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

#52
#52
Venables is one of the top defensive minds in college football, and I think you can make a strong case for THE best. I expected no less from him.

Now if only I had factored that into my score prediction 🤣
 
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#53
#53
DiderotsGhost said:
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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Great summary
 
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#54
#54
agent|orange said:
Honestly one of the biggest was the pass play from OU where they gained ~50-60 yards. We had not just 1 but 2 players that slipped trying to plant their feet. That field was an embarrassment. If we ran more aggressive routes, I honestly think we would have had several non-contact knee injuries. Surprised we didn't have any at all, to be honest.

One thing I was curious about was our cleats. We wore white cleats in Charlotte which was artificial turf. We wore white cleats at home on real grass against Kent State. We wore white cleats in 22 and 23.

We haven't worn black cleats in a live game in our normal orange/white uniforms in a long time as far as I can remember but did against OU. I wonder what the reason for that was and if it was an attempt to compensate for their field.
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Good question. Yeah...there were several incidents throughout the game were the field directly affected the play. I wasn't at the game so watched on tv. So much of the field issues couldn't be seen on live tv (occasional replay did some), especially in the secondary. Just a bad field surface for sure!
 
#55
#55
It got me when after the safety we should have had good field position to start with them kicking from the 20 but nope the crappy, slick field bite us again.
 
#56
#56
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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The main reason they couldn’t get out of their own way was the Vols defense. We weren’t going to blow Oklahoma out in their house. Weren’t not going to score 50 every game. The vols didn’t prepare for the freshman qb but they adjusted well
 
#57
#57
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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The flip side is we lost the ball in the RZ twice. If that's GA it's a 14 pt swing. We got very lucky there
 
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#58
#58
Clad in Big Orange said:
The Xbox generation wants gaudy video game scores so they can trash talk on twitter all week to make themselves feel special. Anything more than a one point win in a hostile environment is superfluous. Had Heupel called an aggressive 2nd half and Nico thrown a pick six, these same kids would be ready to fire him.
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To those who are upset with how we won the game, go spend some time on YouTube and watch the post game pressers of Dooley, Butch and Pruitt after getting our butts kicked by Kentucky and Vandy. That should get it out of your system.
 
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#59
#59
KoachKrab127 said:
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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We have better players overall now too
 
#63
#63
We also need to keep in mind that like 3 drives were killed by penalties, both real and imagined. One took a 50 yard bomb away. Another a nice long down conversion for a first.

Either of those drives could have been points. Nico not being as sharp is directly related to Davis playing on the left side and having to slot someone else in for him.
 
#64
#64
Clad in Big Orange said:
The Xbox generation wants gaudy video game scores so they can trash talk on twitter all week to make themselves feel special. Anything more than a one point win in a hostile environment is superfluous. Had Heupel called an aggressive 2nd half and Nico thrown a pick six, these same kids would be ready to fire him.
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Yep, we old folks have seen enough to know to take the W (especially on the road) and happily move on. No complaints on my end especially after what we had to go through from 2007 to 2021. I thought Josh coached an outstanding game considering everything that was going on.
 
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#65
#65
Clad in Big Orange said:
The Xbox generation wants gaudy video game scores so they can trash talk on twitter all week to make themselves feel special. Anything more than a one point win in a hostile environment is superfluous. Had Heupel called an aggressive 2nd half and Nico thrown a pick six, these same kids would be ready to fire him.
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Bingo. How often do we hear about wanting a coach that coaches to win?

Heupel coached to the environment, the game, and to win. And we won in what a lot are calling a "10 point blowout". It was clear that we dominated. The win is all that matters.
 
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#67
#67
Couple their new defensive wrinkles with their crappy and wetted field, it slowed us down. Take away their crappy field, the Vols would’ve widened the point spread.

I have zero respect for Oklahoma. None. I can’t respect a program and coach that will intentionally allow a game to be played on the field that was intentionally grown and I suspect “wetted” to slow the Vols down. It also increases the chances of injuries.

To say they beat the Vols you’d think they’d want our team at our best but I suppose when you’re in love with program accolades accumulated in a weak Big 8 / 12, you desire for your program to win at all cost so that you can prove you belong in the much tougher SEC.

The Sooner fans should be embarrassed. Their program is so hard up to win that they’ll do anything and at all cost.
 
#68
#68
I don’t know why some of our fan base doesn’t believe that CJH would have gotten our starters out in the first half if he could have
 
#69
#69
VolRage said:
Couple their new defensive wrinkles with their crappy and wetted field, it slowed us down. Take away their crappy field, the Vols would’ve widened the point spread.

I have zero respect for Oklahoma. None. I can’t respect a program and coach that will intentionally allow a game to be played on the field that was intentionally grown and I suspect “wetted” to slow the Vols down. It also increases the chances of injuries.

To say they beat the Vols you’d think they’d want our team at our best but I suppose when you’re in love with program accolades accumulated in a weak Big 8 / 12, you desire for your program to win at all cost so that you can prove you belong in the much tougher SEC.

The Sooner fans should be embarrassed. Their program is so hard up to win that they’ll do anything and at all cost.
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Fortunately the only big injury that occurred was to their own player. Did you see the size of the hole next to his foot on the field? No way to claim he didn't get hung up in all the mess and that resulted in his dislocated ankle or whatever it ended up being.
 
#70
#70
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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They were in the game ? Being down 3 possessions with 8 minutes left really doesn't scream "in the game" to me. .
 
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#71
#71
ButchPlz said:
Fortunately the only big injury that occurred was to their own player. Did you see the size of the hole next to his foot on the field? No way to claim he didn't get hung up in all the mess and that resulted in his dislocated ankle or whatever it ended up being.
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The SEC should implement a rule about the quality of the field of play. They can call it the Sooner Rule since they have by far the crappiest field in the SEC. That crap Saturday night was atrocious.
 
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#72
#72
unfrozencvmanvol said:
So, good coaching by Oklahoma.
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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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In the past without the defense we have now, they would have tried to out score them and force the ball down field. This defense will win us one vs AL or GA cause the offense will score enough to get the win. And will not have to worry about being in a drag race to out score them or anyone. True it different have a Vol feel to the game but that W still feels good.
 
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#74
#74
Night game on the road in Norman, OK getting the W? Yeah, take it all the time.

Venables is who he is, great D coordinator, working with a good front 7. With added tricks not yet seen. But like others, I didn't see any safety valves (RB, TE). Not a lot of perimeter plays. Some slants. Got the sense the TEs were used to help the OL/Tackle's, which is sad at this point. Hope Halzle learns from this.

Agree, this was a really good in game coaching job by Josh. Played for the W, played the cards dealt, relied on his strengths for that night.
 
#75
#75
DiderotsGhost said:
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.
Click to expand...

We only gave up one TD and one two point conversion. As someone on VN comically pointed out, we haven’t allowed a PAT since November of 23.
 
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