Vols Offense Pitiful In Loss To Ole Miss

The Tennessee Vols offense was absolutely pitiful in the loss to Ole Miss this evening in Oxford. One thing is for sure, offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian definitely will not be asked to come to work at Disney, Apple, Facebook or any other corporation where an imagination would be needed.

The Vols offensive line was overwhelmed by the Ole Miss Rebel defensive line all night long. This line is not only young and inexperienced, but they are also not very strong, athletic, determined or good right now. They couldn’t block Chattanooga, and surely did not block Ole Miss. They can’t even get in the opponents way. Alabama comes to town next week by the way.

Justin Worley was harassed constantly. He didn’t have any time to throw, and his decision making again was so slow that by the time he decided what he was going to do the Rebel defense had swarmed.

I don’t think the offensive coordinator does anything to put these guys in a good situation where they can be successful. I have consistently been critical of Bajakian’s run game scheme. I do not think it can work, and he does more each week to prove my thoughts. Tennessee rushed 28 times for zero yards. Let that sink in. Zero yards.

He has an all world back in Jalen Hurd, and he consistently has that back taking delayed handoffs 5 yards deep running parallel to the line of scrimmage. Zone Read….right! Line him up in the I formation with a fullback and run the ball the way an SEC team should.

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The thing that bothers me the most as a fan is that you knew what was going to happen if we ran our offense in the manner we have the first six games. You knew that Worley would be sacked if Tennessee tried to throw down the field. The offensive line can not block. Period. As a big time college program coordinator you have to know that. You have seen it in practice daily and in 6 games this season.

So you have to build an offensive game plan around this. I am not exactly sure what the game plan was tonight. Granted, Ole Miss is hard to attack because they are so good up front in all aspects of the defense. The line, linebackers and secondary are all equally strong. We had to do something different from what we have showed so far. We were vanilla again. We were predictable again. We are not good enough to impose our will offensively on anyone. We have to out-scheme the other team. We haven’t done so, and really haven’t seen anything to suggest we can.

In two SEC games we have scored 12 points total.  Worley threw three more interceptions tonight. Two of them were thrown right to the defensive back like they were the primary receiver. The only scoring opportunity tonight came and went on a high throw from Worley to Pig Howard who was cutting wide open to the end Zone. The throw went off a leaping Pig Howard’s hands. Tennessee would have cut the score to 14-10. The next play called was a poorly executed triple reverse that resulted in a 20 yard loss. High school stuff.  This took Tennessee out of field goal range, and out of the game. It was over.

At the end of this evening Worley was driven into the ground by an Ole Miss defender that ran right by an offensive tackle. That offensive tackle is also playing on a knee that needs major surgery. That is what we have. I tend to think there are at least 3 or 4 in the fraternity houses that could play as well as a guy who needs major surgery. What a warrior Gilliam is for even getting back onto the field. Worley hurt his shoulder on the play. I hope he can come back for Alabama. Peterman replaced Worley and promptly fumbled the ball while taking a hit. The Vols recovered at least.

I just hope the Vols can recover from this defeat themselves. I believed Tennessee could win. The defense played outstanding up until the last few minutes of the first half. They were consistently put in harm’s way by the Tennessee offense, and it finally caved quickly.

I will be grading performance tomorrow. I can tell you that the offense will receive a failing grade. I know that doesn’t mean anything coming from a guy just writing about it, and I know these guys are giving their all for Tennessee. Although many young players had good moments such as Josh Malone tonight, for the most part the offense was embarrassing to watch. It is simply hard to watch.