Why'd we take our foot off the gas in second half?

My wife gave me a ticket to that game for my birthday! I was in hog heaven.

 

Not sure who you meant to respond to. My point is that the expectation for Napier is to get a lead, milk the clock, minimize risk. Others on social media keep citing "modern offense" or Steve Spurrier, or some other coach as the only way to win games.

 

a. Our strength is running
b. Our QB looked like he was going to need his hand amputated at one point
c. Again, our strength is running

This stuff isn't difficult.

 

The difference was we didn’t play prevent on D. I loved the strategy. Conservative on O but stayed aggressive on D

 

I’ve read your post 3 times and still don’t see what point you’re trying to make with those specific stats

 

Posters said we kept TN offense off the field by being conservative in the 2nd half. I'm saying the numbers do not support that conclusion.

 

Gotcha. I think that was the goal but equally important was to not make a mistake on offense that would lead to easy points when up by 19 with a running clock

 

Being balanced is our strenght. 146 passing, 135 rushing in first half. If D doesn't respect the pass at all, our rush will suffer.

 

As I said, I understand the thinking. While not what I would do, it is a perfectly reasonable strategy.

 

Billy said 'complimentary football' which entailed both O and D executing. In the 2nd half, most of the time we had 5 or 6 in the box on early downs. UT ran the ball (and burned clock) more than they would have like to. The difference from the TG era was although playing with 5 or 6 in the box, we also played tight coverage on their WR, and our DL was still able to get some pressure on passing downs.

We held UT to 9 points in the 2nd half, despite the numerous opportunities they had (which is indicative of great D play on our part)

 

Indeed.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, one of my buddies had a turntable and we tried playing Revolution backwards. The talk going around was something about Paul and the walrus and Paul being dead. We never quite heard it. I don't remember how we did it but we were only 13/14 at time .

 

I thought we had exhausted their defense in the first half running twice as many plays, but was concerned about our defense's back seven in the second half where we hardly subbed. I think it was key that we were rotating so many defensive linemen, which allowed pressure without blitzing.

 

I remember the altered speed phrase "I buried Paul," embedded in the sound salad near the end of IATW, was a fire starter for the ages.

 

I'm glad we did, didn't give them a chance to turn the momentum around with a pick or pick 6!!! Game was well managed!!

 

With Hooker at QB for the Vols, we probably couldn’t have implemented that strategy

with Milton back there, it was a reasonable strategy that worked out

 

Agree, but, I saw nothing but a lot of lively happiness in the stands. Man was the Swamp rockin' from beginning to end. I think there is always more sketchy complaining online than in-stadium. Some of these guys should get off their keyboards and check out the live atmosphere once in a while.

 

Poor punting contributed to the field position issue. Special Teams all-around needs help. Similar issues existed at UL under Napier, at least in the field goal area.

 

One thought here. We really did not take our foot off the gas. We changed nothing. UT just gave us great looks in the first half - especially in the running game. Once they adjusted their defense we did nothing to account for this. We basically just continued playing our game which is run heavy offense with a some screens sprinkled in. What really concerns me is that I am not sure we can open up this offense given the passing schemes we have created. I am not taking away from the win - it is feels great. I am saying that teams like UK will not do this against us. They will force Mertz to win the game with his arm and Napier is doing very little to help with this. I do not understand this passing offense. It lacks so much in the basic scheming that it has to jump out on film. Yet it is the same bizarre set of plays week after week. Very confusing.

 

Didn’t we pass the ball frequently against Utah who stacked the box every play?

I’m in the camp that if this game ever got close in the 2nd half then CBN might have thrown the ball more. Never needed to