The Tennessee Volunteer offense: some assembly required

by Joel on Sep 10, 2008 7:49 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football Comment 10 comments

It's been nine days since the UCLA game, and my knee has just now, right this second, stopped twitching. Mine's not the only one. Vol fans everywhere have allowed their primary leg joints to jerk in a hundred directions. Fire Fulmer. Fire Chavis. And Slade. Tell Arian Foster to stop running when he gets to the 20 and have him tag off to Hardesty. Replace Crompton. Kill the Incredible Flipping O-Line. Kill the Clawfense. RUN THE BALL! STOP WITH THE PREVENT/SOFTZONEDEFENSEALREADYWILLYA!

And on and on. Both of my knees are resting comfortably now, thank you, having spent themselves in involuntary effort. So deep breath. Who are the 2008 Tennessee Volunteers? What can we expect? When should we expect it?

Well, the coaches are busying themselves trying to "identify the offense." Somebody somewhere must have concluded something, though, because the Tennessean says that UT wants to air it out, which is something you do with things that stink. (Oops. Sorry. Aftershock.) But you know what? They might actually be right. All last season we were clamoring for the offense to stretch the field vertically. This is a good idea even when your running backs are running well because it weakens the defense by softening it. Tennessee had only 10 pass plays that went for more than 40 yards in 2007, and the scouting report that developed out of that likely led to that key interception in the SEC Championship.

The whole making the defense more malleable with bombs notion, of course, presumes that at least some of them are on target. We had only one against UCLA, a 41-yarder to Josh Briscoe, but we kept trying, and Crompton and the receivers just couldn't connect.

That was just one of the problems last Monday night. Another was the absolutely frightening statistic uncovered by GVX's Mike Strange: Tennessee going three-and-out nine out of 15 times is the most offensive futility experienced by the Vols in at least 14 years. At least. Strange gave up looking after that. The worst shame, according to Clawson, was that the team was actually fairly efficient on first down. We died on second and couldn't revive on third. In Clawson's words, "We had a lot of second-and-very-manageable that we turned into third-and-unmanageable."

But yes, these things are correctable, and -- and here's the key -- they're being corrected.

Fulmer is fuming. The Papa is "as angry as he can remember following a loss," and his practice tirades have apparently been heard a block away this week. And then there's this statement from Clawson that I find quite encouraging:

What's your fastball? What are you good at? There's your starting point, and then you build it from there. I think that's what you learn in the start of the season, what can you get consistently good at and then you build your base offense around that and your changeups come off of that.

It happens all the time. You bring home some new purchase and open the box only to find that you neglected to read the fine print. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Fulmer and Clawson are working the wrenches, and they'll find that one thing at which we are best. The best news of all is that once they do, they apparently won't be content with just that one thing. That one thing will merely be a building block.

Somehow, we've forgotten that you can only throw a changeup after you establish your strength. You can only enjoy a new toy after it's been assembled and powered up. What do you know? There is a reason to be excited about the football season after all.

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baseball analogies

yes, there is some hope for the Vols offense, if we can establish our “fastball” well enough to throw a “curve” or “changeup”. on defense, however, we haven’t shown that we know how to put on a “shift”. have you ever seen infielders stay in the paths (or in the outfield grass) when the other team is showing “bunt”? i am encouraged by Fulmer and Clawson turning the wrenches, but they need to pass the tools over to Chavis and TIGHTEN UP THE (expletive expletive bleeep) DEFENSE!!!

by thetennesseethumper on Sep 10, 2008 8:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes!

I love Baseball metaphors. I think our defensive staff subscribes to the “quality start” school of thought. Which is a Stat in baseball that means when a starting pitcher throws for at least 6 innings and allows 3 runs or less it is considered a “quality start”. This is a half decent gameplan but it assumes you’re going to have a potent offense thats going to score a good amount of runs and a solid bullpen that is going to lock the door shut at the end of the game.
However, the point of the bullpen is to give the opposing offense a different look and something fresh to try and hit against when they are already tired at the end of the game. Against UCLA our starting pitcher was left in for far too long showing the same pitches over and over again, eventually the 3 and 4th time through the order there going to know what your throwing at them and adjust.

by Getoffmyvols on Sep 10, 2008 8:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Long road to go,

But I’d guess that we saw the worst of the Vols for the year. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record over that last game, but I saw enough from the D-line to think we can turn the secondary loose in man coverage, press coverage, and some pretty exotic stuff. Our LBs should have free reign now; the safeties don’t need their help. Also, if Crompton gets just one or two of those passes zeroed in properly, the team goes from an anemic offense to a rather decent one; I think he’ll do just that, at the very least. If Crompton really locks on, it should really open up the field, just like the Tennessean article suggests. If somebody simply reminds Foster to hold the ball properly (about every 5th running play should be sufficient), he should be fine. When he does remember to secure the ball, he’s a rather good runner. I’d like to see a little more aggressiveness in his running, but that can wait until Florida if need be.

As for special teams: I’m resigned to hoping for adequate until they get somebody on staff who actually cares about coaching special teams. I know they spend a lot of time on it, but none of the coaches are ST-first guys; they’d all rather be coaching offense or defense. Maybe with the increased revenue from the ESPN contract, we can toss a few bucks in the direction of an NFL ST coach who’s looking for a less stressful gig. (The difference between NFL and NCAA special teams is approximately zero, from the standpoint of rules and strategies.)

by Hooper on Sep 10, 2008 10:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I am excited again.

But it took a week to get over it.

Sweet…UAB…then, it’s not like we have to beat…oh, wait…crap.

))))))sigh(((((((

It’s weird, part of my mind keeps telling me that it seems we beat the gators when things look most dismal…or that’s what i want to think anyways.

by guilded on Sep 10, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

"Correctable"

Correctable was Ron Zook’s favorite word, yet his regime in Gainesville died under a flood of a thousand correctable mistakes. As long as you don’t start telling the world that they’the Vols “getting better and better” and to ignore “the noise in the system” I think you’ll come out of this fine. And try to stay away from water skis and frat houses.

by Year2 on Sep 10, 2008 10:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Heh. Water skis.

The offense gets a pass from me for the first few weeks. Clawson’s changed coaching positions before, but this is the biggest leap (in terms of talent and competition levels) that he’s made, so I am really more interested in how he finishes this year and how he begins next year than how he starts this year. So long as I see improvement across the offensive board over the next few weeks, I’ll sleep easy.

The defense is my main concern. The talent is there; the coaching held it back against UCLA. I firmly believe that defense could have posted a shutout (the punt return TD wasn’t the defense’s fault). I want to see the defense run through its paces and given a chance to fail. (I mean that, too.)

But was the UCLA game really so bad that you’re consoling us? ;-)

by Hooper on Sep 10, 2008 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Didn't notice before

On the 9 three-and-outs, UT passed on 8 of the second downs. If the second downs were so manageable, it seems odd to be that pass-happy – especially for an offensive coordinator who’s been slightly run-heavy in each of the last 8 years of his coaching.

Could it be that Clawson was feeling some pressure to have a big night from the offense? You know, a night that proved that all the hype we were giving him was legit? I think probably not, but that kind of playcalling is a bit out of character for him, so maybe he was trying to get a lightning-strike offense going as a “here I am” statement.

by Hooper on Sep 10, 2008 3:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice catch

I wonder if that has to do with the blatant effort to get Crompton reps, rhythm, numbers (however you wish to look at it).

Let’s be frank, if you are a new coach exiting Gate 17, and you start day dreaming, you are going to walk nose first into the Street Sign that tells you how much “Big Orange loves them their qahtabaks.” I’m not saying this is not true for every football team in the nation….Its just that its ridiculously evident especially with some of the high profile names that have come through Knoxpatch during the Fulmer Era. I bet he is feeling a lot of pressure (I’d bet mostly self-imposed) to make Crompton a Volunteer house hold name. Not so much the “here i am watch my pass offense.” More like a, “Hey Vol Fans, Look at what Jon can do!”

Someday we'll look back on this and plow into a parked car.

by MeytonPanning on Sep 10, 2008 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs