How vanilla was our offense against USU?

#26
#26
Well, last year we didn't see the offense open up until the Georgia game, and with so many new people playing, I don't know if they will truly open it until we get into SEC play.
 
#27
#27
Yes , I think we kept offense"Vanilla" . However, I do not agree with shutting the playbook with a 14 point lead on a Running QB that can burn you at any given time if you let up. I think the book was shut when there was a 24 -0 lead in the third.
 
#28
#28
Lets change this up and talk about how we HOPE shutting the playbook was what happened... If this is all we have for an offense after all we have read about practice/camp and the talent/firepower we supposedly have on the field we are in serious trouble and we may need to be looking for another OC. I am hopeful we just went up and concentrated on giving kids the much needed game experience they need before we get into the meat of the schedule and let our O line get comfortable with game speed. I would assume we will see more of the same if we can take a descent lead this Saturday. No sense in showing any cards before we eventually play #4, #2, and #6 in the next few weeks. In Butch we must trust....
 
#29
#29
Definitely it was a limited playbook, I don't think we ran the ball outside the tackles once, not counting the jet sweep. Seems like coaches wanted them to grind a bit.
 
#30
#30
Two trains of thought here. First, run the vanilla offense to not give anything away to tougher opponents and let them be surprised when you play them. Or, secondly, open the play book up to give OK and the SEC more to work on during their practice week for us. Let them worry about whether we are going to run that trick play and keep them guessing what's coming next.
 
#32
#32
chatt-townVOL said:
Surprised this hasn't been discussed a bit more. It felt like after we went up 14-0 Butch closed the playbook and never opened it back up (besides the Pig Howard trick play attempt). There was one series early on where the whole series was devoted to giving the ball to Hurd up the middle, and we ran it 3 times consecutively even though they obviously had us pegged. It seemed Butch was trying to make Hurd grind and pick up tough yards.

There was another series that was 3 out-routes to pig about 10 yards out, it failed the first 2 times and worked the third time.

Another series was all about Malone. We threw a bomb to Malone that he missed, then a short pass, the finally hit him on a crossing route.

We kept the deep ball hidden for the most part and played the game 5 to 7 yards at a time. My question is this, how vanilla do you think we kept it? Will 5 to 7 yards, short pass, dink and dunk, end arounds, bubble screens, etc. be the identity of this offense? Or was the playbook shut and we will go for bigger, more explosive plays vs. Oklahoma and the SEC?
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very
 
#34
#34
Hamptonvolfan said:
I think we saw more of the playbook in the O&W game than the USU game.
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This. I'm just glad at least one person noticed it. As with almost anything in life, people are quick to make a knee jerk reaction without first honestly gauging just how much they know about something. Unless you've at least coached high school football trying to decipher what a big time OC was trying to accomplish is foolish at best. Not to mention, hindsight is always 20/20.

I understand that a board like this is built an populated with opinions, and that's fine. But at least preface a comment with "I wonder if coach was" or "Does anyone else feel like" or "could it have been possible coach was trying to".

In my opinion it wasn't that the OC closed the play book so much as he knew that he could have easily screwed the pooch by over complicating things in the first game. It doesn't matter if it was Utah st or Alabama. The fact of the matter is that we have very little true game experience on the field and this is a variable that must be accounted for.
 
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#35
#35
Special Ed said:
Just makes me think we shouldn't be so hard on our RBs after lackluster performances if their coach isn't demanding more than 6 yards per carry.
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OMG, you're still missing the point. He said it sarcastically... Come on, Ed.

I realize it's nice to have a comment ppl pay attn to, but you are misquoting an article to make an invalid point...

Try harder next time.

"'I like not having a run over six yards,' Gillespie quipped with a hint of irritation when asked about the absence of long runs against the Aggies."
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#36
#36
Jake Tate said:
OMG, you're still missing the point. He said it sarcastically... Come on, Ed.

I realize it's nice to have a comment ppl pay attn to, but you are misquoting an article to make an invalid point...

Try harder next time.
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I'm not seeing any allusion to sarcasm in the article. I haven't seen the video. I'm only responding to the text of the article which states that he was irritated by the question, not that his response was sarcastic. Therefore, I see no reason to infer sarcasm.
 
#38
#38
Special Ed said:
I'm not seeing any allusion to sarcasm in the article. I haven't seen the video. I'm only responding to the text of the article which states that he was irritated by the question, not that his response was sarcastic. Therefore, I see no reason to infer sarcasm.
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Quip:

verb
1.
make a witty remark.
"“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she quipped"
synonyms: joke, jest, pun, sally; informal wisecrack
 
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#39
#39
Special Ed said:
As long as we have a running backs coach who isn't concerned that our RB's only average 3.2 yards per carry, our offensive fire power is likely to remain "vanilla" for some time to come. Methinks we may need Georgia's running backs coach. I want my running backs coach to be concerned that our running game is not explosive. It will have to be explosive if we're going to make any headway in the SEC.

UT running backs coach unconcerned with lack of explosive runs - GoVolsXtra Story

Gillespie actually said, "I like not having runs over 6 yards." Is that what we're paying him for?
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Don't think the problem lies in the RBs, it is in our OL. If they perform like that against SEC teams we are in trouble.
 
#40
#40
Orange_Crush said:
No. You misrepresented the quote by presenting it out of context. You're doing it again.
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No. I posted the link to the article, thereby presenting the entire context of the comment. The quote was accurate, otherwise it would not have been presented as a quote.
 
#41
#41
Considering we pulled out a trick play, I'd say it was not very vanilla. I expect most of the same plays this weekend
 
#42
#42
Catbone said:
Considering we pulled out a trick play, I'd say it was not very vanilla. I expect most of the same plays this weekend
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This weekend I agree. The question is how different will we look against Oklahoma? Air it out more maybe? Downfield screens as opposed to bubble screens? Worley keeping the ball more often maybe?
 
#43
#43
Outside observer perspective - Butch game planned exactly what many of you had been predicting all off season.

Quick passes to keep the pressure off of the OL. He also tried to rely on the running game, but it was ineffective. He tried not to let the QB hold it too long, because anytime Worley held it for more than 3 seconds, it looked like Utah State was getting pressure - until late in the game when they got worn out.

The bottom line, as many of you predicted, Utah State wasn't good enough at corner to match up on the outside, and consequently, UT torched them.

I doubt the play book will change much more than that, and if I were a UT fan, I would hope I didn't see a lot of deep passes. Because that would probably mean the short stuff isn't working, and if the short stuff stops working, UT is probably in a little bit of trouble, because that pass protection looks shaky and it doesn't seem they can rely on the running game.
 
#45
#45
Special Ed said:
I'm not seeing any allusion to sarcasm in the article. I haven't seen the video. I'm only responding to the text of the article which states that he was irritated by the question, not that his response was sarcastic. Therefore, I see no reason to infer sarcasm.
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Living up to your name as usual, I see.
 
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#47
#47
It was vanilla and close to the vest. When I think about the #1, 2 and 3 most explosive and dynamic receivers on this team, then think that they directed the ball toward Howard more than anybody else ... hmmm.
 
#49
#49
chatt-townVOL said:
Surprised this hasn't been discussed a bit more. It felt like after we went up 14-0 Butch closed the playbook and never opened it back up (besides the Pig Howard trick play attempt). There was one series early on where the whole series was devoted to giving the ball to Hurd up the middle, and we ran it 3 times consecutively even though they obviously had us pegged. It seemed Butch was trying to make Hurd grind and pick up tough yards.

There was another series that was 3 out-routes to pig about 10 yards out, it failed the first 2 times and worked the third time.

Another series was all about Malone. We threw a bomb to Malone that he missed, then a short pass, the finally hit him on a crossing route.

We kept the deep ball hidden for the most part and played the game 5 to 7 yards at a time. My question is this, how vanilla do you think we kept it? Will 5 to 7 yards, short pass, dink and dunk, end arounds, bubble screens, etc. be the identity of this offense? Or was the playbook shut and we will go for bigger, more explosive plays vs. Oklahoma and the SEC?
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We ran our offense......what more do you want john madden? Seriously? We were picked to lose the game by many, yet our "vanilla" offense was good enough to win big. We run plays sometimes to set up other plays. It's called scheme. Also, we look for body language. If a player looks tired, we run right at him. It doesn't have to be razzle dazzle every series. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They left some points out on the field but it's all part if growing pains having such an inexperience line. The line will improve through the season as long as they stay healthy. We were a block (made/sustained) away from breaking big runs at times. Don't get greedy with your fan oc skills and buy into what we are doing. It works! I love the offense and think out schemed usu. A lot of this is stemming off of the fact that we didn't have some big run. Be patient, it will come. Has nothing to do with the offense, just experience and development with the players. Go Vols!!!!
 
#50
#50
Special Ed said:
As long as we have a running backs coach who isn't concerned that our RB's only average 3.2 yards per carry, our offensive fire power is likely to remain "vanilla" for some time to come. Methinks we may need Georgia's running backs coach. I want my running backs coach to be concerned that our running game is not explosive. It will have to be explosive if we're going to make any headway in the SEC.

UT running backs coach unconcerned with lack of explosive runs - GoVolsXtra Story

Gillespie actually said, "I like not having runs over 6 yards." Is that what we're paying him for?
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Yes! That's we are paying him to develop running backs into hard nosed runners that can grind out 6 hard yards. Sets up a 2nd and 4. Then pick up 6 more and....wow, 1st down. His statement doesn't mean he won't go crazy when we break a big run for a td, he's just simply stating the fact that he likes hard running backs inside. The big runs will come. It's the hard yards that are so difficult to teach a rb. Every rb wants to bounce outside and outrun everyone to the endzone. That's not happening in the sec. Maybe every so often, those runs do occur. But, our offense isn't set up like the one down in Athens. Georgia's running backs coach is a good coach (he's at a d1 school in the sec, had to be good) but their offense, O line, and stud backs are what makes the plays. Gillespie is a great coach. Be thankful for our staff and find something else to complain about other than vols football. We are on our way back for crying out loud! Coming off a big win in front of a sellout crowd!! Let's squash the negativity and be more positive as a fan base so we don't screw up this good thing we have going right now! Go Vols!!!
 
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