Offense Wilts, Defense Gasses, and 'Dores lose on Homecoming, 21-7

This game was so winnable. I felt awful for the defense at the end, even then they were still in position most of the time, just so tired they couldn’t make the tackles. Obviously in the end, it’s up to the D to get off the field, but when you force 7 punts and an INT, it seems pretty likely you are holding up your end of the bargain.

I do think they probably also got gassed a little earlier than they should have (they were noticeable different from that last drive of the first half), but I’d say that also has to do with the fact that in 5 drives, the offense only averaged 2:22 of possession per drive.

I think the no-huddle has got to go. When you run a 12 play, 83 yard drive in only 3:45, I think you are just asking for trouble with your defense (especially if you can’t do that consistently).

I’d love a stat that says what the defense does in their first 30 minutes on the field and what they do after. It’s certainly enough to win in most cases.

On offense it was all on the playcaling and Larry. How on earth do we go through a game where Larry has 31 pass attempts and 15 carries compared to Zach and Warren having 6 carries each.

Unless the running game is getting totally shutdown (and you can hardly know that in 12 carries), you have to stick with it to some extent if you are Vandy, because Larry will not win you a game himself (at least not with Umoh and Cole).

When we did call runs, it looked like we were calling lots of read options, and Larry kept the ball almost every time from what I could tell, and several times he had nowhere. Meanwhile, on the pass, Larry was back to being old happy-feet Larry in the pocket.

I’m not saying the O-line did a great job (and I don’t claim to be a great O-line scout), but it seemed to me like, while they weren’t amazing, Larry had enough time. Obviously with a mediocre O-line, and WR who can’t get open, it was going to be tough on Larry, but that just brings it back to the fact that we were calling pass plays with no reason to think that they would succeed.

On the drive that we scored, there were 4 rushes by RBs, 3 runs by Larry (not sure how many were designed runs and how many were scrambles), and 5 passes. On the 4 runs by the RBs they went 2, 2, 3, 5. Nothing spectacular, but here is what struck me. We gained yardage on every single 1st down play of that drive. 2nd and 8, 2nd and 8, 2nd and 5, 2nd and 7, 2nd and goal from the 3 instead of the 5.

I guess it’s no magic bullet, because it’s not like the run was great either, but on 1st down passing we were 3-9 with 2 1st downs.
2nd and long passing we were 3-10 (actually 4 completions but one was a no gain) with 3 1st downs.
3rd and long passing we were 4-8 plus a sack, and ZERO first downs in 9 tries. We also had 5 runs all by Larry and probably all scrambles, in which we had 2 1st downs. So in all, 2 for 14 on 3rd and long.

On 3rd and short or middle? We only had ONE such situation, and that was the 3rd and goal that Larry scored on. Plus, that started on 1st and goal on the 5, so not once, the entire night starting from 1st and 10 did we manage to get to a make-able 3rd down.
We had another that was going to be a 3rd and 1 but we false started.

The drive (if you want to call it that) that defined the game to me was, our first drive of the 4th quarter. 12:52 left and down only 7. First play, I told my wife, they’ll try to throw long.
And they did, relatively long anyway. Incomplete. So of course 2nd and 10 and 3rd and 10, they pass again. After the biggest defensive play of the game, we hold the ball all of 35 seconds, with 3 passes and 0 yards.

Ugh, I’m sure none of this is news to any of you though. Thanks for the rant space.