Aside from exceptions such as Texas Tech or Georgia Tech, most college football programs hold balanced offense in high regard.
Efficiency and explosiveness are products of unpredictability, which is a product of diversity.
The University of Tennessee offense hasn’t consistently been efficient, explosive or productively diverse this season.
“It’s been one thing after another,”
senior receiver Josh Briscoe said. “It just hasn’t been very good, to be honest.”
The Volunteers racked up more than 400 yards of total offense and more than 32 points per game last season, in part because of balance. They passed for more than 260 yards per game and got 4.2 yards per rush.
Senior quarterback Erik Ainge wasn’t always dynamic, but he was generally efficient, and his short passes often served the same statistical purpose as a clock-controlling ground game.
“We stay in control and we give ourselves a chance to make plays and score points,”
Ainge said last year.
The Vols returned their top six offensive linemen and top three tailbacks this season, but they had a new offensive coordinator and a new starting quarterback. Not surprisingly, the scheme changed. Balance was supposed to come by establishing the run and keeping pressure off inexperienced junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton — or less-seasoned sophomore Nick Stephens, at this point.
It hasn’t worked. Stephens has made more big plays than Crompton in the passing game, but the Vols still can’t keep eight or nine defenders out of the box on most plays.
Frustrated head coach Phillip Fulmer said UT couldn’t “get anybody more than 7 or 8 yards off the line of scrimmage”
in last week’s loss at Georgia.
“Defenses are really loading up the box,”
junior center Josh McNeil said. “It’s really hard to work against those types of fronts.“
“Last year, teams definitely had to respect the pass, with the way Erik threw the ball. ... Obviously, we’re seeing a lot of different things up front this year that we didn’t see last year.”
Punishing defenses downfield is generally the best way to back them up, but even that hasn’t worked. Denarius Moore ran by the Georgia secondary to catch a 60-yard pass from Stephens — Moore’s second 50-plus-yard catch in two weeks — but the Bulldogs didn’t budge.
“Especially since we hit two deep balls the past two weeks, it was a little surprising to see the next play they still had nine in the box,”
McNeil said. “We just have to be more consistent and show that we have the ability to make them pay for putting nine in the box every time they do it.”
Is pass-first the new plan?
Maybe, according to Stephens.
“We’ve got so many guys that can (stretch a defense), and we’re going to start spreading the field out and giving more guys chances down the field,”
Stephens said. “I think we’re going to do that this week.”
Stephens said he’s always played on offenses that relied on the aerial assault, and he’s comfortable going that route.
“Whatever the coaches ask me to do, I do it to the best of my ability,”
he said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole football career — is spread out the field and throw the ball. I’m used to it, and if that’s what we need to do, that’s what we’ll do.”
“But I think our running game has a chance to be what it was the first couple of games. We just need to keep running the ball and keep pounding it that way, too.”
An early barrage of passes might be the best way to achieve that balance, though — even against a solid secondary like Mississippi State’s.
The Bulldogs, like most UT opponents this season, will probably stack the box and play tight, press, one-on-one coverage on the perimeter.
Asked if he felt confident Stephens could carry more responsibility, offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said, “You have to. He’s our starting quarterback.“
“If something’s open, you have to ask him to execute it, because if you can’t, you’re not going to win anyway,”
Clawson continued. “One thing (Stephens) doesn’t lack is confidence. After he hits Denarius, he wants to go out and throw 50 more 50-yard balls. And he’s thrown two really nice deep balls two games in a row.”
“Whoever your starting quarterback is, you have to call the game as if they’re an All-American and ask them to perform at that level. At the same time, as his coach, I can’t ask him to do things he hasn’t done in practice and things he’s not comfortable doing.”
