Oklahoma coach confirms suspicion about why Tennessee offense wasn't as explosive

#4
#4
"The win wasn't necessarily pretty for the Vols, but it might've been Heupel's best in-game performance as a head coach since taking over at Tennessee in early 2021."

This is the closing sentence from the column, and is 100% true. All the complainers that say we somehow fell short because we didn't run up the score need to see this and get a clue.
 
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#6
#6
Oklahoma is well coached on defense and their defense is really good. I just wish the Vols would have ran things off the edges more and tried to stretch things a bit vs trying to continue winning one on ones up the middle when nothing was going. Especially in the 3rd quarter and too many stalled drives, too many punts. Even if just 2 of those drives were extended and resulted in scores. Tennessee needed more points plan and simple, because better teams will make you pay for that.

Luckily the Vols defense didn't crack in the 3rd quarter. Luckily the Vols won the kicking game and field position. But, all pieces have to work in those scenarios. They did for the Vols the other night, but can it against the UGAs and Bubbas of the world?
 
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#7
#7
Boca Vol said:
It was a double digit win on the road in the SEC in a very difficult environment... I'll take that any day of the week.

UT isn't going to score 50+ every game. It's nice to know they can go win a slugfest!
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True, but the Vols won't face an inept offense when they play Bubba and UGA either......

Vols punted the ball 8 times. Wow, imagine if just 2 or 3 of those 8 drives resulted in points? Oklahoma would not have been in the game at all. They were in the game in the 4th quarter and that part was a bit scary. Let them hang around a bit too much in my opinion. How many times have you seen that backfire? A lot, Oklahoma just couldn't get out of their own way....
 
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#8
#8
I got the impression that Nico was hurting. Just going on observing him when he would go to the bench and some looks that, to me, looked like he was masking pain. I'm not a doctor, I don't read minds and I didn't spend the night at that stupid hotel. Just the impression I got. (I hope he is perfectly healthy).
 
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#11
#11
Boca Vol said:
It was a double digit win on the road in the SEC in a very difficult environment... I'll take that any day of the week.

UT isn't going to score 50+ every game. It's nice to know they can go win a slugfest!
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Not going score 50 pts every game
Good see team play with composure get road win
The game was not as close as
10 pt spread GO VOLS!!!
 
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#12
#12
There is a big reason why Clemson's defense has gone downhill, and it isn't because of lack of talent. Venables is one of the best to do it on the defensive side.

I also think that OU running a similar sort of offense to us allowed their defense to be much better prepared than most any other team we will face.
 
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#13
#13
madbamahater said:
True, but the Vols won't face an inept offense when they play Bubba and UGA either......

Vols punted the ball 8 times. Wow, imagine if just 2 or 3 of those 8 drives resulted in points? Oklahoma would not have been in the game at all. They were in the game in the 4th quarter and that part was a bit scary. Let them hang around a bit too much in my opinion. How many times have you seen that backfire? A lot, Oklahoma just couldn't get out of their own way....
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UGA and Bama have both looked ugly at times this season vs much weak opponents. So it's hard to know what to expect from them.

We were also the victim of some home cooking in regards to the refs. They weren't terrible. But a couple of crucial calls cost us 14 points. And the no call fumble/roughing the passer call actually was a 14 point swing when you consider it extended a scoring drive for OU. So the final score could have been 21 points worse for OU if those calls were called correctly.
 
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#14
#14
madbamahater said:
True, but the Vols won't face an inept offense when they play Bubba and UGA either......

Vols punted the ball 8 times. Wow, imagine if just 2 or 3 of those 8 drives resulted in points? Oklahoma would not have been in the game at all. They were in the game in the 4th quarter and that part was a bit scary. Let them hang around a bit too much in my opinion. How many times have you seen that backfire? A lot, Oklahoma just couldn't get out of their own way....
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This was Nico's first true test. Yes, he struggled at times but it was only his 5th start. The open week comes at a great time.

I have no doubt they'll look more polished in 2 weeks
 
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#17
#17
This year’s game actually reminded me a lot of our match up with Oklahoma in 2015. In 2015, we were up 17-3 in the 4th quarter. This year, we were up 22-3 in the 4th quarter. In both games, we gave up 2 TD’s in the 4th quarter, and in both games there were questionable penalties that cost us big time, leading to those TD’s. However, in 2024, we have a much better coach who knows how to handle these situations and put the game away. We got the final 1st down so we could end the game by take a knee. We couldn’t get that 1st down in 2015. We really won game comfortably, but in years’ past, leads like that have vanished with our team falling apart.
 
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#18
#18
Didn’t Fowler and Herbstreit say that Venables and the staff had been scheming our offense since January? They put in a ton of time and we throttled back more than an any point in CJH’s coaching career and still won by 10 on the road w/ a freshman at QB and both starting tackles out for the majority of the game. I think we’re going to be ok.


Edit: There is also a ton of familiarity that Venables has w/ our offense considering Lebby is one of Heupel’s guys and was the OC the past 2 years before taking the Miss St job. I don’t think that’s getting enough attention .
 
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#19
#19
Nico is still a young QB so exposure to these type of complex defenses will do nothing but help him in the future. Say what you will about NC State but the 3-3-5 can be a tricky defense for a young QB and he did fairly well. Maybe others will try to emulate it but I don't feel like anyone else we play will play in the same structure those 2 played us.
 
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#20
#20
Venables is an elite defensive coach.

Though, I also think a lot of other factors played into Heupel's decision to play conservative, ball-control rather than our typical style:

* Oklahoma's stagnant offense. We gave up 2 TDs at the end, but Oklahoma is only #112 in offensive efficiency and they needed big-time help from the refs to even do that
* Injuries at tackle. Pretty clear we were having issues defending Nico, which made the passing game riskier than Heup wanted.
* Garbage field conditions. Lot of slipping and sliding and didn't make since to risk injury and turnover with a big lead.

Really good (and unexpected) adjustments by Heupel.
 
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#22
#22
sami said:
"The win wasn't necessarily pretty for the Vols, but it might've been Heupel's best in-game performance as a head coach since taking over at Tennessee in early 2021."

This is the closing sentence from the column, and is 100% true. All the complainers that say we somehow fell short because we didn't run up the score need to see this and get a clue.
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Couldn’t agree more!! Wasn’t perfect by any means and I do think we could’ve opened things up and beat them pretty bad but why do that when our defense was literally playing championship level football. Did what we had to do. In and out with a W in a prime time hyped up game. OU ain’t a slouch and especially that night with all the hype around it. 4-0 let’s move on
 
#23
#23
1. Venables is a top defensive coach.

2. OU front-7 is legit.

3. The field.

4. UT's OL is down a lot of talent and much of the depth is very young.

5. The field.

6. The game composition didn't warrant opening up the playbook much. OU's offense was completely controlled.

7. Night game in a tough environment with a young/inexperienced OL and a QB making his first road start also isn't a place to go big.

8. The field.

9. The refs bailed out OU several times in the 2nd Half.



I want to give OU credit here but I didn't see UT running many routes where the receiver dug in and made a cut. Why? Because that's how you blow out an ACL if you slip. That, in combination with other factors, is a major reason why UT didn't go big. Our big pass plays were almost identical but with small wrinkles to the big pass plays we ran against NCSU and Kent State. OU was very suspect against the deep ball.


UT still put up 17 points and almost 200 yards on offense in the 1st Half.


EDIT: I am NOT A FAN of the single receiver routes. That's going to get Nico killed. We didn't run many relief valve plays where the TE/RB blocks and then releases into the massive gaps in the middle of the field. I found that strange but I'm also not paid millions to coach football.
 
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#24
#24
agent|orange said:
1. Venables is a top defensive coach.

2. OU front-7 is legit.

3. The field.

4. UT's OL is down a lot of talent and much of the depth is very young.

5. The field.

6. The game composition didn't warrant opening up the playbook much. OU's offense was completely controlled.

7. Night game in a tough environment with a young/inexperienced OL and a QB making his first road start also isn't a place to go big.

8. The field.

9. The refs bailed out OU several times in the 2nd Half.



I want to give OU credit here but I didn't see UT running many routes where the receiver dug in and made a cut. Why? Because that's how you blow out an ACL if you slip. That, in combination with other factors, is a major reason why UT didn't go big. Our big pass plays were almost identical but with small wrinkles to the big pass plays we ran against NCSU and Kent State. OU was very suspect against the deep ball.


UT still put up 17 points and almost 200 yards on offense in the 1st Half.


EDIT: I am NOT A FAN of the single receiver routes. That's going to get Nico killed. We didn't run many relief valve plays where the TE/RB blocks and then releases into the massive gaps in the middle of the field. I found that strange but I'm also not paid millions to coach football.
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I agree with everything you just said! Couldn’t have said any of that better. Was surprised we didn’t call any of those tight end slip plays but we also didn’t have to show anything basically the whole game. Great points brotha 👍🏻
 
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#25
#25
I think this was a "just win" situation. Early road game. Keep our players healthy and eye towards the future.

Kind of sad for Oklahoma that we did not take them very seriously with our offense play calling and that we were eyeing future matchups.

I think OU and Tennessee will both improve after this week.
 
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