SB Nation User Blog: Vol Navy

Deadspin: Phil Fulmer Stepping Down From Tennessee At The End of the Season

Vol Navy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:50:01 -0000

Deadspin: Phil Fulmer Stepping Down From Tennessee At The End of the Season

Clay's take over at Deadspin. Interesting take since he was in the locker room after the game Saturday.

Eric Berry's hit on Maze on the crossing route that spun him completely around and knocked him back...

Vol Navy — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:23:24 -0000

Eric Berry's hit on Maze on the crossing route that spun him completely around and knocked him back three yards.

Reviewing the Running Plays

Vol Navy — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:23:50 -0000

With all the struggles Tennessee had running the ball on Georgia, I decided to see if I could figure out where everything went wrong. All of the yards gained on the play-by-play stats is taken directly from the game log. Below is the video of all the running plays and each run is tagged.

LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Player	Yards	Brief
T45	1	10	Ace 4-Wide	4-3	Foster	1	Toss
Cottam (-1) is split out wide and comes in motion. He whiffs on his block of the DE. Jones (+1) makes a good block on the linebacker. McClendon and R. Foster are pulling on the play. McClendon (-1) completely misses the MLB which does not allow Foster to cut up the field. R. Foster (-1) cannot make the block on the corner back who makes the tackle.
T20	1	10	Strong - Twins	4-3	Hardesty	7	Off-tackle
Georgia has 8 men in the box on this play. McClendon (-2) gets pushed 3 yards back causing Hardesty to have to cut inside as soon as he gets the ball. Parker (+1) does a good job coming back and sealing off the DE. Hardesty (+1) pushes the pile forward for 3 yards after contact.
T24	1	10	Ace	4-3	Creer	0	Zone right
One of the TE goes into motion to the fullback position. Georgia has nine in the box on this play. Richard, who is in for McClendon (-2) gets pushed from the left side all the way to other side into Creer's path to blow the play up.
T24	2	10	Strong - Twins	4-3	Creer	2	Toss
The R. Foster (-1) and Richard (-1) pull and both make bad blocks never allowing Creer to cut upfield.
T49	1	10	Strong - Twins	4-3	Foster	3	Zone Right
UGA again has eight guys in the box. Parker (-1) gets pushed back causing Foster to cut before he can get to where the hole will be. Stocker (+1) does a good job of blocking the DE but for some reason Cooper (-1) comes to double instead of going to block the safety. Foster (+1) does good to get three out of this.
T23	1	10	Weak	4-3	Hardesty	2	Iso
Cooper goes in motion to make this an I-Form before the snap. None of the line really pushes anyone back, but finally none of the O-line gets pushed into the runner. If Hardesty (-1) cuts this to the right there is plenty of room because as soon as the UGA defense sees it going towards the middle everyone sells out and the corner is sealed.
T30	2	3	Strong	4-3	Hardesty	6	Dive
Parker pulls around on this play and chips on the DE who Stocker is blocking but needs help because he has a horrible angle to make the block. McClendon (+1) seals the DT and R. Foster (+1) goes and blocks the MLB. Hardesty (+1) does a good job of hitting the whole fast and getting as much as possible on the play.
G4	2	G	I - Big	Goalline	Hardesty	2	Toss left
Hancock misses two blocks on the play first he barely touches Allen (-1) and then gets to the safety and misses him as well (-1). Foster pulls around the TE and blocks Allen who Cooper then blocks. If either Foster or Cooper cut upfield and block, Hardesty might have a chance to get in the endzone.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Player	Yards	Brief
T14	1	10	Strong - Twins	4-3	Foster	-1	Zone - left
Cooper goes in motion to make this an I-Form. UGA has eight in the box on this play. Josh McNeil (-1) gets pushed straight back into A. Foster as does McClendon (-1). Parker (-1) heads for the MLB and completely misses him as does R. Foster (-1) on the SLB. Jones (+1) does a good job of locking up the WLB. A. Foster does good to get back to the line of scrimmage.
G30	2	10	Strong - Twins	4-3	Hardesty	1	Toss left
TN pulls the guard and tackle on the play side as they have for the other tosses. I think if Hardesty cuts up at the numbers he may have enough blocking to get a few more yards.
G14	1	10	Ace - Twins	4-3	Hardesty	2	Iso
Cottam goes into motion to make this an I-Form. UGA has eight in the box on this play. McNeil (+1) does good going out and blocking the blitzing MLB. There is a decent hole here but as soon as Hardesty gets past the line of scrimmage it closes.
T25	2	10	Strong	4-3	Jones	-8	End around
Jones comes in motion towards the ball before the snap. Allen sees this and comes on a blitz to make the tackle. With the corner blitzing from the direction the play was going gave this play no chance of working.

+/- Totals

Player	Totals
R. Foster	-3
Parker	0
McNeil	0
McClendon	-5
Scott	0
Richard	-1
Cottam	-1
Stocker	1
Cooper	-1
Foster	1
Jones	2
Hardesty	1
Hancock	-1

WOW, that was horrible to watch.

After reviewing the film we are lucky to have as many rushing yards as we did. It is hard to believe that our O-line was supposed to be a strength coming into the season. I don't think I saw a play where a UT lineman pushed a UGA defender down the field. Whenever an interior Georgia player was lined straight up on a UT lineman, the Tennessee lineman was pushed back. After watching the first two series I was wondering why McClendon was even on the field, but then as soon as they substituted for him with Richard he screwed up as well. If we were just being overpowered up the middle it would be one thing, however the lineman are also so lumbering that they cannot get outside fast enough to block on the tosses. None of our problems rushing are with the running backs. There was not a play where the running back made a horrible decision and missed an obvious hole. Hardesty missed one play where he could have cut it outside, but from his view it would have been tough to see.

For the future

We do not need to run anymore tosses. Against a fast defense our O-linemen are not quick enough to get to the edge and make a definitive block. Also we need to stop using twin formations as much. It was allowing Georgia to easily slip an eighth defender into the box and still have three defensive backs to cover our two receivers. The only players who looked like competent blockers were our receivers and Stocker. They were consistently able to lock up defenders other than the one time when Hancock tried to block on the goal line.

Defeat of Crompton Bailout, Stock Slides

Vol Navy — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:13:39 -0000

KNOXVILLE, TN – Jonathan Crompton's, (JCR, Tennessee 11) stock was in a freefall today, a move precipitated when his coaching staff rejected his bailout plan. The move was caused by news Sunday night that Philip Fulmer (head coach of the University of Tennessee) planned on splitting practice time between Crompton and Nick Stephens (NST, Tennessee 2-Deep). Crompton subsequently stated, “I'm still going to be the guy,” which did nothing to quell the fear of the sellers early Monday morning when the market opened.

The fall in the stock price can be tied to the failure of Fulmer to remove Crompton's bad passes from the game book. Removing these bad passes from Crompton's balance sheet should have the effect easing fears of his ability to quarterback the University of Tennessee. However, Fulmer said that he just could not allow this cost to be passed on to Tennessee investors. Crompton's argument was that if you just remove his 15 incompletions from Saturday's game versus Auburn, his stats would be 8-8 for 67 yards, a respectable average of over 8 yards per attempt for the game. Fulmer responded by saying this would be more respectable if it was a quarterly total.

Coach Fulmer would not say if Crompton's stock had dropped below that of Stephen's, but that they were virtually equivalent options and the rest of the week would show who had better command of the “mental part of the game.”

The leader of this Crompton Bear Market, Gary Danielson (a CBS Analyst), has used such words as “ugh” to describe Crompton's stock's dismal performance. He went on to say that Crompton's stock is doing extremely well, “if what he's supposed to do is miss a wide-open touchdown in the endzone.”

Coach Fulmer stated, “I am not for sure that Crompton's stock can recover, but we are going to work like heck to make sure that we can get the most value possible from our quarterback position.”

Defense Vs. Alabama

Vol Navy — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:51:50 -0000

Wow. From the no-good-idea-goes-unstolen department, Vol Navy goes above, beyond, over, and through the call of duty to bring us an Upon Further Review knockoff. Summary here, table after the jump. Vol Navy -- saaaaaaa-lute!!! -- Joel

After watching the debacle that was our defensive performance against Alabama I decided to punish myself and go back and watch the tape to see exactly what went wrong. I was hoping to see that only one or two things were wrong so that I could have hope that the defense could be fixed. I wound up closely watching about the first two-thirds of Tennessee's defensive snaps. After reviewing the game, I have decided that any decent offense will put up a lot of points against Tennessee unless the players improve and serious changes are made in our defensive scheme. While watching the game live the defense looked bad, in slow-motion it was even worse. The weaknesses of the three groups on defense (DL, LB, DB) work together to amplify the crappiness of the defense.

Defensive Backs:

This group definitely performed the worst on Saturday. Blown coverages and allowing huge cushions for the receivers plagued the group all game long. (Though, I would assume the huge cushions were by the coaches design) While I think he has a very bright future for the Vols, Eric Berry is not playing well right now. He seems to do much better playing the run than the pass. The long pass to DJ Hall on the second drive of the game was mostly his fault and shows his weakness in coverage. Vinson was playing outside technique and expecting safety help. Berry, however, bit on a playfake and Vinson got called for pass interference. Berry consistently got out of position when he had a deep zone. The other defensive backs obviously had their problems as well, but Berry's stood out the most. However, his backup Parrish was the nickel back in the game and played about as badly, so he is not an upgrade

Linebackers:

Watching this group perform it is apparent that they are selling out to stop the run. Alabama ran a playfake on most of the snaps when Wilson was under center and the linebackers attacked the line virtually every time. I could understand this happening if Alabama was running the ball more or they were good playfakes, but that was not the case. The most disheartening aspect was the poor quality of the playfakes that were working for Alabama. Wilson would barely even stick the ball past his body and the linebackers would get at least two yards closer to the line of scrimmage leaving huge windows underneath the defensive backs. The misreads on playaction seem to be this groups major problem, but it is disturbing the lack of big plays that this group makes. They were supposed to be the strength of the team, at this point to call them anything above average would be false.

Defensive Line:

For the most part the line never had a chance to get to Wilson in this game. There were a few plays where he stood in the pocket, but on the whole, the ball was out of his hand whenever he completed his drop. When he entered the shotgun he would usually take two steps and the ball was already out of his hand. Against the run, the line seemed to be in good position but would not finish the play when they had the chance, allowing the running backs extra yards. This unit definitely needs to get more pressure on the quarterback when it has the chance, but I would still say they played the best of any unit on the field. The two best defensive players for the Vols were both on the line, Bolden and Mitchell. I did not see either of these two do anything wrong, which puts them ahead of the rest of their teammates and were both able to make a couple of good plays on run defense.

Specifics

Robert Ayres had a horrible game. One of his plays in particular was horrendous and allowed a 26 yard run. Alabama came out with one RB and both tight ends on one side of the field. At the snap Ayres stands straight up and goes inside of the play. (I have no idea why he would do this because it does not appear to be a twist with the DT and I do not believe we would have called one because it was first and ten.) Because Ayres takes himself out of the play, the tackle gets a free release on Mayo and he never has a chance. McCoy makes a good play and gets off the Center blocking him and would be able to make the play for about a seven yard gain. But, due the fact no one ever had to block Ayres there is an extra blocker (the other TE) able to get a piece of him preventing him from making the tackle. The defensive backs then have to run the RB down. On the very next play Ayres has contain and allows the running back to get around him for a gain of 8 yards.

Overall:

Each unit in the passing game worked to magnify the weaknesses of the others. Our coaches do not believe that our defensive backs are able to play press coverage or man-to-man. The huge cushions our defensive backs were giving the receivers necessitate the linebackers getting deep drops to force the quarterback to throw over them allowing the DBs a chance to make up ground. This did not occur due to the linebackers falling for playaction continuously. Tennessee's line is not good enough to get to the quarterback without him looking around downfield. Wilson was able to release the ball as soon as he finished his drop due to the huge cushions granted his receivers.

Alabama's Scheme:

Alabama obviously picked up several of the tendencies Tennessee showed against Georgia. Whereas Georgia came out trying to run the ball; Alabama came out passing. Tennessee showed against the Dawgs that they would sellout to stop the run on early downs and the Crimson Tide took advantage of it by using playaction with great success. Alabama also did a great job of overloading the Tennessee zones when they spread the field. They would usually bring a man in motion, which would allow them to make sure it was zone, and have two men run routes on either side of a linebacker.

Outlook:

Tennessee tried blitzing at various times during the game with no success. Wilson was able to make the correct read and get rid of the ball before the blitzers were able to get there. The ease at which Alabama was able to pick up and diagnose the blitz leads me to believe that Tennessee is very predictable in where and how they will blitz. I believe that Tennessee's coaches are going to have to make a decision in how they want to scheme on defense. After watching the tape it is apparent that Tennessee is going to be forced to change their strategy. The coaches must decide to decide to give up something on defense, because the Vols are not good enough to take everything away. Either they have the linebackers drop deeper and give up running yardage or have everyone around the line of scrimmage, blitzing heavily and hope our defensive backs are not beat deep. I feel that the best chance for success against South Carolina will be for Tennessee to stack the line of scrimmage and hope our cornerbacks can hold up in coverage. Alabama showed that if you spread Tennessee out there will be huge passing lanes that will make an average quarterback look extraordinary. The Vols should force the Gamecocks quarterbacks to show that they have the ability to throw the ball with pressure in their face. With the scheme Tennessee showed last week any Division I quarterback should be able to throw the ball. With a pressure scheme we should at least be able to stuff the run. Whatever Tennessee decides to do; the linebackers cannot be attacking the line of scrimmage while the defensive backs give huge cushions on the outside. If this happens it will be a very long night at Neyland Stadium.

LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A43	1	10	Ace 3-Wide	4-3	Pass	16	Deep Out
It looks like we are in a cover 3 here with Berry shifting down into the box. Bolden gets a pretty good push up the middle. Wilson lobs one out to Hall who is getting a five yard cushion from Johnson(-1) 15 yards downfield. Saying this will be a recurring problem is an understatement. (Cover -1)
T41	1	10	Ace	4-3	Run	5	Toss Left
Reynolds(-1) gets double teamed and pushed back five yards. McCoy(-1) comes up and can make the tackle around the line of scrimmage but overruns the play.
T36	2	5	Shotgun 5-Wide	Nickel	Pass	8	Stop
Tennessee blitzes but it has no chance to get there as Wilson takes one step and throws. Berry(-1) is playing off and comes up and lets the guy carry him for an extra 4 yards. The minus is for the tackle not the coverage on this play.
T28	1	10	I-form	4-3	Run	-2	Dive
Berry(+1) blitzes off the edge and makes the tackle in the backfield. Bolden(+1) gets good penetration on this play to make the RB delay just a second.
T30	2	12	Weak	Nickel	Pass	8	Out
We only rush three on this play with a zone behind it. Parrish(-1) has the flat area and does not get out there quick enough to stop the play. They had 6 people blocking 3 so there was no way we were getting pressure on the play. Alabama motioned the TB out before the play so it was an obvious pass. (Cover -1)
T22	3	4	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	Inc	Post
Tennessee sends 6 and Alabama picks everyone up. Wilson lobs one down the field and Hefney(+1) is able make a play on the ball and knock it away. (Pressure -1) (Cover +1)
Drive Notes: FG, 0-3, Tennessee got off to a horrible start with letting Alabama recover the onside kick. While TN did react horribly, Alabama had a guy two yards offside.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A15	1	10	Ace 3-Wide	4-3	Pass	14	Curl
This is another obvious pass with AL motioning the TB out. We run a zone blitz and the TE turns around and catches the ball with Fisher trying to cover him. This is just a good read by Wilson. Again our line does not have time to get to the quarterback because the coverage is so bad. Also dropping your DTs in a zone is probably not a good idea. Hefney and Berry make the tackle. (Cover -1)
A30	1	10	Ace	4-3	Pass	42	PA Post
Berry(-1) bites on the play action and takes himself out of the play. I believe it is Reynolds(+1) that hits Wilson as he throws. Vinson gets called for pass interference as Hall still makes the catch. I am not going to blame Vinson on the play because it looks like he was supposed to have safety help to the inside. (Cover-1) (Pressure +1)
T28	1	10	Weak	4-3	Pass	Inc	Out
AL does a horrible PA fake which we still fall for. Johnson(+1) has pretty good coverage and Wilson throws it out of bounds with pressure coming. (Cover +1) (Pressure +1)
T28	2	10	Ace 3- Wide	4-3	Penalty	-5	False Start

T33	2	15	Ace 3-Wide	Dime	Pass	4	Stop
Vinson(+1) makes the tackle as soon as the receiver catches the ball. (Cover +1)
T29	3	11	Shotgun 3-Wide	Dime	Pass	10	Out
We blitz a LB who gets picked up by the RB and also Vinson who does not have time to get there. Johnson(-1) is way off the receiver as he catches the ball. (Pressure -1) (Cover -1)
T19	4	1	Crazy	4-3	Penalty	5	Offsides
This is the play were AL comes out with one side of their line spread out wide and motion to a normal position and TN jumps.
T13	1	10	Strong Big	4-3	Pass	3	In
Wilson barely does a play fake which some our players still bite on. Karl(-1) takes too wide of a drop or he could have been in position to make a play on the ball. Berry(+1) comes up and makes the immediate tackle. (Cover -1)
T10	2	7	Strong Big	4-3	Run	3	Power run
TN slants away from the side the ball is run. Karl(+1) fills the hole and makes the tackle.
T7	3	4	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	Inc	Penalty
Wilson has all day, but throws it high to a wide open receiver. Berry(-1). Williams(-3) hits him very, very late for the personal foul. (Cover -1) (Pressure -1)
T3	1	G	Strong Big	4-3	Pass	Inc	PA Cross
Wilson has a long time to throw again but Heffney(+1) has good coverage on Hall. (This may have been a hold that went uncalled, but they never show a replay) Also, after the play Heffney grabs his crotch towards Hall. This is probably not a good idea when a team is throwing at will on you. (Cover +1) (Pressure -1)
T3	2	G	Goalline	Goalline	Pass	3	PA Out
AL does play action that TN does not fall for badly, but the running back is wide open as Vinson(-1) never comes up on him for some unknown reason since the outs were his since there were no receivers on the field. Actually on replay Vinson takes just one step inside which is enough for Grant to get open. (Cover -1)
Drive Notes: TD, 0-10, Tennessee is getting manhandled on defense as Fulmer claps on the sidelines.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
T34	1	10	Weak	4-3	Pass	Inc	Throwaway
TN finally decides not to bite when Wilson does his half-hearted play fake. The right defensive tackle (maybe Wilson or Mapu)(+1) gets good pressure and forces the throw away after the first read was covered. (Cover +1) (Pressure +1)
T34	2	10	???????	4-3	Run	3	Dive
Lincoln Financial (from hereon known as LF) comes back from a Wilson highlight package as the ball is getting handed off. Bolden (+1) stunts around and has a chance to stop him at the line but just gets a piece of him to slow the running back up.
T31	3	7	Ace 3-Wide	Nickel	Pass	Inc	Fly
Tennessee only rushes 3 and Bama had 7 players stay into block so Wilson has all day to throw, but everyone is covered and he throws it out of the endzone. (Cover +1) (Pressure -1)
Drive Notes: Missed FG, 7-10, Tennessee's defense holds after Alabama had a long kickoff return.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A14	1	10	Ace	4-3	Pass	15	Stop
Wilson does a half hearted play fake (from now on HHPA) which TN bites on badly. Johnson (-1) is five yards away when Hall makes the catch. (Cover -1) (Pressure -1)
A29	1	10	Ace	4-3	Run	26	Off Tackle left
Berry comes down to make 8 in the box, which makes this more embarrassing. Bama motions their other TE to make the left the strong side. Karl(-1) gets pancaked by the TE. What makes this play work so well is that the DE on the side of the run is twisting around the DT allowing two lineman to release and block Mayo(-1) and McCoy. This run is not really the line's fault since they had no chance with the rush scheme. Actually, on replay it appears that Ayres (-2) just kind of stands up a runs inside of the play for no reason. Mayo gets his point back since he had no chance on the play since Ayres just let the tackle run right by him. McCoy was able to get off one block but then a second offensive lineman blocks him. I am pretty sure that if a linebacker gets blocked by two different lineman on one play that is not his fault but the lines.
T45	1	10	I	4-3	Run	8	Dive
Tennessee does a good job of bottling up the middle and the RB is forced to bounce outside where Ayres (-1) has contain but does not react quick enough allowing him to turn the corner where Johnson (+1) comes up and makes the tackle.
T37	2	2	Ace 3-Wide	4-3	Pass	Inc	Seam
This is an obvious pass as the RB motions out wide. The receiver is wide open and has a chance to make the play but the ball is just a little overthrown. Vinson(-1) was beat in man coverage and Hefney was the safety playing deep and got there late. With as much air as was put under the throw he should at least have been able to hit the receiver. Watching the play again Wilson looked Hefney off so it was not as bad of play. (Cover -1) (Pressure -1)
T37	3	2	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	4	Scramble
Wilson fumbles the snap and picks it up and runs for the first down. This was basically just a QB draw, which would have obviously have worked since we only rushed three.
T33	1	10	Ace	4-3	Pass	12	HHPA Stop
Tennessee falls for the HHPA again and Wilson makes a good pass to Hall on the out. Johnson(-1) has decent coverage but then misses the tackle, so hence the minus 1. (Pressure -1)
T21	1	10	Weak	4-3	Pass	Inc	PA Post
The receiver is wide open on this play if the ball is thrown lower this is an easy TD. Vinson was somewhat covering the receiver but from where everyone ends up it looks like it should have been cover-2 but Berry(-1) did not drop deep enough or fell for the PA. (Cover -1)
T21	2	10	Shotgun 5-Wide	Nickel	Pass	7	Stop
TN runs a corner blitz that does not have time to get there. Hall just stops right in front of Karl and catches the ball. (Coverage -1)
T14	3	3	Ace 3-Wide	Nickel	Pass	5	Offsides
Ayres(-1) at least drills Wilson right in the middle of the back.
T9	1	G	Ace	4-3	Run	3	Dive
Ayres shifts inside presnap and Bama runs where he previously was. Williams(+1) bear hugs the RB. -15 yards personal foul on Bama.
T21	2	G	Ace	Nickel	Pass	5	PA out
TN blitzes and Wilson throws before they could get there. Vinson(+1) has good coverage and makes the tackle for no yards after catch. (Cover +1)
T16	3	G	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	16	Post
TN get no pressure on the play rushing four. Hall comes in motion to be the inside receiver on the trips side. TN appears to be in a cover-2. Hall is wide open in the middle of the field. Berry(-1) is standing on the back of the endzone for some reason and Hefney(-1) sucked in on an underneath receiver and let Hall get behind him. Replay makes this even worse because Wilson's eyes never left Hall the entire play. (Cover -1) (Pressure -1)
Drive Notes: TD, 14-17, there went the lead to never be seen again.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A25	1	10	I	4-3	Pass	4	HHPA Out
Karl has good coverage on the TE and is there to make the tackle for a gain of 1 but then misses the easy tackle. (Karl -1) Vinson(+1) makes then takes the TE down.
A29	2	6	Ace 3-Wide	4-3	Run	1	Off Tackle Right
Mitchell(+1) gets good penetration and forces the RB inside where Williams(+1) comes off a block and makes the tackle.
A30	3	5	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	9	Stop
TN is obviously in zone because of where Karl lines up on the slot receiver. Hall comes in motion to make trips on Karl's side. This is the exact same play they ran earlier with the same results. He runs eight yards and is wide open in front of Karl. With the way the defense is aligned there is nothing Karl can do on this play. He has two guys in his zone and he has to take the deeper guy. However, as soon as Hall went in motion I knew what the play was so somebody should be able to jump the route. (Cover -1)
A39	1	10	??????	4-3	Run	1	Off-Tackle right
Mitchell(+1) gets good penetration forcing him wider and Karl(+1) comes diving in and barely trips him up. Did not get to see the formation because LF is zoomed in on Hall.
A40	2	9	Shotgun 4-wide	Nickel	Pass	5	Stop
Alabama motions the RB out and then throws to him in front of Vincent(+1) who then makes the tackle. TN blitzed on this play and had people coming free but Wilson got rid of the ball quickly.
A45	3	4	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	22	Slant
TN was in a cover-1 man look on this play. Hall was the inside receiver on the side with 3 and runs up the field, with the middle receiver running a slant underneath him. Parrish has to come over the top of Hall leaving the receiver and is forced to chase him down. This was a perfect play call for man defense. (Cover -1)
T33	1	10	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	4	Screen right
I have no idea why they ran a screen since we are getting no pressure. We played this pretty well.
T29	2	6	Ace 3-Wide	4-3	Run	4	Zone left
TN's defensive line strings this out well but Karl(-1) slips before he can make the tackle. McCoy(+1) comes from the back side and makes the tackle.
T25	3	2	Weak	4-3	Pen	-5	False start

T30	3	7	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Run	6	Scramble
TN only rushes three so there are plenty of running lanes Mayo(-1) comes up and stops Wilson, but if he makes the tackle cleanly this is a gain of 3. (Cover +1) (Pressure -1)
T24	4	1	Goalline	Goalline	Run	1	Dive
TN does a decent job here. McCoy hits him the backfield but the RB is able to spin and fall forward for the first down.
T22	1	10	Weak	4-3	Run	5	PA scramble
Bolden(+1) is able to spin up the middle getting pressure at Wilson's feet. However Mapu(-1) gets stood up and there is a huge running lane. Both DEs were also getting good pressure on this play. (Cover +1) (Pressure +1)
T17	2	5	Strong	3-4	Run	4	Dive
Mitchell(+1) holds his ground and makes the tackle. One LB comes blitzing in with a chance to keep the RB from falling forward but misses.
T13	3	1	Ace 3-Wide	3-4	Run	2	Dive
Bolden(+1) pushes the center forcing the RB to bounce out to where Mitchell(+1) has gotten upfield. Mitchell(-1) then misses the tackle allowing the first down.
T11	1	10	Shotgun	4-3	Run	7	Scramble
Mitchell is the only TN lineman who does not get stood up on the line of scrimmage and even he gets pushed passed the QB. (cover +1) (pressure-1)
T4	2	3	Ace	4-3	Pass	Inc	PA bootleg
Bama comes out of two timeouts and runs a fake end around. Mitchell(+1) keeps contain and keeps Wilson from rolling. Mitchell gets a hold of him as he throws the ball away and Mayo(+1) comes in and literally knock his helmet off. (cover +1) (pressure(+1)
T4	3	3	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	Int	Penalty
With LF great camera work there is never a view where you can tell if Berry got there early or not. It looks like his back hand may have been on the receiver, but I am not for sure. Anyways, Berry(+1) still did a good job jamming his man and playing the slant. Heffney(+1) still gets points for catching the ball.
T2	1	G	Ace – Strong	4-3	Pass	2	Fade
This was too easy for Hall. Johnson(-1) never even tries to jam Hall. (Coverage-1)
Drive Notes: TD, 14-24, Nothing is better than a LF broadcast where you get all of three camera views, so half the time you cannot get a decent replay.
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A27	1	10	Ace	4-3	Run	4	Off-Tackle left
Reynolds(-1) gets pushed out on the play by the TE, but does come back to make the tackle but drives the RB forward for two more yards.
A31	2	6	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	Inc	Fly
Reynolds gets a decent push on this play. Johnson(-1) comes up on the player in the flat in front of him that was being covered by a LB. If Wilson has the arm to zip one in between the corner and safety this would be a 20 yard gain, but instead he throws it out of bounds. (Cover -1)
A31	3	6	Shotgun 3-Wide	Nickel	Pass	Inc	Cross
TN only rushes 3 on this play. Mayo(+1) has good coverage on the TE as he crosses the middle of the field and makes the hit as soon as the ball gets there. Even if he catches this ball it is still three yards short of a first down. (Cover +1)
Drive Notes:
LN	Dn	Ds	Form	Def	Type	Yards	Brief
A39	1	10	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	0	Screen
AL runs a screen for some inexplainable reason since TN has not been blitzing or getting pressure on the QB. Fisher(+1) is going to be in position to make a tackle for a gain of two at the most but the RB falls down for no reason.
A39	2	10	Ace 5-Wide	Nickel	Pen	-5	False Start

A34	2	15	Shotgun 4-Wide	Nickel	Pass	15	Out
Vinson is there to make a play on the ball but is a quarter of a step slow. This is just a really well placed ball towards the sideline.
A49	1	10	Shotgun 4-Wide	4-3	Pass	7	Stop
The RB goes into motion and AL throws to him on a three yard pass. Karl(-1) is late getting out into the flat allowing the recevier to gain an extra 4 yards. (Cover -1)

Southern Mississippi Preview

Vol Navy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:40:50 -0000

Bumped from the Diaries. Many thanks to Vol Navy for the great post. -- Joel

I know very little about Southern Mississippi and I figured most readers were uniformed as well. So I pulled out the Phil Steele and put together this preview of the Golden Eagles. I hope this helps people out and if it well received I would be happy to do another one for a future opponent.

Southern Mississippi comes into Knoxville off a 35-13 win over UT-Martin. They always seem to play BCS conference teams tough and occasionally pull out the victory, such as their win over Alabama in 2000 and Nebraska in 2004. The last time the two faced each other USM hung in the entire game with the Vols edging out a 19-16 victory. Last year they played both Florida and Virginia Tech in lopsided games. However, they only trailed Florida by seven late in the third quarter and had outgained Virginia Tech at the half.

Defense

The Golden Eagles have an excellent front seven returning with all of their starting linebackers back and the majority of their defensive line rotation. The weakness of the defense should be the secondary with two new cornerbacks. Last year they allowed 3.9 ypc and should improve on that number this year. The run defense did struggle at times allowing Tulsa and Virginia Tech to run at will. The pass defense allowed a respectable 180 ypg. As was the case with the rush defense the better passing teams were able to have good days throwing the ball with both Florida and Houston doing well.

Offense
Southern Miss returns their leading rusher, passer and receiver. Last year they had an excellent run game with true freshman Damion Fletcher leading the way with 1338 yards and 11 touchdowns. Their leading receiver was TE Shawn Nelson who should have a very good year. The quarterback is Jeremy Young who was adequate after taking over the starting job. Only two starting offensive lineman return from an excellent unit. Both starting tackles are back with two other lineman having had playing time. The unit will probably not perform up to last year's standard but should be competent.

Special Teams

The only notable thing to mention is that their punter is named Britt Barefoot who I am guessing does not actually punt barefoot, although I wish he did.

Last Week

The Golden Eagles had an easy victory over the Skyhawks. They were able to run at will with Fletcher rushing for 156 yards and averaging 8.6 yards per carry. The passing game struggled with Young completing less than 50% of his passes. The defense stopped the run but did allow some yards through the air. Barefoot had an excellent game punting the ball for a net average of 44.5 yards. The kicker did miss his only field goal try of 42 yards.

Outlook

Tennessee's main concern entering this game should be stopping the run. Tennessee should employ an eight man front for most of the game. Against the Skyhawks Young showed an ability to run posting 55 yards on 8 carries. The Vols defense should be mindful of his running capabilities, since we seem to always struggle with mobile quarterbacks. Tennessee should not respect the pass until Young shows he has the ability complete throws down the field. On offense Tennessee will struggle to run the ball effectively. However, our strength in the passing game should set up well to take advantage of their weaknesses in the defensive backfield. A lot of three wide receiver packages should be utilized to take advantage of mismatches and hope to make the Golden Eagles have to substitute for one of their linebackers. If Tennessee shows an ability to stop the run, and that is a big if (especially after last week), they should win easily. While Southern Miss should be able to keep our running backs in check, I do believe the Vols should be successful passing the ball. I feel that Southern Miss will keep the game close for most of the game playing ball control offense utilizing their run game, however, their ineffectiveness throwing the ball will eventually allow Tennessee to take control of the game. Tennessee wins 27-17.