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Vols: Who Does Rain Favor?

By Randy Sharber

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For the Vols things couldn’t get much worse after Saturday, or could it?

There was a cloud hanging over the entire State this week after the Vols lost a tough one at Florida. It was yet another fourth quarter loss. Tennessee was the better team…again. But nothing to show for it.

Many voiced their displeasure with Butch Jones. Many yahoos came out of the woodwork saying Jones and staff should be fired. Are you kidding me? 4 weeks ago Jones could have been elected Governor of Tennessee by these same guys.

The Vols need to get back on track this weekend. Honestly, it is not going to be easy. It was not going to be easy in the first place, but now it could be even tougher due to the weather forecast in Knoxville. It is going to be wet. I mean sloppy wet.

It is hard to say who this hinders, and who this helps. Here is why.

The Hogs are a well balanced offense led by a very physical running game. They have the largest offensive line on the planet. That is not a lie. They are larger than any NFL team across the line o scrimmage.

They line up in a two tight end set and run right at you.However, the Razorbacks have been effective through the air as well off of the play action. They are a much better passing team than Tennessee. It is without question.

The Vols have been pretty good against the run. They have been horrible against the pass. Bowling Green lit Tennessee up. Oklahoma had a big fourth quarter in the air as did Florida. I don’t like Arkansas’ passing game verses Tennessee’s secondary. The Vols don’t match up with the exception of Cam Sutton.

The Vols have a finesse style o running game. They try to tempo you into a mistake. They stretch the field and allow Jalen Hurd to pick a hole and get up field. There is nothing finesse about Jalen Hurd mind you, but the way the offense set us is all finesse. They are not lining up and running over you. The Vols have been extremely successful running the football.

Arkansas’ run defense is good as are most SEC teams. However, their secondary is horrible. They are at the bottom of the NCAA just about in allowing passing yards. That is how teams are beating them. Through the air. Well guess who is last in the SEC in passing. The Vols.

So who will the rain favor. I hate to say it, but it is Arkansas, but there could be a silver lining for Tennessee as well.

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I tend to think the rain favors the receivers. It may be tougher on the quarterback to get them the ball, but the receivers know where they are going. The defensive back has to react. When footing is bad, it is tougher for that back to react.

The Vols are going to load up to stop the run. The middle linebacking position has been tough for Tennessee. Colton Jumper can not play it. Kirkland is just young. It is a bad situation for Tennessee. Now the Vols will counter with the big freshman inside to protect the middle linebacker.

Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie will get plenty of reps in this game. They will have to help slow down the Razorback running game. If they are not successful, it is going to be another tough Butch Jones show on Sunday, because the play action pass will be tough for this group of Vol defensive backs to stop. They haven’t yet, so what makes us think they can Saturday.

The power running game is straight ahead for the Hogs. In the slop, that is a good plan. You are not relying on planting your foot to make a cut as a running back. You are simply lining up and leaning on the defense, straight ahead. I like the Hogs in this scenario.

The silver lining could be this. Tennessee has more athletes. The Vols are faster, especially the receivers verses their secondary. So if Jones and DeBord can get the ball to the receivers through a short passing game it could be a huge advantage for Tennessee. Getting Von Pearson, Jauan Jennings and Pig Howard the ball early could set up big days for Hurd and Kamara against this Razorback defense.

But Vol fans are skeptics at this point. The Vols have not exactly developed a plan to get the ball in the hands of the wide receivers of Wide Receiver U. They had a combined two catches last week against the Gators. Now the running game was killing it, so there was not much sense in throwing at the time I guess.

A lot of that running game was Josh Dobb’s ability to run. He will not be able to take the abuse he took last week much more this season. He played his hind end off. But Dobbs will have to get more done through the air. Especially tomorrow against a poor defensive secondary.

All in all the rain favors Arkansas. But Tennessee is the better team. So far that hasn’t mattered. Hopefully it will tomorrow…in the rain.

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