Tennessee football: Play-calling is not Vols problem. Execution is.
Jeremy Pruitt and his staff are getting lots of blame for Tennessee football’s 1-3 start. But execution is a much bigger issue for the Volunteers.
It’s hard to watch what Tennessee football did against the Florida Gators a second time and think for even a second that play-calling is the issue. For at least two of the Vols’ three losses, everything about the game has come down to execution.
On Saturday, Jim Chaney and Derrick Ansley put the Vols in position to make a 34-3 loss much tougher. At some point, though, you have top put it on the players for not executing. And that’s what happened.
Let’s analyze this for a minute. On the Vols’ first offensive drive, they were moving the ball. Jarrett Guarantano hit Jauan Jennings for a six-yard pass and then a 27-yard pass. On 1st and 10 past midfield, he hit Austin Pope for a five-yard gain. At that point, the Vols were already in Brent Cimaglia’s range.
But a late hit penalty by K’Rojhn Calbert that probably shouldn’t have been called turned a 2nd and 5 from the Florida 37 to a 2nd and 20. That limited what Chaney could do against a defense with the best pass-rush in maybe college football, so the drive stalled, and the Vols punted. Then Ansley drew up a perfect blitz play that resulted in a forced fumble.
At that point, Tennessee football got the ball back and easily drove into Florida territory. Jim Chaney then called a perfect play-action pass to Austin Pope, but a missed block by Eric Gray resulted in it being deflected. He then had the perfect touchdown pass called to Jauan Jennings, but it bounced of Jennings’s facemask and was intercepted in the end zone.
So Florida was still up 7-0, but if the Vols had executed the coaches’ play-calls, they would be up 10-7 at that point at the very least. By the way, that opening TD by Florida came due to a busted coverage by Nigel Warrior that resulted in one deep ball and the inability of the defensive line to get any pressure without blitzing. Again, those things are on execution.
Still, Ansley and the defense were calling the right plays. UT stops Florida on fourth down on the next drive. So they get the ball back. Chaney has the perfect play-call for Dominick Wood-Anderson, as he’s wide open for a sure touchdown deep. But Guarantano misses him. Later that drive, he throws a pick, which sets up a Florida field goal.
Midway through the second quarter, Florida is up 10-0. However, if Tennessee football executed, they would be up 17-7. When Florida scored to go up 17-0 at the end of the half, the game was out of reach. But these issues could have made it 17-14 in favor of the Vols at halftime with them set to receive in the second half.
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By the way, this isn’t the first time this happened. When the Vols lost to the BYU Cougars, it came down to a bad interception by Jarrett Guarantano, a late pass to Jauan Jennings that stopped a touchdown from happening, poor blocking on two 4th and 1 plays, and a busted coverage late in regulation that resulted in the game-tying field goal.
In a very similar scenario, if the Vols execute in that game, they at least win by a score of 26-6. Sure, the Georgia State Panthers game was a complete anomaly. They just weren’t ready to play in the opener.
These other two games, however, involved the right calls by the coaching staff. They just involved poor execution that completely changed the outcomes. Now, you can still blame Jeremy Pruitt and his staff for some things. Penalties and mistakes can be a result of poor coaching and poor practice habits.
Also, on some of the plays we mentioned, keeping a freshman running back like Eric Gray in to block is questionable. The same is true with the way they have not developed Jarrett Guarantano and played musical chairs with quarterbacks on Saturday.
Still, the fact of the matter is the coaches called a good game. Tennessee football needs to spend its bye week focusing on better execution and not making critical mistakes. They are not cashing in on opportunities so far, and against a team like the Florida Gators, that will make things turn into a blowout very quickly.