Tennessee football: 5 reasons for concern over Vols hiring OC Jim Chaney

3. Predictable play calling is a consistent criticism of Jim Chaney.

Sorry, but there’s no denying this is an issue with Jim Chaney. He is great at preparation and maximizing his talent. But his predictable play calling has been a consistent issue to the point that every team has slammed him for it.

This issue gets exposed in big games that are close. Against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game, he would predictably throw the ball every first down. In the national championship game last year, Chaney never adjusted while Nick Saban did, which is why the Georgia Bulldogs blew that game.

We actually wrote a piece last year about how badly Jeremy Pruitt, who was still the Alabama Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator but had already been hired by Tennessee football, completely out-coached Chaney. And we pointed out this was a recurring theme with him as an offensive coordinator.

Even if his teams put up big numbers, they can often times come up short in close games because of how predictable the play calling is. That is a huge problem and one that could derail the Vols in crunch time. There’s a reason Georgia couldn’t get a national title in either of the last two years.

Now, to be fair, Jeremy Pruitt is trying to win with dominating defenses, and Chaney will almost certainly bring the offense up to snuff. But can you trust him in a close game that’s a shootout to deliver the goods? That’s a fair question. In 2012, with the Vols, every time his team had a chance to get the lead in all their close shootouts, they failed. So the numbers were there, but the wins weren’t. And that leads to our next point.