No. But they're not as bad as they've looked so far this year.
Click to expand...

Here's my issue with all of this... I could see that potentially Butch decided to go light, keep most of the playbook closed, limit Dobbs, etc... the first three games thinking, "We can do enough to win, hold our cards close to the vest, and then unleash on FL, GA, A&M, AL." I think it's a bad game plan, but I could see it.

Here's where that falls apart. Butch definitely didn't say to the O line, "I need you guys to be bad. Really bad. I mean, look like we've regressed from last season. That will really throw them!" The point is that the O line has been that bad, and they haven't been able to get it fixed to the point that the offense has looked mostly anemic. That's a big problem against a defense like FL's, and it's not something that "opening the playbook" is going to help. If they can't protect Dobbs, he can't throw and we can't run.
 
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#16
#16
wesleydmartin said:
fingers crossed this has just been some vanilla nonsense the first few games to not show anything to the SEC teams. I hope we crush them with physical downhill runs and bootlegs tosses to the back pylon.....
again this is my hope, however the tape suggests that might not happen....this team can win the game, i dont doubt that but its gonna be a tough defensive game IMO.....
Click to expand...

There is no way we have been running a "vanilla scheme" for 3 straight games. Especially not when we had to come from behind to beat App and played an ACC team in game #2.

It is "what you see is what you get" with this offense. I think the only thing you can realistically hope for is marginal improvement on the offensive line. The playcalling is what it is.
 
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#17
#17
05_never_again said:
It is going to be tough to run the ball against Florida's front the way our offensive line has been playing. I hear your point about the personnel on our O-line being similar to last year's, but for whatever reason they aren't playing well and I don't see how they dramatically improve for this game.

I hope (certainly don't expect) Josh Malone gets lots of chances to make a play against Tabor in single coverage. DeBord has shown reluctance all year, despite Malone's obvious physical talent and high number of TD catches, to let Malone make a play against a CB in a 1-on-1 situation. He gets 1, maybe 2 shots a game. To beat Florida, I think it is going to require that. Also need to see slants over the middle and get the TEs involved. We have not done that this year and seemingly haven't even really tried to.
Click to expand...

I hear your (and other's) concern on our ability to run consistently on Florida's front.

I completely agree with your point about getting the TE's involved. Typically when Dobbs connects with Wolf, it's about 10-15 yards down the middle. I think that's a huge piece of our passing game to open that up, which will also help our running game. Wolf caught 4 passes against App State, and has only caught 1 since.
 
#18
#18
McDad said:
I think it is great you are optimistic. I would like nothing better than to agree with you. But the inadequacies in our scheme, the porous offensive line, and the lack of consistency are not due to some master plan. The coaches didn't dial it down for less talented competition. We've got legitimate problems in our offense which are not likely to resolve in 1 week.
I hope we beat UF. But we are not a good football team right now.
Click to expand...

You're right. Out record is deceiving. We've been outcoached in every game and been fortunate to win the first 2 with missed kicks and 5 fumbles. Our offensive scheme is elementary and we play with zero emotion.

I hope we beat them too. We should have definitive answers after Saturday one way or another...
 
#19
#19
I propose we keep a tight end beside Coleman Thomas...has problems with the edge rush. Also, maybe go to two tight end sets if we have trouble with either side of the O line,...Gators gonna be coming hard at Josh.

GO VOLS!
 
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#20
#20
Wylo said:
You just return stateside? They must've not had televisions on your mission trip.
Click to expand...

Can't actually debate points so resort to Busch league humor. Doubt you even know what you are actually seeing on Saturdays.
 
#21
#21
Pacer92 said:
You're right. Out record is deceiving. We've been outcoached in every game and been fortunate to win the first 2 with missed kicks and 5 fumbles. Our offensive scheme is elementary and we play with zero emotion.

I hope we beat them too. We should have definitive answers after Saturday one way or another...
Click to expand...

Not to be argumentative but i don't think we will have definitive answers either. I can see a scenario where our guys play with a metric ton of emotion simply because it is Florida. If so, they could play lights out. That still leaves us fans with many questions. I could just as easily see a scenario where we squeak out a lucky win or heartbreaking loss because of an inopportune fumble.
Many questions could still be on the table after UF.
 
#22
#22
wesleydmartin said:
fingers crossed this has just been some vanilla nonsense the first few games to not show anything to the SEC teams. I hope we crush them with physical downhill runs and bootlegs tosses to the back pylon.....
again this is my hope, however the tape suggests that might not happen....this team can win the game, i dont doubt that but its gonna be a tough defensive game IMO.....
Click to expand...

I think they have basically stayed vanilla so far and heres why. There is alot of plays we ran last year that hasn't showed up yet in games this year. We haven't seen the receiver motion across and take the hand off or no WR reverse. No wheel routes. Anybody else come up with some?
 
#23
#23
05_never_again said:
There is no way we have been running a "vanilla scheme" for 3 straight games. Especially not when we had to come from behind to beat App and played an ACC team in game #2.

It is "what you see is what you get" with this offense. I think the only thing you can realistically hope for is marginal improvement on the offensive line. The playcalling is what it is.
Click to expand...

well improvement in the oline may be all we need to win this game.....
notice in my post i used words like hope and fingers crossed in reference to the play calling....i also stated tape looks other wise like it wont get better...
 
#24
#24
I hope its the game plan over the past few games, but that shouldn't matter. The offense should have dominated ohio and app state. Because they spent most of the time being dominated,my confidence is pretty low coming into the uf game. I'm going to wait and see about butch. There is only 1 excuse saturday if we lose.
Maybe only putting a few plays into your game plan sends a message to the offense.
 
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