OGbabyaviVol
Performing horse rectal exams for a living
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- Jan 31, 2010
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Well, ladies and gentlemen, it ALL comes down to the last week in the regular season! Seems like it was just yesterday we were playing UTC in the opener, and had endless optimism about how this team would look with Nico at the helm. While the offense has been a little surprising and frustrating throughout the season, the bright spot (for the most part) has been the defense, especially our defensive line and CBs. Offense draws crowds, but defense wins championships…that’s the old saying. Well, without this defense (even as frustrating as it has been at times the last few weeks), we are not in this position right now without them being as great of a unit as they have been. We will continue to need them to be elite this week and hopefully continuing into the postseason. Here are the keys to the game and a playoff berth this week, as the Big Orange rolls into Nashville to play the season finale and home away from home game against Vandy.
1. The first key was said best by ZehDuck on twitter earlier:
Not sure the magnitude of this game can be summed up any better. If this team doesn’t come out playing with their hair on fire and an aggressive attacking game plan, then we don’t deserve a spot in the CFP.
2. Passing Pavia: I think the plan is simple on the defensive side of the ball. We have to shut down Pavia running the football. He’s short. Make him sit in the pocket and throw the ball. We have to maintain our pass rushing lanes, and don’t let him scramble all over the place. We have been terrible at times the last few weeks containing the edge. Our edges have to contain and don’t get too far up field to allow him lanes to scramble in. We can still get pressure and sacks with a controlled pass rush, and hopefully well-timed blitzes up the middle. We have to shut the running game down in this game to win. I don’t think they can beat us throwing the football consistently.
3. The time is right now for this offense to click. I’m tired of saying it over and over, but we need to go MORE FAST PACED!! I don’t know why we have slowed down so much, but we have. Every time we do actually run the offense with pace, we usually move the ball right down the field. Let’s get back to doing what makes this offense run best, and what the guys are used to doing.
4. The elusive deep ball: Nico, take a deep breath and give your guys a chance to make plays on the deep ball when they are wide open. We need to start connecting on these more frequently, if we want to go where we all hope we can go.
5. Let Dylan eat! Feed him the football…A LOT! I expect we see a very big game from Dylan. I’ll go on record and say he rushes for 160 and 3 TDs.
6. Protect the football: absolutely have to protect the football. Cannot give Vandy the short field and momentum.
7. Start fast and don’t let off the throttle the entire game! I want to see Heupel have this team focused but loose. We tend to come out playing tight in games like this with a lot on the line. We need to flip that script. We have everything in front of us, including a possible 1st round game in Neyland. Come out and put the B2A to Vandy!! LET’S GOOOOOOO!!!
Prediction: Vandy will be motivated to try to eliminate us; however, I just think we have way too much motivation and a semi-home game type crowd. I expect to see our best and most complete game on Saturday. Our Vols roll IMO!
Vols 41
Vandy 10
