The most important factor on Saturday night might be ........

[sami]

........ starting strong. Given what has gone down with the OSU fan base bailing on Day and the potential fragility of their confidence, nothing would be better than jumping out of the gate with a couple of early scores and possibly turning the crowd against their own team.

Another slow start could be fatal in a game like this against that kind of defense, but a quick score, a turnover or stop and another quick score would be huge. Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides is paramount, and taking care of the ball. Take the run away and make Howard beat us, and make his life miserable all night. Do these things and it should be a great night.

 

[vol94]

We can’t turn the ball over - Sampson can’t fumble. Every possession counts as I foresee a low scoring, field position game.

I’d love to jump on them quick, get a couple of stops, and then the Buckeyes begin doubting themselves.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

We haven’t really started strong all year. I hope we do but smart money would be on us starting slow yet again. OSU has an elite defense. It will be the best we have played. Even better than UGA. I think converting third downs will be one of the most important things in this game. We can’t have a bunch of 3 and outs.

Also we can’t think because we have Sampson that we can just line it up and run on them. Nico is going to have to play significantly better than he has all year for us to win.

 

[Rocky-Top 10EC]

Nico needs to run his ass off like he did against Iowa. He has not done that this year to a degree, do that and set everything else up.

 

[Orangecrush#27]

It’s not one thing, it’s doing the ordinary at a very high level.

 

[basspond]

WRs have to catch the ball and O-line eliminate drive killing penalties.

 

[IUGradVol]

Score early and often. And cutting out the drive-killing penalties would definitely help.

 

[chuck0303]

We haven’t really started strong all year. I hope we do but smart money would be on us starting slow yet again. OSU has an elite defense. It will be the best we have played. Even better than UGA. I think converting third downs will be one of the most important things in this game. We can’t have a bunch of 3 and outs.

Also we can’t think because we have Sampson that we can just line it up and run on them. Nico is going to have to play significantly better than he has all year for us to win.

I hope we don't run Sampson into the line 3 straight times until we are sure of being able to block on their defense. You know they're going to be keying on him. Stop Sampson, stop Tennessee. Let's have some variety to keep them guessing and off balance.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

Line play and Nico taking off in the run game

 

[Rocky Top T]

We haven’t really started strong all year. I hope we do but smart money would be on us starting slow yet again. OSU has an elite defense. It will be the best we have played. Even better than UGA. I think converting third downs will be one of the most important things in this game. We can’t have a bunch of 3 and outs.

Also we can’t think because we have Sampson that we can just line it up and run on them. Nico is going to have to play significantly better than he has all year for us to win.

Agree, Nico needs to play much better.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

Scoring more than Ohio St is the ultimate key to Victory!!!!GBO

 

[superdave1984]

I would love to see the warp speed tempo from 2 years ago. And see the passes connecting. Get them back on their heels. I agree that if we manage to start fast and get a couple TDs on the board it may demoralize them. I am not expecting it to happen though.

 

[sami]

We haven’t really started strong all year. I hope we do but smart money would be on us starting slow yet again. OSU has an elite defense. It will be the best we have played. Even better than UGA. I think converting third downs will be one of the most important things in this game. We can’t have a bunch of 3 and outs.

Also we can’t think because we have Sampson that we can just line it up and run on them. Nico is going to have to play significantly better than he has all year for us to win.

I'm not ready to say their defense is better than Georgia's, not with the schedule they played. The only good offensive team they faced (Oregon) went up and down the field on them. And no, Indiana isn't a good offensive team until they do it against someone other than mediocre Big 10 competition.

 

[sami]

Score early and often. And cutting out the drive-killing penalties would definitely help.

Yes, absolutely must avoid the stupid penalties. Play a clean game and make them beat us.

 

[LexVol71]

I would love to see the warp speed tempo from 2 years ago. And see the passes connecting. Get them back on their heels. I agree that if we manage to start fast and get a couple TDs on the board it may demoralize them. I am not expecting it to happen though.

We started with an up-tempo game against Oklahoma and led 19-3 at the half. Heupel pulled the plug in the 3rd and 4th quarters, played a ball-control game, and only managed two field goals in the second half. That was okay though because the goal was to come out of Norman with a W. I would love to see the same thing all over again tomorrow nite in Columbus.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Gawd, how amazing would it be for us to go up a couple of scores early, then watch the entire Ohio State fan base bleed out of that stadium over the remainder of the first half, until the entire second half of the game had mostly orange-clad Vols fans in the bleachers.

We wouldn't even have to rush the field, plant our flag, and throw the goalposts into the river. We could just you know, live there. Heh.

Go Vols!

 

[RDU VOL#14]

We haven’t really started strong all year. I hope we do but smart money would be on us starting slow yet again. OSU has an elite defense. It will be the best we have played. Even better than UGA. I think converting third downs will be one of the most important things in this game. We can’t have a bunch of 3 and outs.

Also we can’t think because we have Sampson that we can just line it up and run on them. Nico is going to have to play significantly better than he has all year for us to win.

I thought the opening drive and overall first 15 minutes vs UGA was our best of the season. Nico was as poised in that atmosphere as we saw him all year. We need to maintain that focus for 4 quarters and I like our chances

 

[therealitytheory]

Length of cleats. I'm thinking an extra 1/4 inch should make all the difference.

GBO!!

 

[RockiesTop22]

Although it’s always good to start fast it could end up being detrimental.
An Ohio State has been fairly conservative from a playcalling standpoint but when under the gun they are highly efficient at a tempo 2 min type offense.
Our worst matchup against them is their 3 headed receiving core. They absolutely have the ability to do exactly what uga did to us once they discovered they could hold the pocket- pick us apart.
If the game flow starts and stays fairly slow- I think the pressure mounts on them even more and they play tight and I’ll take Heup over Day in that scenario.

 

[BowlBrother85]

Length of cleats. I'm thinking an extra 1/4 inch should make all the difference.

GBO!!

A 1996 Citrus Bowl reference. My favorite play : Bill Duff whipped Orlando Pace for a goal line stop on Eddie George.

 

[ptcarter]

Gawd, how amazing would it be for us to go up a couple of scores early, then watch the entire Ohio State fan base bleed out of that stadium over the remainder of the first half, until the entire second half of the game had mostly orange-clad Vols fans in the bleachers.

We wouldn't even have to rush the field, plant our flag, and throw the goalposts into the river. We could just you know, live there. Heh.

Go Vols!

I had the same dream. Reminds me of the old adage: "If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to hear it, did it make a noise?" Extrapolate to: "If we plant a flag on the 50....(fill in the rest).

 

[aRmo]

Just be more physical than them. The more physical team usually wins.

 

[87&91ALUM]

Feels like 20 degrees will definitely take its toll on the passing game. Whoever can run or stop the run, kick field goals, and deal with the weather will win the game. I expect a turnover or two on that cold night. The folks in Columbus are used to this weather. We in Tennessee are not and we are starting a young freshman QB from Hawaii. I understand the bookies having us a 7.5 point loser. Having said that, pay attention to the Maxims, be prepared, fight, fight, fight, and keep your head and eyes up, don't make dumb mistakes like offsides, targeting, etc. Go Vols and beat the Buckeyes!

 

[87&91ALUM]

Just be more physical than them. The more physical team usually wins.

It helps to score more points than your opponent.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

........ starting strong. Given what has gone down with the OSU fan base bailing on Day and the potential fragility of their confidence, nothing would be better than jumping out of the gate with a couple of early scores and possibly turning the crowd against their own team.

Another slow start could be fatal in a game like this against that kind of defense, but a quick score, a turnover or stop and another quick score would be huge. Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides is paramount, and taking care of the ball. Take the run away and make Howard beat us, and make his life miserable all night. Do these things and it should be a great night.

I don't disagree; better to lead than to trail. However, just to play devil's advocate, if we DID fall behind early, it might just get us to open up our playbook more, rather than just try to run DSamp between the tackles over and over. We'll see.