Tennessee- Review of Keys To Winning The Game
For Tennessee fans it was the same old same old. The Vols fielded the better team today against Florida, but lost the game… again. The Vols snatched a loss from the jaws of victory. Here is a review of the Keys to Victory written prior to game time.
1. Outgain Florida On Ground – Based on the fact that the team that rushed for the most yardage has won this game for the last 20 years this seemed like a easy key to victory. Result- Laughable. Bajakian’s sideline to sideline running and passing game netted 757 yards total (tongue in cheek). The problem is that more than 700 of that was east and west. Someone give him a compass please. Tennessee managed a pathetic 28 yards net rushing to Florida’s 156 yards. Jalen Hurd had only 39 yards on 1o carries. He had no where to run. See my next article on why. Worley’s sacks go against the rushing totals and he had -45 yards.
2. Field Position – Mentioned that Field position would be key and it was. This was blown at the first kick off. A blocking out of bounds penalty on the opening kick off gave Tennessee the ball at its own 10, and it stayed that way from there. Tennessee was kept behind its own 20 most of the day. When the defense created turnovers for the Vol offense, the offense sputtered and could not take advantage. Florida consistently was given good field position, but a great defensive effort by the Vols kept the Gators at bay all day long.
3. Make Field Goal Attempts – I was so impressed with young Aaron Medley today. He hit 3-3 field goal attempts. He did what he could do. I thought a miss would cost the game. If Florida’s kick would have been missed, it would have been a different type of night in Knoxville. The refs blew this one. The clock struck 0, and the refs let it go. I knew Tennessee was in trouble the second I saw who the head referee was today. Hopefully we don’t see him again. Good job Aaron. Wish we could have given you one more opportunity to give you the same opportunity your mentor had. Wilhoit has helped Medley a lot.
4.Win First Down – I thought Tennessee’s defense had to keep Driskell to a 4 yard average on first down in order to win. I thought if they could force Driskell to throw, they would have two interceptions. I was wrong, we had three. However the Gator running game created too many second and 4 or 5’s and made it easier to pick up first downs with the run on 2nd and short and 3rd and short. For the most part Tennessee did a good job here. Now on offense we lost first down in a monumental way. We faced 2nd and long and 3rd and long all day. The ineffectiveness of Bajakian’s mystery running game scheme resulted in several zone read first down collapses. Unless, again, you count horizontal yardage. If you do, Hurd can strike the Heisman pose because he had 300 yards plus running sideline to sideline. Not his fault by the way in any form or fashion.
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5. Special Teams – I think Tennessee’s special team defense was very good today. Florida ran one back of course that was called back as it had more behind the back (blocking) fouls than a Real Housewives of New Jersey episode. Tennessee bottled up the very good returners of Florida all game. Darr did a good job with exception of one shank. Tennessee’s return team is non existent on kick offs and punts. I said just catch the punts and we will be fine. Sutton did that, although he did drop one that he recovered. Was Willie Gault the last Vol to run a kick off back? Do we know that is legal?
6.Keep Worley Vertical – Failed. Worley was harassed all day, again. Fans are upset with his play. He did have a bad day. However unless he can find a way to throw on his back, I’m not sure what he was supposed to do. The fumble was not a blind sided hit as announcers kept saying. Worley should have felt his presence. I have a better internal clock to wake up in the mornings than Tennessee quarterbacks do holding the ball in the pocket. Worley does not have time to look off a receiver and check to the next. That is sad, but that is true. Just get rid of the ball if the receiver is not open. Throw it in the ground. I also had in this key this morning that if Worley did not keep the ball three times in the running game Tennessee would lose. Bajakian must have Worley run the ball to be successful. This is the big boy league. This is not Central Michigan playing Saskatchewan Valley State. No one respects that Worley will keep the ball on this option. Let’s just not call it an option and call it what it is in the huddle. “OK guys, lets go trips right, Hurd No Chance Dive Up the middle, and no one block on one. Ready Break”.
7. Utilize The Best Receivers in the Country – Failed. Throwing 2 yard underneath routes to Josh Malone and Marquez North is like taking Brooklyn Decker out on a date and telling her to wear her goose down coat. It is a vast underutilization of talent. Malone had 4 catches for 26 yds and North 4 for 28 yds. Florida’s secondary was terrible and was begging to be thrown on. Worley had no time to throw. I get that. But you can not tell me that you don’t try to go deep on timing routes on a defense that was torched two weeks earlier by Alabama. Pitiful game planning.
8. Fans Need To Stay With Team – This was hard to do in this game. The Tennessee fans did a great job most of the day. Kudos to the fans on the checkerboard by the way, that was incredible. However in the end, the Gator defense with the help of the Vol offense rendered the crowd ineffective. There is just not much a fan can do to help the offense. The defense was helped by the fanbase all day. They did what they could do.
In the end it was just an all around great performance by AJ Johnson, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Derek Barnett, Cam Sutton, and the rest of the entire defense. They could not have played better. On the other hand, the offense was pitiful. I just watched Ole Miss seal the deal against Alabama. The Vols could have sealed the deal against the Gators. Could have.