Vols: Primary Concern Is Secondary

The Vols Primary Concern Is Secondary.

Pardon the pun, but the Vols secondary became a huge concern overnight when a MAC team came in and threw all over them.

Everyone knew that Bowling Green would bring a formidable offense to Nashville yesterday. What we did not know was just how successful they would be throwing on what I thought was a much improved secondary.

Quarterback Matt Johnson threw for 424 yards against the Vols yesterday. He was 27-49 on the lighting delayed day. Cornerback’s Emmanuel Moseley and Malik Foreman were marked men. They must have felt like a deer on opening day of the season here in Tennessee. The sights were directly on them both.

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I was shocked that Moseley was beaten so badly by the Falcon’s Gehrig Dieter. Dieter looked like Randy Moss yesterday against the Vols. I had written just a few weeks back that I felt like Moseley was one of the most improved players on the Tennessee team. I watched him blanket Von Pearson in the open practice as well as all other receivers he covered.

Moseley had a calm swagger that looked good at practice. He would slowly walk up to play press coverage on the Vol receivers, and win. Well the swagger should be gone this morning. Dieter was too physical for the slight Vol Corner. That is not a good sign. Dieter is not in the same category as the Oklahoma wideouts, or the upcoming onslaught of SEC receivers they will soon face.

At one time Johnson threw 2 back to back go patterns over Moseley’s head to Dieter. The last one was for a touchdown. Safety Brian Randolph looked to be playing in a different game than the rest of the Vols. He was playing dead center field most of the night. He was caught so out of position on most throws that it looked as if he had never played before. He is a Senior.

The play was so bad in the secondary, with the exception of Cam Sutton, that I tweeted the following during the lightning delay. VOLS SECONDARY STILL AT CENTER OF FIELD DURING LIGHTNING DELAY. CAN’T FIND COVER. I received some funny replies for that one as you can imagine.

Malik Foreman was given his chance at covering Dieter, with the same exact result. Foreman did seem to be a little closer in coverage, but not much closer.

I think the secondary is better than this. I am a little less confident now though. The injuries have hurt. There is no doubt. But the opposition does not walk in their huddle and say “hey, let’s not throw on these guys because it is not fair that they don’t have their starters, ready…break”.

No sir, instead it is like Air Jaws stalking a wounded seal. They can’t wait to attack. Johnson did not even look Sutton’s way. Well that’s not true. He did once and Sutton almost intercepted it. That was the end of that.

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I really do think that the secondary missed their coach Willie Martinez yesterday. It was announced just before the game that Martinez was suspended this one game for a minor recruiting incident from a year back. I’m not sure they even knew he would not be there. If that is true, I can see how it shook them, and how they had trouble making adjustments.

Needless to say they have little time to get it straightened out. Oklahoma comes to town. They put up over 400 yards through the air on Akron yesterday. They did not even have to use their potent run game to rack up the yards.

Tennessee had a hard time getting to Johnson to pressure him. The Vols were in his face, but he got rid of the ball quick. It was not so much that the offensive line was doing a good job on the powerful defensive line, it was simple arithmetic . Get the ball and throw it quicker than they can get here.

In many cases Johnson just launched the ball and whoever was receiver on their left side would run under it. He picked on that side all day long.

So how do they fix this? I really don’t know if they have the personnel to fix it. If Moseley has another game like this it will be telling. He is definitely the best cover corner they have other than Sutton. I want to give him a pass on this one. Maybe Justin Martin can move in and move Moseley to Nickel. I just don’t know.

I do know this. The Vols do not want to have to score over 30 next week to win. But they may have to. Oklahoma’s defense will not give up the yardage easy. Oklahoma shut Tennessee down pretty well last season. But they did not face Joshua Dobbs. They did not face Alvin Kamara. They did not face this Tennessee offense. But they are Oklahoma, and that usually is exceptional.

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