Coach Doug Mathews
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Tennessee hosts Alabama this third week in October coming off a huge win in Auburn. I don’t recall ever playing the Tigers and Tide in consecutive weeks even during the era when both were annual rival games. There are good reasons why they were not scheduled back to back but someone in the conference didn’t get the memo.
We start with the Auburn win. Not enough can be said about the improvement this Volunteer team made in the open week. Open date practices are normally a chance to get injured players well, work with younger players, recruit and do a little self-scouting to help in future games. I doubt there has been many if any open weeks where more was accomplished than this past open week. It was clear Coach Pruitt spent a lot of time in the offensive staff room evaluating how they could make more progress starting with the Auburn game. One of the draw backs in being the defensive play caller is it keeps Coach Pruitt from spending much time with the offensive coaches. IMO it is worth it because of the importance of establishing a solid defense for the future of the program. Bottom line….in this conference if we can’t play excellent defense we are not going to be playing for championships. CJP certainly learned this while at Georgia and Alabama as a defensive coordinator. The result was a much more dynamic game plan that featured attacking cornerbacks with 50/50 throws and play calling that got the ball to the playmakers on offense….Chandler, Jennings, Callaway and Palmer. Kudos to the coaching staff for getting the most out of the open week.
If ever field position won a game for the Big Orange it was this one. Auburn had twelve possessions in the game and ten of them started 75 yards or more away from our goal line. We had 3 takeaways on defense including a fumble recovery for a touchdown and zero turnovers on offense. This was a game the guy whose name is on our stadium would have enjoyed. Without a plus three in turnovers it would have been difficult to win.
Now Alabama…..always a big game, always a game that measures where we are from a competitive standpoint……and sometimes a game where Vol players etch their name in Volunteer lore. Ask Johnnie Jones or Joey Kent or Peyton Manning or Al Dorsey to name a few.
I don’t know where this Tide team ranks with other great Alabama teams……but I have watched enough games over the years to know that this is one of their best. I do know where this current Tennessee team ranks with the best Big Orange teams……and it is important to keep that in perspective when evaluating this game. Can we win….sure. Will we win….probably not but in my opinion that is not what is important at this particular time in the rebuilding of our program. What is important is to continue the improvement we saw last week….indeed the improvement we have seen since the start of the season opener. If we were to beat Alabama we will still be a couple of good recruiting classes from being back in the championship picture…..and if we don’t beat Alabama Saturday we will still be a couple of good recruiting classes from being back in the championship picture.
On offense expect a game plan similar to the Auburn game plan…..Alabama runs the exact same defense and frankly has similar talent in the defensive front. Going after their corners where we have a definite height advantage, getting the ball in space to Chandler and probably a little more to Jennings is where we are best. Alabama will pressure from the outside more than Auburn but CJP knows their personnel better that they do…..he recruited and coached many of them. As always with this offense a punt is a good play. Get the ball in their end of the field and let’s play some defense.
Defensively we are over matched up front and because of that mismatch Coach Pruitt will decide whether to pressure with 6 or seven and cover with 5 or 4……or play with 4 linemen and cover with 7. Neither option is ideal and we will probably see some of both. Where the Tide is explosive is in their receivers….three speedsters who have caught 17 touchdown passes between them and they now have a QB who can get it to them. Tua (#13) has 21 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. This is not an offense any defensive play caller wants to play man against but it is an offense that you MUST play man against if you want to stop the run. Someone will earn their money calling defenses in this game.
I fully expect this Vol team will fight….they have shown the last two games they will do that…..and if they can stay away from too many turnovers, kick and cover well, get the ball down the field to Jennings, Callaway and Palmer, play solid defense and tackle a little better thaN they did at Auburn we won’t have any reason to hang our heads regardless of the outcome. IMPROVEMENT IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR…..
One note for the future…….Watch closely at the players Alabama puts on the field. Watch closely how well they play as a unit, how few penalties the get pre and post snap, how well coached they are in the fundamentals of the game. Watch closely how physical they not only look but more importantly how physical they play. Why? Because that is where this head coach is committed to taking this program. It won’t happen overnight but I do believe it will happen.
Let’s Talk next week!