Coach Doug Mathews
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Before we “Talk” about the Missouri Tigers let’s look back at last weeks’ win over Kentucky. This was a game that Vol fans had been waiting to see……a win that would solidify the apparent improvement we thought we were seeing the last few games. We saw that Saturday and as is often the case one little win can boost everyone’s morale/confidence and that includes the players and coaches. It was clearly the best overall game the Vols have played this year….offense and defense. As we have gone through this season my eyes told me we were improving in the areas of fundamentals needed to lay the foundation for the future of this program……last Saturday provided proof to that belief.
Missouri presents a whole different offensive challenge than Kentucky. We wanted Wilson, the UK QB, to stay in the pocket, not let him outside the pocket where he would rather run than throw. He was a very average passing QB, a much better runner and the game plan was to make him beat us by throwing the ball. Mission accomplished. This week…..Locke the Missouri QB is an accomplished thrower…..he has already thrown for over 100 touchdown passes in his Missouri career. While he will run he would much rather scramble to throw. The decision Coach Pruitt will have to make is do we pressure him on passing downs and play man coverage or do we rush 4 and cover with seven….running both zone and man coverage. Locke throws more deep passes that any other QB in the conference so coverage calls are key in this game plan.
Offensively if we can get a repeat of the offensive line play from last week we should be in good shape. A quick word about this group……criticized by most everyone in this state except their family members these four red shirt sophomores and one junior gave us a chance to win last week by playing as well as their talent allowed. They fought and scratched for 60 minutes and frankly set the tempo for the victory IMO. This was a big step in their maturity and my bet is we will see that same effort these last two games. It is important to remember that every single player who actually plays in games will return on the offense…..with another year of strength and growth in learning this Pruitt system the future looks much better now.
The game plan…..copy last week, make a few tweaks and go play. It was nice to see the deep pass back in the offense, good to see Murphy on the reverse and several counter plays and nice to see Guarantano not have to pick himself up off the ground very often…….good stuff. A final note here….Ty Helton is clearly developing into a quality play caller. From experience I can tell you this…..no matter how much you know or think you know, until you get in games that matter and have to call plays that either win or lose games….you can’t develop as a play caller. Coach Pruitt has given Coach Helton several “atta boys” this week and from what I have seen so far Coach Pruitt doesn’t praise loosely.
This will be a tougher game for this Volunteer team. It will take playing better to win this game IMO….but momentum is a great equalizer and this team has momentum right now.
Regardless of the outcome we need to keep our eye on the big picture……this year was about getting the foundation laid……we are right on schedule it seems to me and while a win is expected continued improvement is what is needed most.
Let’s “Talk” next week