Wishful thinking or reality?

[Volanta]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

 

[chargervol]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

I think that's wishful thinking.
What is more likely however, we have been playing basic because we switched systems and still trying to get our guys in line.
Because of that, I wouldn't be surprised to see new wrinkles added as we go along.

 

[Volanta]

I think that's wishful thinking.
What is more likely however, we have been playing basic because we switched systems and still trying to get our guys in line.
Because of that, I wouldn't be surprised to see new wrinkles added as we go along.

I like that we run the ball well and seemingly have a good passing game when we give JG protection. It’s just inconsistent.

 

[volfannbama]

No teams dont do that.

A winning team may not expose stuff during an easy game to not give tape to an upcoming opponents. Teams that are not good dont.

 

[FLVOL_79]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

People say this literally every year. "Playing vanilla". "Gonna open the playbook later". It never happens. History teaches us that what you see is what you get.

 

[Volanta]

No teams dont do that.

A winning team may not expose stuff during an easy game to not give tape to an upcoming opponents. Teams that are not good dont.

Very fair point

 

[BigBadVol]

I'm not sure we are keeping everything vanilla because we don't want to show our hand. I think it's out of necessity. It's new to everyone and we will slowly add more in as the season goes forward. Hopefully, the offensive and defensive lines will play better.

 

[Hacksaw]

Pruitt told them not to block or tackle in the first 3 games, just so he could enjoy seeing the look on Mullen's face when we really turn it on against Florida. Genius!

 

[UTK]

The offense has to have some things up their sleeve for sure. But the notion Pruitt purposely kept the UTEP game low scoring to “motivate” his players is laughable.

 

[VolEngineer]

They arent going to pull any trick plays or anything out in games that dont matter. And im sure they also want to save certain plays for situations when they really need them to suprise the other team. I also think the coaches have a lot of knowledge that they cant use right now becayse of how basic the team is right now.

 

[Smokey Dog]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

Not even close to true. I think it’s best to enjoy watching the team grow and learn how play in Pruitt’s system.

 

[BeecherVol]

I think that's wishful thinking.
What is more likely however, we have been playing basic because we switched systems and still trying to get our guys in line.
Because of that, I wouldn't be surprised to see new wrinkles added as we go along.

He wants and knows they have to be able to run the football. He knows how consistent upfront you have to be in this league to do that. And it's obvious we re not, even with 345 yards and 7 ypc yesterday against a bad team.

We ran it 50 times on a day where JG completed 75% of his 16 attempts and they didnt have anyone that could match up with our WRs.

The game plan didnt look like it was centered around what we have to run to beat UTEP but rather what we cant do that is a must in this league.

 

[njvols]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

Maybe it's just a few people who keep saying the same thing on different threads, but most folks know we're not holding anything back. We aren't good enough to hold aces up our sleeves.

I do think we can show improvement if we have a strength and get good game reps to improve week to week, and expand upon it. For example, JG now has a 72% completion rate, and a decent sample size to judge from. That's pretty dang god. Tua, though in an entirely different league than JG was 71% going into yesterday's beat down of Ole Miss...so, how can we expand upon that? Hold in RB's or 2 TE's for max protect? Set up the pass better by getting 3-4 yards on first down running play? More deep completions to keep UF honest? I'd say expanding upon our strengths and continue to build, while working on weaknesses is better plan than holding back anything in our playbook.

 

[sjt18]

UT ran 50 times out of 69 plays. They ran even though UTEP for most of the game sold out to stop the run. They crashed the box constantly and called tons of run blitzes. I don't think it is a matter of not showing something but rather wanting to develop the run game. If UT had thrown 40% of the time... they probably would have scored over 50 even with all the mistakes.

 

[gunner]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

Probably a little of both. I’m sure they will go to the TE, Chandler and Jennings more in this game. This offense has playmakers, but the line needs to block consistently. If the line can block them UT will be able to run the ball and make plays in the passing game just like Kentucky did on them. The scrimmages are over and it’s time for big boy football again.

 

[sjt18]

Maybe it's just a few people who keep saying the same thing on different threads, but most folks know we're not holding anything back. We aren't good enough to hold aces up our sleeves.

.

It isn't a matter of holding aces per se but of being stubborn about developing the run game. UTEP played a single S most of the first half if I am not mistaken. That safety was seldom more than 10 yards off the ball and crashed the LOS on run plays. Play action was there all game long and UT only took advantage a few times. In that sense alone, they held something back. But IMO they did it with the purpose of developing the run game. Opposing DC's know UT can throw PA. They aren't going to be tricked by that.

 

[BeecherVol]

UT ran 50 times out of 69 plays. They ran even though UTEP for most of the game sold out to stop the run. They crashed the box constantly and called tons of run blitzes. I don't think it is a matter of not showing something but rather wanting to develop the run game. If UT had thrown 40% of the time... they probably would have scored over 50 even with all the mistakes.

If by "vanilla" people mean UT is gonna roll out a complete offense that UF hasnt seen all year as a surprise tactic, that's asinine.

If the rebuttal is UT is not holding anything back in games against ETSU and UTEP meaning the entire playbook is open and used, that's pretty close to the same level of asinine.

At the end of the day you have to have knowns to work with. Right now, JG has been accurate with average to easy throws. The running game has been inconsistent due to line play. They put in a ton of work toward the later yesterday.

 

[golf437]

I keep seeing a theme on the message board suggesting that the team is purposely not showing their arsenal. I am not inclined to believe or deny this so I think a more appropriate question to ask is do teams do this? Can anyone provide examples of this in the past? Pruitt did keep a lot close to the vest before the season opener, not even releasing the true starters in the line up but rather listing a lot of guys as “OR.”

What are your thoughts Vol brethren?

So we got drilled the first game just to no show nothing. So funny.

 

[Volanta]

If by "vanilla" people mean UT is gonna roll out a complete offense that UF hasnt seen all year as a surprise tactic, that's asinine.

If the rebuttal is UT is not holding anything back in games against ETSU and UTEP meaning the entire playbook is open and used, that's pretty close to the same level of asinine.

At the end of the day you have to have knowns to work with. Right now, JG has been accurate with average to easy throws. The running game has been inconsistent due to line play. They put in a ton of work toward the later yesterday.

Best post. Completely agree

 

[Rudy123]

Pruitt told them not to block or tackle in the first 3 games, just so he could enjoy seeing the look on Mullen's face when we really turn it on against Florida. Genius!

This is so illogical. We are a team with young players. We are a team with under achieving Butch players and a team trying to learn a new system
There arenp CIA or KGB type conspiracies
We will play Florida next week and lose a close game on the 4th quarter just like last season and so many previous seasons

 

[jakez4ut]

No teams dont do that.

A winning team may not expose stuff during an easy game to not give tape to an upcoming opponents. Teams that are not good dont.

Typically I would agree with this. And aside from what we did in the 2 ND qrt against WVU, is say we have yet to accept I actually game plan an opponent.

Most of what we've done the last two weeks has been all about us. And what wet need to get better at.

How that translates to what happens next week, not sure. But I do think the vast majority of what we've seen lately had little to do with the opponent, and way more to do with what wet do.

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

I used to say it was illogical when posters would say Butch wasn't "opening up the playbook". What do I know? But, I though it was interesting that Coach Pruitt stated "Now the season starts" after the UTEP game. Ponder that sports fans.
We'll soon see what a real coach can put on the field, I hope. I pray.

 

[Vol524]

I do think Pruitt has used these last two games as practice games. I think he moved people around and let a bunch of people play to see what he had. I think he is trying to shake things out in an attempt to find a combo that gives us a chance to win. If this team can improve on the OL we will start to do more things. We saw a lot more long passes in this last game. For that to happen the OL has to give the Receivers time to run their routes and get open. JG can' hold the ball with pressure hanging on him. I hope the Defense continues on their improvement.

 

[sjt18]

Typically I would agree with this. And aside from what we did in the 2 ND qrt against WVU, is say we have yet to accept I actually game plan an opponent.

Most of what we've done the last two weeks has been all about us. And what wet need to get better at.

How that translates to what happens next week, not sure. But I do think the vast majority of what we've seen lately had little to do with the opponent, and way more to do with what wet do.

I watched the game again today. UTEP sold out to stop the run... and Pruitt kept running. I lost count of the times they run blitzed a CB that UT couldn't account for with a blocker.

Most people are picking on Richmond but I still say 58 is the weak link. If you go to the 50 second mark of the 3rd qtr then watch him for the next two plays you'll see illustrations of what I'm talking about. I'm sure he's a good kid. Pruitt seems to believe in his potential. He just looks lost right now.

 

[volfannbama]

Typically I would agree with this. And aside from what we did in the 2 ND qrt against WVU, is say we have yet to accept I actually game plan an opponent.

Most of what we've done the last two weeks has been all about us. And what wet need to get better at.

How that translates to what happens next week, not sure. But I do think the vast majority of what we've seen lately had little to do with the opponent, and way more to do with what wet do.

I agree with that on what weve been doing the last two weeks. Thats what most dominate teams do to "impose their will" take alabama for instance, they really dont do anything special, they just do simple things very well. And that is my problem, we dont do little things well, we cant impose our will on weaker teams. We are sloppy and undisciplined. That will not fly against sec teams.