Tennessee's struggles on offense this season are well-documented. To determine just how bad it is, have a quick look at the Vols' ranking in all of the NCAA's key offensive statistics:
|
RO
|
PO
|
TO
|
SO
|
PE
|
SA
|
TFLA
|
3DC
|
4DC
|
RZO
|
FDO
|
AVG
|
|
49
|
96
|
81
|
101
|
111
|
22
|
26
|
87
|
1
|
82
|
89
|
67.72727
|
Abbreviation key:
- Rushing offense
- Passing offense
- Total offense
- Scoring offense
- Pass efficiency
- Sacks allowed
- Tackles for loss allowed
- 3rd down conversion percentage
- 4th down conversion percentage
- Red zone offense
- First down offense
Tennessee leads the nation in 4th down conversions (woo, and cue hooper bashing his head against a brick wall) and isn't actually horrible at allowing sacks or tackles for a loss, but other than that, it's fairly pitiful. Our average offensive ranking is 67.73. Passing offense, scoring offense, and pass efficiency is absolutely putrid.
This is the point in the article where we beat our chests and scream into the raining heavens, "WHY, THEN?! WHY, OH WHY?!"
There are most certainly many reasons for the current futility of our offensive unit, but I wanted to focus on three factors and then compare our stats to schools in similar situations. Those factors? New coordinators, new schemes, and new QBs. Unfortunately, the real-life obligations of the week have practically pounded me into a fetal position, and I haven't been able to gather all the data I wanted. I'm hoping y'all will help. Here's what I have so far:
|
Team
|
New OC
|
New QB
|
New Scheme
|
AVG OR
|
| Alabama |
Y |
34.09091 | ||
| Arkansas |
Y
|
78.63636 | ||
| Auburn |
Y
|
Y
|
Y | 86.45455 |
| Baylor |
Y
|
49.72727 | ||
| California |
Y
|
45.90909 | ||
| Duke |
Y
|
57.18182 | ||
| Georgia |
Y
|
34.90909 | ||
| Georgia Tech |
Y
|
60.27273 | ||
| Kansas St. |
Y
|
22.81818 | ||
| Maryland |
Y
|
65.72727 | ||
| Michigan |
Y
|
Y
|
Y | 88.36364 |
| Mississippi |
Y
|
53 | ||
| Nebraska |
Y
|
43 | ||
| Northwestern |
Y
|
54.18182 | ||
| Oklahoma St. |
Y
|
17.45455 | ||
| South Carolina |
Y
|
68.18182 | ||
| South Fla. |
Y
|
36 | ||
| Syracuse |
Y
|
73 | ||
| Tennessee |
Y
|
Y |
Y | 67.72727 |
| Texas A&M |
Y
|
80.72727 | ||
| UCLA |
Y
|
Y
|
88.18182 | |
| Washington St. |
Y
|
95.54545 | ||
| West Virginia |
Y
|
57.27273 |
Those are the schools in BCS conferences that at least have new offensive coordinators this season. I obtained the coordinator info by reading Phil Steele's preseason blurbs on each team's coaches. I could have missed some, and some of that could be wrong. For instance, I couldn't really gather whether South Florida had a new OC this season, but it sortkinda sounded like they did. I filled in the new QB information column just from memory, but I didn't really want to guess, so I only completed it if I was pretty sure. Determining whether a team has a new QB this season shouldn't be difficult. Determining whether they have a new scheme is more problematic but might be the factor most correlating to a steep and long learning curve.
In any event, if any of you have time and the inclincation, see what you can find to fill in that chart above. I wonder what we can learn, if anything, once it's completed. Some discoveries may be quite painful, such as finding that former Vol Trooper Taylor is doing quite nicely at Oklahoma St., thank you very much, which may lead to wide-spread lamentations that we in fact should have hired the man. Or that Alabama's new OC is, um, rolling right along. But . . . we may find that the Cowboys' (and maybe the Tide's) only change on offense is the coordinator, and that they merely plugged a new OC into a mature system with an experienced QB. That's certainly quite different than bringing in a new guy with a new system and making the team adapt to a new scheme with a new QB under center.
Other discoveries may give some comfort, like finding that Tennessee is in pretty good company with the likes of South Carolina, Auburn, UCLA, and Michigan. I'm fairly certain that we'll find that with the exception of South Carolina (where Spurrier's son is almost certainly calling plays out of Spurrier's system), those schools are all struggling on offense primarily because they changed everything on offense . New OC, new QB, new scheme.
Anyway, let's see what we can find. All of the above teams' offensive statistical rankings in order of average rank is below the fold for anyone who's interested.
|
Rank
|
Team
|
RO
|
PO
|
TO
|
SO
|
PE
|
SA
|
TFLA
|
3DC
|
4DC
|
RZO
|
FDO
|
AVG
|
|
3
|
Oklahoma St. |
1
|
53
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
8
|
26
|
8
|
73
|
9
|
3
|
17.45455
|
|
10
|
Kansas St. |
74
|
12
|
23
|
8
|
11
|
1
|
8
|
10
|
32
|
52
|
20
|
22.81818
|
|
14
|
Alabama |
17
|
101
|
57
|
19
|
42
|
30
|
12
|
14
|
1
|
31
|
51
|
34.09091
|
|
16
|
Georgia |
54
|
25
|
30
|
29
|
30
|
60
|
37
|
27
|
32
|
13
|
47
|
34.90909
|
|
19
|
South Fla. |
28
|
26
|
16
|
20
|
31
|
60
|
94
|
20
|
22
|
65
|
14
|
36
|
|
30
|
Nebraska |
57
|
24
|
33
|
17
|
12
|
35
|
78
|
85
|
32
|
59
|
41
|
43
|
|
35
|
California |
22
|
41
|
20
|
10
|
44
|
50
|
78
|
80
|
80
|
46
|
34
|
45.90909
|
|
45
|
Baylor |
13
|
67
|
26
|
30
|
22
|
97
|
72
|
32
|
80
|
63
|
45
|
49.72727
|
|
51
|
Mississippi |
45
|
60
|
49
|
49
|
49
|
19
|
12
|
57
|
80
|
75
|
88
|
53
|
|
52
|
Northwestern |
64
|
61
|
67
|
72
|
86
|
7
|
37
|
44
|
73
|
23
|
62
|
54.18182
|
|
58
|
Duke |
78
|
43
|
61
|
44
|
56
|
78
|
50
|
22
|
90
|
78
|
29
|
57.18182
|
|
59
|
West Virginia |
12
|
111
|
67
|
83
|
38
|
15
|
50
|
46
|
48
|
89
|
71
|
57.27273
|
|
65
|
Georgia Tech |
5
|
115
|
43
|
56
|
52
|
50
|
50
|
36
|
80
|
97
|
79
|
60.27273
|
|
69
|
Maryland |
39
|
89
|
64
|
63
|
59
|
73
|
58
|
35
|
77
|
65
|
101
|
65.72727
|
|
73
|
Tennessee |
49
|
96
|
81
|
101
|
111
|
22
|
26
|
87
|
1
|
82
|
89
|
67.72727
|
|
74
|
South Carolina |
91
|
56
|
79
|
89
|
84
|
116
|
94
|
31
|
32
|
52
|
26
|
68.18182
|
|
85
|
Syracuse |
55
|
108
|
109
|
90
|
82
|
46
|
4
|
115
|
77
|
1
|
116
|
73
|
|
96
|
Arkansas |
109
|
29
|
74
|
96
|
74
|
119
|
116
|
76
|
42
|
59
|
71
|
78.63636
|
|
100
|
Texas A&M |
101
|
87
|
107
|
88
|
35
|
109
|
112
|
15
|
42
|
93
|
99
|
80.72727
|
|
107
|
Auburn |
56
|
97
|
90
|
97
|
99
|
46
|
108
|
112
|
48
|
105
|
93
|
86.45455
|
|
108
|
UCLA |
106
|
95
|
114
|
109
|
108
|
78
|
31
|
104
|
13
|
101
|
111
|
88.18182
|
|
109
|
Michigan |
82
|
104
|
110
|
93
|
109
|
15
|
112
|
114
|
22
|
99
|
112
|
88.36364
|
|
114
|
Washington St. |
92
|
72
|
96
|
103
|
106
|
113
|
116
|
96
|
113
|
78
|
66
|
95.54545
|