Not to be the Fly in the Ointment

#76
#76
volinbama256 said:
I just hope we didn't open things up because we had it in hand.... the play calling was totally vanilla and i guess it should be until we need it.... hopefully that will be when we go to Norman...
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That is the very thing i've tried to point out...we didn't have it in hand as soon as we should have. The game should have been over at the half.
 
#78
#78
Roustabout said:
The defense won and controlled the game. Period, end of story. The offense stalled and looked pretty bad at times, especially the run game. A couple of scoring drives only required the offense to get 20 yards. So yes, I agree with the OP. Based on defense and field position, it could have been a blow out by half.
Time will tell. Perhaps USU is very good on defense but I don't think so.
The mind set may be "how can you complain about a 31 point win," but I'd say the OP is more in line with the coaches opinion of the game. I hope to goodness they are looking at some of the play calling and execution from Sunday, because the defense will not be able to cover up that many offensive mistakes against better teams. If you punt the ball eight times in a game, you cannot claim offensive success.
There was basically no pressure on then offense to score. In two weeks these things that seem like a scratch will be a gushing wound.

Worley didn't hurt the team but he missed badly on several deep balls and at other times never found the open receiver. They were basically relegated to dink and dunk.
The running game is the biggest concern. No other thing to say than it was unproductive.
Someone posted about comparative recruiting class ranking between the two. There was more talent in one UT recruiting class than a USU will have in a decade. If it weren't for the abysmal last five years no one would have given this game a 2nd thought.
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I agree with this and with the OP. (Agree wholeheartedly on Worley.) I will say that Utah State really IS good against the run. I posted it elsewhere, but I don't mind repeating it. No team averaged better than 4 a carry against them last year, including Boise at 2.8 and Fresno at 1.7. And the year before only one team averaged more than 4, including holding Wisconsin to 3.5. Shutting down the run is what they do.
 
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#79
#79
OP is on to something here.

Instead of beating them 38-7 we should have opened up the playbook and gotten a huge 62-0 win.

Why did we even give up that 7? Because our 2nd team was in? HORSECRAP. Leave the starters out there. We want to embarrass them. We want to drive up that bottom line and have 800 offensive yards. Without that one drive they'd have had less than 200 overall yards. What are they thinking? Don't the UT coaches know that offseason progression is determined by overall stats? We need a hotstreak going into Oklahoma not some flat tire like they laid beating a team by 31 we were only supposed to beat by 5 and many wagered we couldn't even beat.

Oh wait.

Reality: A win is a win. Remember how everyone thought they had the answers about Bajakians playcalling and gameplan and then Georgia and South Carolina happened? Don't you think they'll do as little as possible to secure a win and save things for the UGAs/USCs/Floridas this year?

Nope.

We should have opened out playbook and eviscerated them. OP is a football god.

And SMH at some of y'all. We were favored by 5 points at best. Most critics didn't even think that we'd beat Utah State. UT beats them by 31 and had almost a 150 yard differential. Sure, there were miscues and we could have beaten them by 70 points but our OL were all making their first start ever much less together as a unit and we still managed a decent run outing.

And y'all are sitting here on a Tuesday whining about it. Enjoy the win. Because you'll have plenty to gripe your hearts out about here in about a month or two.

"Why didn't we win 9 games? Here is my completely professional opinion and what I would have done to win 9 games because, as a forum poster, I'm bona fide."
 
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#80
#80
I suspect we'll see a similar gameplan on Saturday, so you may as well proactively admit to being a fly in the ointment again.

I'll say this, the offense should've capitalized on the field position secured by the defense. However, it was game 1 against an OOC team where we were playing a lot of inexperienced players.

Bajakian was never going to open up the playbook against Utah State unless absolutely necessary. Rather, the game plan for Games 1 and 2 is to establish a rhythm, let the new guys get used to the speed of the game, and show as little as possible. For the most part we did just that against Utah State and we'll do it against Arky State too.
 
#81
#81
I wouldn't say the play calling was bad However there were series that it was. Even with 8 in the box u got to put a run in the first six plays. I will also say second half adjustments were great to see
 
#82
#82
My thoughts. We won big and we didn't play nearly as good a game as we will play. We've got more potential than the last 5 years and I'm excited for the future.
 
#84
#84
Serious question for Op... What exactly qualifies as running an opponent out of the house? Imo 38-7 against a quality opponent qualifies. I'll give you that we could have run the ball a little better but feel great overall about our team
 
#85
#85
I would have liked to see us line up in the I and run the ball more, don't think they could have stopped it. Have to have a power running game to win in the SEC.

Other than that, a win is a win!
 
#86
#86
I don't think the play calling was the problem. Seven guys rushing for a total of 110 yards and avg. 2.8 yards per carry is what slowed down the offense. Worley needed a big night passing and he came through.... JMO
 
#87
#87
chattavol420 said:
Serious question for Op... What exactly qualifies as running an opponent out of the house? Imo 38-7 against a quality opponent qualifies. I'll give you that we could have run the ball a little better but feel great overall about our team
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OP has a resume that features multiple back-back Championships on NCAA '14.

OP knows that in order to get the best progression you need to hotstreak as many players as possible and keep them hotstruck.

OP is merely offering his sage advice and opinions as surely the UT coaches will be scouring VolNation on a Tuesday for tips and tricks from a guy that isn't making bank as a CFB coach and has a resume that is merely success at every coaching stop he's made.

Because, I mean, what is that compared to having a VN handle and the authority of being able to create a thread and postulate? Bow to our opinions, Butch and Bajakian.
 
#88
#88
gogators13 said:
I don't think the play calling was the problem. Seven guys rushing for a total of 110 yards and avg. 2.8 yards per carry is what slowed down the offense. Worley needed a big night passing and he came through.... JMO
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A g*d d**n gator has to come in here and regulate with some logic.

Y'all should be ashamed.
 
#89
#89
With a team this young, I'm content with adding to the playbook week by week.
If we're still Vanilla in week 6 I'll complain.
Wouldn't expect it though. Lots of positives to focus on.
 
#91
#91
hog88 said:
I would have liked to see us line up in the I and run the ball more, don't think they could have stopped it. Have to have a power running game to win in the SEC.

Other than that, a win is a win!
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Those were the good ole days but doubt we see it anytime soon.
 
#92
#92
The coaches are doing their jobs. Didn't use much of the playbook, for good reason. Wanted the 1s and 2s to get as much experience as possible in a real game.
 
#94
#94
It takes a gameplan to win a football game with the dominance we did. Our coaches knew how they would play us and countered it on every level. USU sold out to stop our running game because that was their strength on defense and they believed it was our strength on offense.

Our combined QB play last year was horrible for the most part with some flashes. Our starting QB threw alot balls in the ground and was off target alot last year which was all they had to go on. Then throw in that CBJ said he was dissappointed in his QB's through fall camp and there you have the set up in which the USU coaching fell for and they got exploited for it.

We ran enough to get the defense close to the line and only threw short passes to build confidence in a young team. Now the team knows they can play in college football with success so when the down field plays are called the defense has to adjust to our offense instead of the other way around.

I say good job on our coaches for gameplanning and the team for executing the gameplan. Now lets see if they can continue to do it throughout the season.
 
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#95
#95
cwil4 said:
I still don't think we've opened up the playbook very much. I don't expect us to on Saturday, either. We'll show as little as possible to get the W and throw the playbook at OU.
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^This. Not knowing any football strategery I just assume that the first two games are to do a little fine tuning.I hope at least.
 
#96
#96
dreVol said:
I suspect we'll see a similar gameplan on Saturday, so you may as well proactively admit to being a fly in the ointment again.

I'll say this, the offense should've capitalized on the field position secured by the defense. However, it was game 1 against an OOC team where we were playing a lot of inexperienced players.

Bajakian was never going to open up the playbook against Utah State unless absolutely necessary. Rather, the game plan for Games 1 and 2 is to establish a rhythm, let the new guys get used to the speed of the game, and show as little as possible. For the most part we did just that against Utah State and we'll do it against Arky State too.
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This is a red herring.
How does successful run blocking equate to not showing too much of the play book? When should the offenes's goal be to punt the ball 8 times? Everyone knew what Auburn was going to do last year.
I never understood that mentality.
And if that's the case why the trick play with pig?
 
#97
#97
Don't know if you watched the same game as the rest of us but I was there and I think holding a team with a Heisman canidate to 7 and beating them by 31 is pretty great! Even more so when you recall our D from last year and see the leaps and bounds they have made from last year. The O will only get better with time, chemistry is everything. Go Vols!!!:loco:
 
#98
#98
They probably opened as much of the playbook as they thought the team could effectively run. They have Freshmen all over the field and even more first time starters. Better to have fewer plays run well than a bunch run poorly. The only real issue I saw with the offense was they failed to capitalize on some very good field position in the first half and put the game away. Part of that was poor execution and part was untimely penalties (there may be no timely time for a penalty). In any case they seemed to get it fixed and scored TD's on each of their first three second half possessions. Was it a perfect performance? By no means. Was it exceptional for a first game with so many first time starters against a pretty good opponent? It most certainly was. No one with an objective view saw the Vols winning by 31. But hey haters gonna hate and flies like ointment or so it seems.
 
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#99
#99
If you were not impressed and happy with Sunday night, I don't know what to say!
 
#100
#100
Only disturbing thing about the game was a lack of chunk plays by the offense. Will not win many games against better opposition with long running plays of 9yds! How many plays of 20yds or better did we have?
 
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