Vols offense looked at as gimmick

[Tin Man]

I wasn't born to it. I am not an alum. But I've been a UT fan for more than 30 years now. I like much of my hometown became UT fans when Heath Shuler signed with the Vols. His family and mine were close as neighbors, friends, church members, team mates, coaches, etc. His uncle coached me in baseball. My dad coached him in Little League. His cousin and my brother were best buds. On and on.....

So it was pretty natural for me to become a Vol fan. The Vols signed a player and got his community and "family" for life for the most part. I've moved a lot following my career. I believe we were in Seattle for most of Heath's time at UT. So being a Vol fan was kind of like taking a piece of home with me.

No less a fan. Just a different route.

Heath Shuler is among my favorite gridiron Vols. He helped to turn my eyes towards Western NC as a place to live. Provided my wife is amenable when at last she stops working, we will retire there.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

As has been pointed out multiple times, in 2022, there were many occasions the team would get to the line and would look to be going tempo, then look to the sideline for the play from the 3 coaches behind the banners for the play. Most of the time, they were pretty deep into the play clock before snapping the ball.

 

[LittleVol]

It took the 2 best defenses in college football the past 2 years to neutralize our high powered offense.
- UGA both years.

And 2022 is with an *. Sorry. Rain and loud opposing stadiums are a factor with any team.

However, schematics and talent wise they have what it takes to beat our offense. Heupel has to adjust. He has to continue to evolve. And I think he will.

Our offense had a variety of new wrinkles this past season. NONE of which we used against UGA for some reason 😕.

Regardless UTs offense is still the standard in college football right now.

 

[ScornedPapaVol]

As long as “gimmicks” get us 50 points a game I’m all for it 🙂

Hate to tell those other fanbases, but just wait until we get an elite back or two. With a quality OL that’ll take this offense to a whole other level.

When we get a break-away back the offense will impossible to contain.

 

[90 Vol]

At what point in football history was the forward pass considered a gimmick? The triple option?

 

[LouderVol]

If you're a Tennessee Vols fan who's spent even a little bit of time on social media in the last six months, you've likely seen plenty of opposing fan bases throwing shade at Josh Heupel's offense.
For reasons I don't understand, there's a narrative that Tennessee's offense just throws the ball deep down the field and does little else. Vols fans know that's nowhere close to being the case.


https://atozsports.com/nashville/tennessee-vols-news-false-heupel-ut-football

I wouldnt really care if it was. Its effective. And had been since his time back UCF. Apparently the only way to stop the "gimmick" is to have the nations best defense. I can take that gimmick all day long.

 

[barknoxbrawler]

At one point the winged T, wishbone and west coast offense were gimmicks. Just win then people copy you and gimmick becomes the topic of HS coaching clinics around the country

And that’s my point. I don’t care what it’s labeled. Just win. Winning brings more recruits and more wins. Who cares what it’s called unless the word is “Win.”

 

[orbs son]

Everything is a gimmick until it just becomes the norm.

 

[VolPack22]

All I know is that receivers are running wide open every single game for two years now. Call it whatever you want but the fact is other defenses are routinely getting burned.

 

[JDVOLFAN]

I don't care what they call our offense, just get ready because the Big Orange is coming after you this year. So lets line up and lets see what we bring at you. My bet's on the Vols. GBO

 

[ftsandersvol]

Let's ride that "gimmick" all the way to a national championship.

 

[LadyinOrange]

Call it whatever you want but at the end of the day the only thing that matters to them is that you clicked on their link.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Ashevillevol]

I would be interested to hear what Spurrier thinks about our offense. It seems to be a modern day iteration of what he used to run. I think he would be acknowledged to be one of the most innovative offensive coaches of his time. I think Heupel will end up there as well.

 

[OrangeTsar]

„Gimmick“ implies that it is all sleight of hand and once you figure out the trick, you can stop it. The fact is, after 26 games by Heupel’s UT Offense, teams are even LESS capable of stopping it than the first time they saw it inSeptember 2021. That indicates that it is either not a gimmick or that current Defensive Coordinators are absolute idiots. Which conclusion would opposing fan bases prefer? 😉

 

[sjt18]

Heath Shuler is among my favorite gridiron Vols. He helped to turn my eyes towards Western NC as a place to live. Provided my wife is amenable when at last she stops working, we will retire there.

I doubt I ever make it back. Our sons are both building lives in the Midwest. My wife probably won't leave. My family goes back 7+ generations in the WNC Smokies.

 

[Vol423]

If you're a Tennessee Vols fan who's spent even a little bit of time on social media in the last six months, you've likely seen plenty of opposing fan bases throwing shade at Josh Heupel's offense.
For reasons I don't understand, there's a narrative that Tennessee's offense just throws the ball deep down the field and does little else. Vols fans know that's nowhere close to being the case.


https://atozsports.com/nashville/tennessee-vols-news-false-heupel-ut-football

That sounds an awful lot like code for Heupel and the rest of our coaching staff out-coaching opposing teams' coaching staffs.

 

[sjt18]

It took the 2 best defenses in college football the past 2 years to neutralize our high powered offense.
- UGA both years.

And 2022 is with an *. Sorry. Rain and loud opposing stadiums are a factor with any team.

However, schematics and talent wise they have what it takes to beat our offense. Heupel has to adjust. He has to continue to evolve. And I think he will.

Our offense had a variety of new wrinkles this past season. NONE of which we used against UGA for some reason 😕.

Regardless UTs offense is still the standard in college football right now.

Agree with everything except the bold. Just being frank and honest... UT needs offensive talent that more closely matches UGA's defensive talent. I don't think scheme plays into that match up or really much of UGA's success over the past two years. They just have great talent and pretty sound development as well.

Would the 2022 game have been different in Neyland or a neutral field? Probably. But UGA just has overwhelming talent. Their advantage at most positions allowed them to scheme up Hyatt. Hooker had a really bad game. And that pretty much gummed up the whole thing.

 

[GAVol]

Agree with everything except the bold. Just being frank and honest... UT needs offensive talent that more closely matches UGA's defensive talent. I don't think scheme plays into that match up or really much of UGA's success over the past two years. They just have great talent and pretty sound development as well.

Would the 2022 game have been different in Neyland or a neutral field? Probably. But UGA just has overwhelming talent. Their advantage at most positions allowed them to scheme up Hyatt. Hooker had a really bad game. And that pretty much gummed up the whole thing.

Hooker really played OK IMO based on what he had to work with. He threw for about 200 yards through 3 qtrs with Jalen Carter pretty much collapsing every pocket we tried to throw from. He missed 2 or 3 deep shots that would have kept us in the game longer, but I agree with your overall point. There's no scheme that works long term when you're getting physically manhandled.

 

[tennrich1]

certainly not my definition of “gimmicky” offense. It’s fast paced…but that’s not gimmicky. It’s more about spacing and creating mismatches that gives our offense an edge. And, as far as I can tell, JH is a master at designing a game plan loaded with both. Just think about the Bama game alone…Hyatt was a mismatch all day long for Bama’s secondary. Of course it’s much MUCH easier to scheme mismatches with elite players!

 

[sjt18]

Hooker really played OK IMO based on what he had to work with. He threw for about 200 yards through 3 qtrs with Jalen Carter pretty much collapsing every pocket we tried to throw from. He missed 2 or 3 deep shots that would have kept us in the game longer, but I agree with your overall point. There's no scheme that works long term when you're getting physically manhandled.

Agree and that's not a knock on UT at all. UGA's D was just that talented. Fortunately, nothing lasts for ever. While you would expect them to continue to be very good, everything cycles within the band of its bell curve. They'll be better at times and not as good at times.

I think.... and hope... we just saw them at positive 6 sigma.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

At one point the winged T, wishbone and west coast offense were gimmicks. Just win then people copy you and gimmick becomes the topic of HS coaching clinics around the country

Exactly, I don't know why people get so offended by the word. Gimmicks work.

 

[vol94]

The funniest thing was Saban complaining when we lined up in the I formation this year and his players didn't know what to do. I guess the I formation is a gimmick too.

It was so funny to see him go insane on the sideline, esp afywr special teams turnover. I was at the game and Saban went off during the TV time out. 😆

 

[WoodsmanVol]

I would be interested to hear what Spurrier thinks about our offense. It seems to be a modern day iteration of what he used to run. I think he would be acknowledged to be one of the most innovative offensive coaches of his time. I think Heupel will end up there as well.

I'll answer that for you.

Good Golly, Miss Molly sure like to ball
When you're rocking and rolling
Can't hear your Bowden call

When you caught Miss Molly
Rocking at Neyland, the place of orange and white
Tennessee is no longer Tennessee
No sir, Tennessee has become me.

Good Golly, Miss Molly sure like to ball
When you're rocking and rolling
Can't hear your Bowden call

 

[PC Jr.]

I’m my opinion, the only way the “gimmick” label hurts, is if recruits believe it and the NFL draft results show Vols offensive players not getting draft respect. This might be more of a factor for offensive linemen and QB.

 

[wmcovol]

According to the CFB expert, Herby, it’s the Art Briles offense that half the B12 run, OU with Lincoln Riley ran, & it’s been around 20 yrs. Tennessee has the ability to recruit great athletes in it so it’s no gimmick.

Those that say that either 1) don’t know Jack sh!t about football or 2) just hate Tennessee.