The common factors in the three losses.

#1
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UtahVol

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#1
After five weeks of the 2015 season, it is becoming apparent where we have struggled--the trenches and kicking. The deficiencies on the offensive line have been masked to some extent by the ability to get Kamara outside the tackle box and the fact that Hurd is a freaking sledge hammer. But we have not been able to protect Dobbs long enough to allow long passes.

The defensive side has been a more obvious problem. Now, we know that Florida and Arkansas have two of the top 5 largest lines in all football-pro or college. And that Arkansas line is really the classic "road grader" line. But Tennessee has been completely unable to stop the run consistently and also not been able to pressure the quarterback.

So while the focus on those losses have been on individual plays and debatable coaching calls, a lot of the skill developed in the last two recruiting classes has been neutralized by the trench play. The inconsistency of the kicking game has been troubling as it has offset some otherwise great special teams plays in returns and punting.
 
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#4
#4
UtahVol said:
After five weeks of the 2015 season, it is becoming apparent where we have struggled--the trenches and kicking. The deficiencies on the offensive line have been masked to some extent by the ability to get Kamara outside the tackle box and the fact that Hurd is a freaking sledge hammer. But we have not been able to protect Dobbs long enough to allow long passes.

The defensive side has been a more obvious problem. Now, we know that Florida and Arkansas have two of the top 5 largest lines in all football-pro or college. And that Arkansas line is really the classic "road grader" line. But Tennessee has been completely unable to stop the run consistently and also not been able to pressure the quarterback.

So while the focus on those losses have been on individual plays and debatable coaching calls, a lot of the skill developed in the last two recruiting classes has been neutralized by the trench play. The inconsistency of the kicking game has been troubling as it has offset some otherwise great special teams plays in returns and punting.
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I think the big issue we are having on defense is at the interior tackle position . The young guys playing there are very talented , but very underdeveloped in terms or strength , technique , and conditioning . The depth is questionable at these positions too . The DEs are getting up and out much faster than the DTs are getting to the backfield . Rather than a collapsing pocket , you have collapsing ends and two running lanes , or dead areas for the QB to step up to between the ends and the tackles . Many want to yell about coaches and scheme ect ...but this is a by product of the youth and lack of depth inside. The LBs are having to key this deficiency and it hinders their ability to cover or get sideline to sideline

I think the offensive line is doing good for the most part , providing 2.5 to 3.2 seconds . Dobbs is holding the ball far too long . He is slow in his progressions and often late on delivery and inaccurate. The coaches are protecting him with single read executable plays when ever possible. Our offense will continue to struggle until he can routinely execute routine passes .
 
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#5
#5
We lost them all by one score or less. That's a glass half full/empty situation right there.
 
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#6
#6
IMO you missed the boat on your offensive analysis. This OL is not spectacular, but they are serviceable and better than last year. There are actually a few teams in the SEC alone who have worse OL's and better or similar records.

Our true problem on offense is that we have no pass threat past 8 yards and it makes what we attempt to do on offense extremely limited and painfully obvious. Our offense struggles to make throws against even mediocre coverage, and when we do, we drop quite a few of them.

Coaches recognize this throughout the game, and it results in our offense's failure to sustain drives and score points in the second half.
 
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#12
#12
VinylVols said:
Common factor in 3 games? We suck.
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I think we lack the killer instinct to close it out. That is both on the coaches and players.

I find it amusing the meltdown that's happening on here is mainly from the people that blamed Dooley for everything.

"We've got to wash the stench of Dooley from this program"...etc.

Guys, I'm convinced that night in Tempe there was some serious voodoo stuff going on.
 
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#14
#14
ScornedPapaVol said:
The common factor is Butch Jones leading us from a 17/13/14 point lead to a heart breaking loss.
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I think is more symptomatic of the trench play than coaching. We are lean, both physically and in terms of numbers, and I think fatigue has played a big role in these losses. Yesterday, we got progressively worse stopping the run as the game progressed, even at the times when running was the expected play.
 
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#15
#15
majic73 said:
I think the big issue we are having on defense is at the interior tackle position . The young guys playing there are very talented , but very underdeveloped in terms or strength , technique , and conditioning . The depth is questionable at these positions too . The DEs are getting up and out much faster than the DTs are getting to the backfield . Rather than a collapsing pocket , you have collapsing ends and two running lanes , or dead areas for the QB to step up to between the ends and the tackles . Many want to yell about coaches and scheme ect ...but this is a by product of the youth and lack of depth inside. The LBs are having to key this deficiency and it hinders their ability to cover or get sideline to sideline

I think the offensive line is doing good for the most part , providing 2.5 to 3.2 seconds . Dobbs is holding the ball far too long . He is slow in his progressions and often late on delivery and inaccurate. The coaches are protecting him with single read executable plays when ever possible. Our offense will continue to struggle until he can routinely execute routine passes .
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Absolutely correct. Add in the fact that we have a true freshman MLB playing behind those tackles, and you can see why we struggle.

On offense, you are correct but I would expand. We play well early while the running game is working. However, when defenses make adjustments to take that away, we just aren't consistent enough throwing the ball to sustain drives. It is not that our coaches aren't making adjustments, because at least last night, they did. We threw the ball more in the second half out of necessity. But, between inaccurate throws from the QB, and drops from the WRs, we scored only 3 points.

There are a lot of execution deficiencies in there. Now, whether that is poor coaching during the week, the fault of the players, or both, is open for discussion.
 
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#16
#16
Good post OP. I've been posting the same myself. CBJ hasn't helped himself with the lack of aggression vs OU and UF but Dobbs attempted 36 passes last night. Completed 20 but nothing deep besides a mid range pass to TE. Those screaming for more passing got it and it didn't work.

The problem for CBJ is that it's extremely tough to draw up the Xs and Os when you don't have the Jimmy's and Joes in the trenches. Again, not letting Butch completely off the hook but blame DD for Oline talent.
 
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#17
#17
Boca Vol said:
I think we lack the killer instinct to close it out. That is both on the coaches and players.

I find it amusing the meltdown that's happening on here is mainly from the people that blamed Dooley for everything.

"We've got to wash the stench of Dooley from this program"...etc.

Guys, I'm convinced that night in Tempe there was some serious voodoo stuff going on.
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I don't think it is a lack of a killer instinct. I think the defensive issues, coupled with an offense that bogs down once the running game gets slowed, puts us in a situation where any early lead slowly bleeds away. An early 14 points lead is simply not that big in today's game.
 
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#18
#18
However, the biggest issue on this team is lack of consistent play from the QB position. And I don't put that all on the player, either. I just don't see any improvement from the freshman year until now. Some of, and probably the majority of, the blame for that has to go on the coaches.

Let me ask a question to illustrate. What would this junior QB look like if Cut was his position coach and OC? I would bet he would look a lot more like Heath Shuler than what he currently looks like.
 
#19
#19
VolFootballIsLife said:
Good post OP. I've been posting the same myself. CBJ hasn't helped himself with the lack of aggression vs OU and UF but Dobbs attempted 36 passes last night. Completed 20 but nothing deep besides a mid range pass to TE. Those screaming for more passing got it and it didn't work.

The problem for CBJ is that it's extremely tough to draw up the Xs and Os when you don't have the Jimmy's and Joes in the trenches. Again, not letting Butch completely off the hook but blame DD for Oline talent.
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I don't disagree. But, where I won't let CBJ off the hook is in the lack of development of many position groups. QB, WR and OL are most glaring, but I don't see a lot of players getting better.

Hurd is the obvious exception. He is a big time player with a lot of heart.
 
#20
#20
EZE said:
Absolutely correct. Add in the fact that we have a true freshman MLB playing behind those tackles, and you can see why we struggle.

On offense, you are correct but I would expand. We play well early while the running game is working. However, when defenses make adjustments to take that away, we just aren't consistent enough throwing the ball to sustain drives. It is not that our coaches aren't making adjustments, because at least last night, they did. We threw the ball more in the second half out of necessity. But, between inaccurate throws from the QB, and drops from the WRs, we scored only 3 points.

There are a lot of execution deficiencies in there. Now, whether that is poor coaching during the week, the fault of the players, or both, is open for discussion.
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Agree and agreed .

I think the DTs are youth related . Those you guys will be awesome by next year .
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I cant say on Dobbs. I am sure the kid is working very hard and being coached . Could a better job be done ? I dont know
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It is refreshing to have some commentary from some one not of the lynch mob . The coaches could probably do a better job in some areas , but some key areas of youth and depth are causing some problems. QB execution is an issue that coaches cant fix on game day . Only time and development can fix these problems.
 
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#22
#22
I don't think the problem is any one of coaches, qb, offense, defense, lines, game plan or players. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. It's up to Jones to figure it out and right the ship. That's why he is paid the big bucks.
 
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#23
#23
majic73 said:
Agree and agreed .

I think the DTs are youth related . Those you guys will be awesome by next year .
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I cant say on Dobbs. I am sure the kid is working very hard and being coached . Could a better job be done ? I dont know
-
It is refreshing to have some commentary from some one not of the lynch mob . The coaches could probably do a better job in some areas , but some key areas of youth and depth are causing some problems. QB execution is an issue that coaches cant fix on game day . Only time and development can fix these problems.
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Hey, it was good for me to see a game live, because it let me see the big picture and not just the Windows you see on TV.

I felt like our coaching was fine last night. I had no problems with it. We had numerous execution errors. Nobody can deny that. Now, again, how much of that goes back to coaching, I don't know. Certainly some of it does.

But, at the end of the day, our offense had two opportunities to drive down and win the game. And didn't come close to getting it done. And it wasn't because of conservative play calling.
 
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#24
#24
UTFootballFan said:
I don't think the problem is any one of coaches, qb, offense, defense, lines, game plan or players. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. It's up to Jones to figure it out and right the ship. That's why he is paid the big bucks.
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Totally agree with this.
 
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