Anyone Want Some Vanilla?

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 9:49 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Baseball

Proof that we can win while wearing orange pants. I know, I'm as surprised as you are.

So: we won. Let's get that out of the way now. In the end, it was a relatively comfortable win, even by the standards of really comfortable wins. Are there areas that need to be worked on? Of course there are, not the least of which is the offensive line. I'm not so sure this game was entirely the O-line's fault, though.

We were absurdly vanilla, even for vanilla. It's not so much the individual plays called as much as it was formation variance, and what we were doing with those formations. I decided to broadly break down our run-pass balance by formation for the first part of the game (once we were up 28-0, the game was effectively decided, so I wasn't as concerned about that), and the results are below:

Formation Type	# Plays	Run Plays	Passes
I, 2 WR	14	13	1
Shotgun, 2x2	5	0	5
Shotgun, 2x1 w/TE	5	1	4
I, 2 TE	4	4	0
Shotgun, 3x1 WR	3	0	3
Ace. 2TE	2	1	1
Ace, 3WR	2	2	0
Shotgun, 3WR, 2RB	1	0	1
Shotgun, Empty (5WR)	1	0	1
Jumbo	1	1	0
Totals	38	22	16

What does that mean? It means that, broadly speaking, we weren't doing much to use formations to confuse the defense. That's painting with broad strokes, sure, but if I was on Montana's defense, it'd be relatively easy to identify what we were doing based on two things:

- Is Channing Fugate in the game?

- Is Tyler Bray in shotgun?

Those two questions basically defined what we did against Montana. I don't expect that to continue.

That kind of run/pass balance based on formations makes it incredibly easy for the defense to match personnel and match playcalls. That's due in no small part to Montana being, well, Montana. I'd be surprised if we made it that obvious the rest of the season. Does this mean I expect a bunch of running plays out of shotgun? Hardly; we're not a shotgun running team. But I would expect more in the way of screens (I don't recall seeing one, although admittedly I was blowing through the game on second viewing and I haven't had enough coffee yet) from under center.

Similarly, this makes it difficult for the offensive line, who - if the defense knew what we were doing based on the two questions above - was forced to play on the back foot. Of course Montana was able to get penetration; it was easy to know what we were doing. This makes running the ball exceptionally difficult, so to some extent I'll absolve the offensive line, Tauren Poole, and Marlin Lane of some of the struggles. (However, I won't absolve Poole of the fumbles, which need to be fixed, and they needed to be fixed yesterday. Lane gets a pass. Why? Because he caught a punt(!)(!!!!!).)

Do I expect that to happen against Cincinnati, or Florida, or LSU, or Alabama? I don't. I didn't count the number of plays run, but I wouldn't expect that we actually ran more than 12-15 plays over the course of the game. I'd expect that we add a few more plays to the gameday repertoire next week, and a few more after that, and then 1-2 more here and there throughout the rest of the season. That should help to alleviate some of the issues we saw yesterday, but ...man, some designed passes from under center wouldn't hurt, you know?

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Comments

I bet the imbalance was even worse after 28-0.

If they didn’t open the playbook before then, there’s no way they did after the lead was established.

It’s tough to tell how much of the O-line’s problems were endemic and how much were schematic, but I’m willing to chalk last night up as a bit of humility and mostly due to obvious-playcalling-is-obvious.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 10:27 AM EDT reply actions

Same here, hence why I didn't continue with what the breakdown.

Also, I was hungry – I woke up and decided to do this. (I did this for an Auburn game last offseason, but for the full game. It’s arduous.)

With that being said, you’re right – I think the o-line problems came from both sides of that coin. That being said, they still need to win the line when it’s obvious what the play’s going to be.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes.

Also known as virtually every short yardage situation ever.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Bingo.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Nice write up.

I did notice, at some point in the third quarter, wondering if Bray would drop back from under center. I do not recall that he ever did.

'Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.' -Frank Herbert

by chuckiepoo on Sep 4, 2011 10:28 AM EDT reply actions

This isn't a huge deal to me.

We made it obvious what we were going to do and beat them anyway, just like you should be able to do with a lesser opponent.

I imagine we’ll do only what we have to do against Cincinnati and wait till Gainesville to really break open the playbook.

That said, I don’t think that excuses the offensive line. Granted, I was watching them from the upper bowl and haven’t actually seen any “film” of the game, but it looked like they weren’t getting any push on run plays, and it seemed like they couldn’t communicate effectively in picking up the blitz. More than once, I saw an untouched blitzing linebacker in Bray’s face.

Obvious playcalling or not, the O-line has to fix those things if we’re going to be able to play with Florida/Georgia/LSU/Bama.

"Do the Titans have a miracle left in them in what has been a magical season to this point? If they do, they need it now. Christie kicks it high and short. Gonna be fielded by Lorenzo Neal at the 25; he dishes it back to Wycheck; he throws it across the field to Dyson. 30, 40, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, endzone...touchdown, Titans! There are no flags on the field! It's a miracle! Tennessee has pulled a miracle! A miracle for the Titans!"

by TennesseeTyrants on Sep 4, 2011 10:54 AM EDT reply actions

Does it excuse them entirely? No.

I don’t think going vanilla did them any favors. That being said, I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to blitz pickups; that’s also a function of film study, I think. Maybe they didn’t watch a whole lot of Montana film, or Montana did a bunch of things they didn’t see on film. (Unfortunately, documenting that is very hard, as coaches will rarely say anything along those lines.)

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, that's true. I think Montana may have showed up with some plays we weren't expecting.

To give credit to Montana, I was really impressed with their defensive playcalling in the first quarter. I was sitting behind the south endzone, so in the first quarter before the game was out of hand, I had that classic behind the offense overhead view, and Montana was pulling out all the stops. They ran some really well disguised blitzes and some really good D line stunts.

Hopefully the O line can use this as a learning opportunity, and combined with a more complex game plan, they’ll get it together by the Florida game.

by TennesseeTyrants on Sep 4, 2011 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Cincy’s GAs are loving you right now.

by GhostDance on Sep 4, 2011 11:16 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Cincy's GAs were going to have to do this anyway.

That’s also why I didn’t give them what plays were called – they’re still going to have to watch the tape.

Suckers.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

After next week,

why not seed the tables with erratic data? Add in the plays, but if they happen to be inaccurate…

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

I should just use the proper number of plays, but only if they can solve the differential equations properly.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

Win.

That, or spaghetti logic.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions

Think I can represent run-pass combinations off formations as a triple integral?

I don’t know if that’s better or worse than differential equations.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Linear algebra?

Sparse, noninvertible matrices?

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Go with Differential Equations

But make them differential equations you need to use laplace transforms to solve, and only give them the general form of the laplace transform, instead of a handy table.

by TennesseeTyrants on Sep 4, 2011 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Thank Goodness all I have to do is make the debits and credits equal each other.

Adding and subtracting.

Hey, bad guys. Look up in the sky. See the UAV? Nope? We see you. "Don't laze me, bro'!"

by memphispete on Sep 4, 2011 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Nerds!

Ogre…donde esta?

by GhostDance on Sep 4, 2011 8:27 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

by danmarcel on Sep 5, 2011 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions

I was told there would be no math

No homer.

by kidbourbon on Sep 4, 2011 9:58 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions

o-line = work in progress

I expect they’ll continue to improve as the year goes on. Not surprised that there are still some kinks for them to work out…they’re still a bunch of diaper dandies after all. Perhaps now they’re in trainers, but they’re still not fully developed.

by phil g on Sep 4, 2011 11:24 AM EDT reply actions

talk about formation variation

Went to the UGA/BSU game last night and watching Peterson and Kellen Moore dissect a hapless UGA defense was amazing. Peterson has got to be one of the most creative offensive coaches going right now and the Senior Moore is his on field extension. Athletically BSU is a bit underrated – because ya know ‘a bunch white boys just can’t be that fast and strong’ – but the formation variations, the probing and using a play to set-up another play later was fun to watch.

Bobo, Richt and Grantham all got badly schooled.

Also, looks like our S&C guy is a lot better than Georgia’s. UGA should, and probably is, embarrassed with how many players were cramping, asking out and obviously gasping for air. The Richt era is looking mighty stale.

by phil g on Sep 4, 2011 11:31 AM EDT reply actions

Background reading time!

Smart Football has a fantastic guest post on Boise’s offense. It was specifically for Harsin as OC (who’s now at Texas), but the general basis looks like it’s true. Incidentally, VT did a much better job of dealing with this than UGA did.

Bonus: UGA fans trash-talking about how Boise State couldn’t handle a team from the SEC in the comments! Highly recommended.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Aside: I forgot how good this piece was.

Fantastic stuff, especially as it relates to motion and scheme.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Boise's athletes:

For the most part, they get guys who weren’t developed enough as high school seniors to get BCS-level scholarships, but who were otherwise smart enough and talented enough to play like they were. They come into BSU knowing they have to learn and develop, so (I imagine) there’s more of a sense of humility and a willingness to be taught than some 5-stars. And now that BSU has such a solid reputation for making that development happen, they’re quite willing to shut up and listen to the coaches.

It’s a remarkably stable and effective environment for players to grow. The downside is that the depth chart includes physically underdeveloped freshmen, but the two-deep itself is generally very savvy.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

I may be shot for saying this as a fan of an SEC school

but that Boise State team is capable of competing for the National Championship. Georgia obviously doesn’t have as much this year as Beano Cook thinks (he picked them to play in the NC game).

Boise State dismantled Georgia. It wasn’t as close as the score. Their QB is good enough to play anywhere in the country. And, their RB was fast, solid and tough. The OL controlled the game. Despite being outmanned in the secondary, they played enough position defense to take advantage of Georgia’s inexperienced QB.

To be fair, I haven’t seen Bama or LSU yet, but BSU is at least in the conversation.

Hey, bad guys. Look up in the sky. See the UAV? Nope? We see you. "Don't laze me, bro'!"

by memphispete on Sep 4, 2011 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Yup. They're still dependent on the whims of teams in BCS conferences

but that’s the unfortunate price of being a nouveau stuck in a middie conference with no hope of departure. Stanford, Wisconsin, and LSU/Alabama all have good shots at running the table. Any two of that would block out Boise, guaranteed. Any two with no more than 1 loss might block out Boise as well. Boise basically needs a 2007/2008 situation where a 2 loss team is in line for the title game.

But this far out, Boise has to be one of the early candidates to keep an eye on.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree

They’re the real deal. I’m over the, but you’d never survive, blah, blah, blah…they’ll play anyone brave enough to play them anywhere and they’re mostly successful. That’s all you can ask.

by phil g on Sep 4, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Georgia's fans : Richt 2011 :: Tennessee's fans : Fulmer ???

2008? 2007?

Not 100% sure which year is best for the analogy, but the point stands. Tired of seeing the same thing while other teams in the conference get shiny new coaches, playbooks, etc.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Feels like 2008.

There are people already calling for Richt’s ouster. (FWIW, I lay most of the issues last night on Grantham; Boise made halftime adjustments that UGA couldn’t deal with.)

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

That's where I was, too.

The difficulty is that we see 2008 by the full season and this is only the first game for UGA. But it does feel a little UCLA-esque in that. Only not quite so DERP-y on offense.

But if they lose to USC, we may have a full 2008 in progress.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

It's also the "wheels are coming off"-ness from the fanbase.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes.

It puts us in an odd position. One on hand, it’s a rival. On the other hand, we still have scars.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

No love for Richt or 'Dawgs.

It’s their problem. A little empathy maybe for the players, but settle our part of it on the field. See an advantage and execute.

'Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.' -Frank Herbert

by chuckiepoo on Sep 4, 2011 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I was done with Fulmer and the season after UCLA

The futility and wasted opportunities on O and D of that UCLA still makes me mad. I was furious after that debacle and the Florida slop sealed the deal for me. I didn’t need the rest of the season to know how that sad story was going to end. Any reasons I had for supporting Fulmer – stability, Tennessee guy, good record (on the surface anyways) – were all gone. I didn’t care if we hired the devil himself, well with hindsight…, just glad we’re finally passed all that.

This is not a fun time for the UGA crowd and I just don’t think Richt, right or wrong, has any credibility left with the fan base. He and the program needs a fresh start.

by phil g on Sep 4, 2011 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

I was in the thick of the UGA crowd - definitely 2008

I was waiting in a sea of red for the MARTA train with a very frustrated and humbled crowd. No love for Bobo, similar to 2005 with Randy Sanders, and definitely tired of the Richt era. I was in full UT orange, because I’m obnoxious like that, and got lots of compliments towards Dooley…some I think wishfully. Conversation in the MARTA line, UGA guy to me surprised to see UT orange, “you here scouting”, me, “yep” with a grin, UGA guy, “bet you liked what you saw”, me, “oh yea”, chuckle. Some are still holding out hope for USCe game with trepidation. If that game goes south, there’ll be a full Richt mutiny. Lots of people already giving up on the season.

by phil g on Sep 4, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed - the bottom's out if they start 0-2.

Formerly 'snail. You get used to it after a while.

by Chris Pendley on Sep 4, 2011 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

2003?

Too harsh?

No homer.

by kidbourbon on Sep 4, 2011 10:02 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions

You'd have to tell me.

I wasn’t close to the program then.

by David Hooper on Sep 4, 2011 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I could buy that

2003 was pretty lack luster and after a couple of stinker bowls, the Fulmer grumblings were getting louder. The excitement and promise from the two Freshman QBs in 2004 quieted the grumblings for a season and then there came 2005.

by phil g on Sep 5, 2011 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions