Tennessee Football: 5 Ways the Volunteers Must Improve in 2015
There's so much negativity surrounding the Tennessee football program after a 2-3 start that it has to be difficult to focus on what's happening on the field because of all the drama off it.
Twitter is abuzz with every rumor under the sun, fans are disgruntled about coaching and execution, and head coach Butch Jones is contradicting himself depending on the day.
Last week, he told the media, according to the Tennessean's Matt Slovin, that "you can't let any negativity, clutter or distraction creep in and permeate throughout your football program."
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Then, this week, he said, "You really, in these times, find out who's with you, who's against you, and you just write it down and put it in your back pocket and you file it away for future reference," according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press' Patrick Brown.
Things are already getting ugly on Rocky Top, and the only way to cure that is to win a football game. Now is a bad time for a must-win, too. The Vols host Georgia this week before a bye, then they travel to Alabama.
In order to do that, they've got to make some improvements between the lines. This is a very capable football team that (people may forget) were a couple of big blown leads away from beating Oklahoma and Florida. They also just lost to Arkansas by four.
But this start with this talent is unacceptable, and everybody around the program knows it. So, let's take a look at five ways the Vols are going to have to improve to turn this season around.
Playing four quarters
There's no denying that the Vols are college football's biggest choke artists so far this season. That's not taking a shot; it's based 100 percent in fact.
They blew a 17-point second-half lead over Oklahoma, a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to Florida and a 14-0 lead to Arkansas in the first half. Rather than go for the jugular with opponents on the ropes, UT begins playing a football version of patty-cake, going into conservative mode.
It's a maddening way to play football, especially when your defense isn't as good as it was supposed to be.
Jones and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord insist they don't, but it certainly seems as if they've sat on leads, and it has burned them multiple times.
As SBNation's Bill Connelly prophetically wrote after the game against the Sooners in what has become a familiar refrain of the season: "This was Butch Jones' best opportunity at a statement win, and the pure talent and physicality of his two-deep earned him a 17-point lead despite himself. And then clammy hands gave it all away."
Against Florida, the Vols called two Jalen Hurd runs and a Joshua Dobbs keeper up by six with the game winding down when all they needed was one first down to salt away most of the clock. Instead, they put the game on their defense's shoulders, and Will Grier burned them.
It wouldn't be fair to say UT played conservatively against Arkansas, but the Vols were just out-muscled in the second half against a more physical Hogs team. Tennessee had just four offensive possessions, and Hurd ran just four times.
Even so, UT got off to a hot start and couldn't keep the momentum. Until the Vols play a complete game, they won't beat any good teams, and they'll even struggle to oust the mediocre ones.
Throwing downfield
Getting those game-changing offensive "splash plays" has been an issue throughout Jones' tenure.
Part of the reason is the Vols haven't had a dynamic passing quarterback during the past three years, but that is unacceptable. There's far too much talent in the wide receiving corps to be so inept passing the ball. Also, it isn't like Dobbs is devoid of arm talent.
For some reason, UT can't (or won't) consistently throw the ball downfield. And when the Vols do, they throw ridiculously too far downfield. For instance, why was Dobbs trying to complete a one-on-one fly pattern to Josh Malone on the Vols' final offensive play against Arkansas when he hasn't completed one all year?
Sometimes, it's like Tennessee throws downfield to say, "Oh well, we tried."
Where are the throws to the middle of the field? Why not run a post pattern every once in a while? You can't win in the SEC throwing horizontal flares and swing passes; opposing defenses don't respect it.
The Vols are 83rd nationally with just 19 plays of more than 20 yards, it's rare that they produce big plays through the air.
Oh, how far Wide Receiver U has fallen. At this rate, the Vols should surrender the title. They're the only SEC team without a 100-yard receiver this season, and it doesn't look like they'll break that threshold anytime soon. The Vols simply must find a way to move the ball vertically through the air and loosen up defenses.
Either trust Dobbs to make plays and convince him that it's OK to take a chance every now and again and not to be scared to throw interceptions, or give true freshman Quinten Dormady a try. One-dimensional isn't working.
Defensive fundamentals
Even though Tennessee wasn't the most talented or experienced team in the SEC the past couple of years, the Vols found a bit of success because they did the little things right.
They were a well-coached team, getting off the field with quality third-down defense, making opportunistic plays because they got after the quarterback, minimizing penalties and doing a good job of tackling.
Where has that defense gone?
Taking poor angles and failing to tackle opposing playmakers have been rampant this year. An example in the Arkansas game was Dominique Lee catching what should have been a harmless pass in the middle of the field that wound up going for a 33-yard touchdown because Brian Randolph (and others) took poor angles.
Defensive coordinator John Jancek didn't mince words about the tackling against Arkansas to GoVols247's Ryan Callahan.
"It was the worst in a long time—probably since the first year," he said. "We were there and guys are lunging, not closing space, not shortening their stride, not putting eyes on the thighs. It's something that you work on every week, and they've got to go out there and they've got to execute it. We'll get it done."
How many sacks did Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield and Grier wriggle free from only to make back-breaking plays against UT in comeback wins?
Tennessee is dead-last in the SEC in total defense, allowing 414 yards per game. They're next-to-last in pass defense and 11th in rush defense. Even though the Vols have been respectable in third-down defense, they couldn't get off the field against Arkansas. Also, they've allowed 10 of 12 fourth-down conversions this year.
Those numbers are byproducts of poor fundamentals. The Vols are really struggling in rushing the passer, getting beat in man coverage and minimizing big plays.
Making personnel changes seems to be the right call, but UT has been decimated on defense by injuries, so that's difficult to just go and do.
Until that changes, UT isn't beating anybody of consequence.
Play mix
It's not out of the ordinary for offenses to have to find their way a bit when they make a coordinator change, but avoiding that is specifically why Jones hired longtime friend DeBord for the position once Mike Bajakian bolted for the NFL.
The Vols are definitely struggling under the new regime.
While the rushing numbers and the points UT is putting up don't really bear it out, it's been a discombobulated unit this year. DeBord just seems to have a hard time getting into a play-calling rhythm, and there has been an unevenness in play mixture during the three losses.
Against Oklahoma, he got off to a hot start, and the Vols were really clicking in the first half. But Dobbs couldn't get any passing going downfield, and UT played as if it were handcuffed offensively, trying to just grind out the win in what wound up being a 17-point squander and an overtime loss.
The offense couldn't sustain second-half drives, and the defense got tired and couldn't get off the field, and that spelled doom.
Against Florida, the Vols simply refused to throw the ball. At all. Sure, they were running the ball successfully, but when they needed a late first down to keep possession and end the streak against the Gators, nobody on UF's defense feared the pass. They stacked the box, shut down UT's running game, got the ball back and won.
Then, against Arkansas, after the Vols moved the ball up and down the field at will in the first half on the ground with Hurd, he had just four second-half carries. The Razorbacks controlled the game offensively after the break, but you have to wonder just how they did that.
After all, every team Arkansas had played prior to UT had immense success rolling their quarterbacks out of the pocket, getting on the perimeter and making plays against a defense that hadn't figured out how to stop anything through the air.
What did the Vols do? They turned Dobbs into a pocket passer one week after he torched the Gators on the ground. It was an inexplicable decision that Jones was asked about this week (per GoVols247's Wes Rucker).
"Some of the things was Arkansas with their different (looks), being safety-activated, the way they were, the way they played their linebackers. We did have some designed runs called for him, and then a lot of them were run-pass options, like we do every week. But there were some different nuances in the game plan. A lot of it dictates it on the looks that (Dobbs) sees, whether it’s front, whether it's coverage, whether it's alignment of the linebackers.
"
Hindsight is, well, you know, but the Vols really struggled moving the ball. If you're going to turn Dobbs into a pocket passer and neutralize his incredible running ability, he doesn't need to be on the field. He's just an average quarterback without his wheels.
DeBord has to turn this thing around. Maybe he's too much of a scapegoat right now among UT's fans, but it cannot be denied that he isn't getting the most out of all this offensive talent.
Fix the secondary
Perhaps the most puzzling part of Tennessee's season so far is just how much and how thoroughly the secondary is struggling.
The loss of nickelback Rashaan Gaulden to a season-ending injury in camp was always going to be a difficult blow to overcome, but replacement Malik Foreman isn't the only weak link on the back end.
Randolph is having a forgettable season so far, and the senior safety has been a staple and a securing force for the Vols on the back level throughout his career. Emmanuel Moseley showed flashes of being an excellent corner as a freshman last year, but he has gotten burned several times.
Even star junior Cameron Sutton hasn't been as consistent as he normally is.
When opponents drop back needing a big play with the game on the line against the Vols this year, more often than not, they've gotten it. From getting beat one-on-one in man coverage to allowing too much cushion in the zone to failing to make tackles once receivers catch the ball, it's been a nightmare for UT.
Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez has not been able to find the proper mixture to stop the bleeding. Until he does, the Vols defense is going to suffer.
All stats gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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