Possession

#1

dcm3w

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#1
Something I've noticed in all of our losses was that in the second half, our time of possession was shorter. Having a longer time of possession doesn't necessarily mean that a team will win a game but here are the reasons why it affected us negatively.

Defense. We have had a lot of critical injuries that have put our depth and experience to the test. I blame our defense for a good portion of our losses but I think it all stems back to time of possession.

How is the defense suppose to keep playing with the same intensity and mistake free when they're on the field for what seems like the entire second half? The answer is they can't. They get sloppy, they make mistakes, the take bad angles, they can't tackle.

Who's to blame?

Our offense? Partially.
It's our scheme and the lack of adjustments.

Our scheme is designed to play fast and push the tempo. That is all fine and dandy if you can move the ball and ultimately get in scoring range. However, the downfall to a fast tempo offense is that a 3 and out can come faster than one can say "fire Butch".
So, the pro style offenses that have slow tempos can thrive in the second half when facing us because they can grind down our defense until they eventually make mistakes.

My solution: when we aren't moving the ball well enough and our defense stays on the field, we should slow down our offense and chew some clock. Hopefully, it will give our defense a break and give our offense an opportunity to throw the opposing defenses off balance.
 
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#2
#2
Something I've noticed in all of our losses was that in the second half, our time of possession was shorter. Having a longer time of possession doesn't necessarily mean that a team will win a game but here are the reasons why it affected us negatively.

Defense. We have had a lot of critical injuries that have put our depth and experience to the test. I blame our defense for a good portion of our losses but I think it all stems back to time of possession.

How is the defense suppose to keep playing with the same intensity and mistake free when they're on the field for what seems like the entire second half? The answer is they can't. They get sloppy, they make mistakes, the take bad angles, they can't tackle.

Who's to blame?

Our offense? Partially.
It's our scheme and the lack of adjustments.

Our scheme is designed to play fast and push the tempo. That is all fine and dandy if you can move the ball and ultimately get in scoring range. However, the downfall to a fast tempo offense is that a 3 and out can come faster than one can say "fire Butch".
So, the pro style offenses that have slow tempos can thrive in the second half when facing us because they can grind down our defense until they eventually make mistakes.

My solution: when we aren't moving the ball well enough and our defense stays on the field, we should slow down our offense and chew some clock. Hopefully, it will give our defense a break and give our offense an opportunity to throw the opposing defenses off balance.

Your solution is actually called "playing to not lose", which is something the staff has been beaten up for doing anyway. The real solution would be to carry the fight for 60 minutes. Blitz, throw down field. Do what got you there.
 
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#3
#3
Her's a question: Is the Ole Ball Coach a very good coach??????

Now I'm thinking most folks that know football, and even most here on VN would agree he is. Last year he had a 2 touchdown lead in the 4th qtr in at least four games that he lost. After Tenn beat him lots of folks were saying Butch had his number. Did he just turn into a bad coach last year? He won 10 games a year for 3-4 years in a row. Sooners coach has a Natl Champ, drilled Tenn last year, then lost 5 games last year. Did he forget how to coach the last half of the season?

I am not defending or accusing CBJ's coaching ability. Just pointing out it happens to other people's team.
 
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#4
#4
Her's a question: Is the Ole Ball Coach a very good coach??????

Now I'm thinking most folks that know football, and even most here on VN would agree he is. Last year he had a 2 touchdown lead in the 4th qtr in at least four games that he lost. After Tenn beat him lots of folks were saying Butch had his number. Did he just turn into a bad coach last year? He won 10 games a year for 3-4 years in a row. Sooners coach has a Natl Champ, drilled Tenn last year, then lost 5 games last year. Did he forget how to coach the last half of the season?

I am not defending or accusing CBJ's coaching ability. Just pointing out it happens to other people's team.

Excellent post. Thank you.

But, iz youz saying that Coach Superior and staff "didn't get stupid overnight?"
 
#6
#6
Our coaching staff is completely incompetent when it comes to game management.

Why were we still snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock late in the 3Q and halfway through the 4th of both the Oklahoma and the Florida game?

If coach is going to run out of the tunnel after halftime and stand over there and bite his nails hoping every second ticks off faster, the least he could do is do that part right.
 
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#7
#7
Our coaching staff is completely incompetent when it comes to game management.

Why were we still snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock late in the 3Q and halfway through the 4th of both the Oklahoma and the Florida game?

If coach is going to run out of the tunnel after halftime and stand over there and bite his nails hoping every second ticks off faster, the least he could do is do that part right.

He could have let the clock run down, still lost, and everyone could blame him for changing his style and losing the game. If that style got a 13-14 point lead in first half, why would he change it? No win situation whichever he does
 
#8
#8
He could have let the clock run down, still lost, and everyone could blame him for changing his style and losing the game. If that style got a 13-14 point lead in first half, why would he change it? No win situation whichever he does


Because it's coaching 101 you have the lead late in the 3rd early in the 4th YOU START CHEWING SOME CLOCK?! The hurry up in that scenario is definitely not the way to go I thought it was common sense guess not.
 
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#9
#9
Because it's coaching 101 you have the lead late in the 3rd early in the 4th YOU START CHEWING SOME CLOCK?! The hurry up in that scenario is definitely not the way to go I thought it was common sense guess not.

I'm not too smart and must not have common sense. I would think running the clock in the 3rd or early 4th qtr with a 14 pt or less lead is like going into conservative mode. I'm sure that's why I am not a coach even though I've watched football for 40 years. I've seen it work both ways. Sometimes you run the clock out to win and sometimes you wish you hadn't run the clock out when you need a couple of those minutes to try and score last minute
 
#10
#10
Our coaching staff is completely incompetent when it comes to game management.

Why were we still snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock late in the 3Q and halfway through the 4th of both the Oklahoma and the Florida game?

If coach is going to run out of the tunnel after halftime and stand over there and bite his nails hoping every second ticks off faster, the least he could do is do that part right.


Easiest thing is to keep scoring TD and they will never catch up especially when you have a 14 pt lead..
 
#11
#11
Your solution is actually called "playing to not lose", which is something the staff has been beaten up for doing anyway. The real solution would be to carry the fight for 60 minutes. Blitz, throw down field. Do what got you there.

In the Oklahoma game, yes we were playing not to lose. Florida game we didn't play not to lose so much. When I say chew up the clock it doesn't necessarily mean run up the middle 3 plays in a row.
I'm not sure if people even watched the Arky game because we did throw the ball down field. It wasn't there and that happens. I didn't like that call on 4th down. Yes, it could have been good to do because we could have caught them off guard but it hadn't been there all night.
 
#13
#13
Our coaching staff is completely incompetent when it comes to game management.

Why were we still snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock late in the 3Q and halfway through the 4th of both the Oklahoma and the Florida game?

If coach is going to run out of the tunnel after halftime and stand over there and bite his nails hoping every second ticks off faster, the least he could do is do that part right.


Amen, brother. :good!:
 
#14
#14
Our coaching staff is completely incompetent when it comes to game management.

Why were we still snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock late in the 3Q and halfway through the 4th of both the Oklahoma and the Florida game?

If coach is going to run out of the tunnel after halftime and stand over there and bite his nails hoping every second ticks off faster, the least he could do is do that part right.

I think we were still trying to score I the 3rd and 4th qtrs, the problem was play selection. We just kept running it onto the line, then against Ar we open the 2nd half by passing the ball, little did I know how poorly that would go.

Time to move on to GA.
Go Vols! Beat Georgia!
 
#15
#15
That is what happens when you hit the brakes on your offense and start just running dive plays
 
#16
#16
I believe it is because the other team makes half time adjustments, and we call the same plays.
 
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