🏈 Tennessee understood the tendancies of Lane Kiffin?

[bamafan4ever]

I listened to an interesting conversation with Greg McElroy and Taylor Zarzour.

When Alabama had the ball on offense at one point of the game, UT aligned to stop the run and we handed the ball off to Henry and he gained around 3 yards. On 2nd and 7, we handed the ball to Henry again for a gain of 7, 1st down Bama. BAMA comes back with the same personnel and Henry in the back field on 1rst down and you may remember Danielson picked up on the fact that UT was playing it's safeties at least 20 yards deep. The DL pinned it's ears back and Coker was flushed and sacked. No indication of a pass at all based on the 2 earlier plays.

If the tendencies are indeed that easy for UT to read, some changes to play calling are going to have to be made. We all know our OL play has been suspect at times (which I attribute to 3 new starters) but being predictable is one handicap that we don't need. Lane needs to either starting using some creativity or Saban needs to let him be a little more creative. I am not sure which it is?

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Our personnel packages provide tendencies. I was happy to see Drake run off tackle a bit Saturday. I mentioned it earlier, but when Yeldon was hurt late last year and couldn't run effectively, they would still bring him in on passing downs to pass block because Henry wasn't getting it done. It became obvious when we were going pass. There was a timeout called during the UT game, I think, or maybe Arkansas, because they set up a formation with Henry out wide when they wanted Drake there. Again, a tendency that others will see and recognize. Putting the back in the pistol instead of beside the QB suggests a greater chance of run. If beside the QB, the back is in a better position to pass block. If they do run it from that up-back set, it's usually an inside handoff that goes away from the set position. I'm just a guy who enjoys watching the team, knows a little about football, and I can tell a good number of our plays before the snap. If I can do that, I'm sure professionals can to a much greater degree. Our advantage has been an ability to run even though they know it's coming, and pass when they don't. That's when we're at our best.

RTR,

Tim

 

[BigCrimson]

I don't think it's tendencies as much as it is the limitations Kiffin has with our offense. First and foremost our offensive line has been porous for the last several games. Secondly, our QB isn't the most polished QB we've had. So Kiffin is dealing with two major limitations and he has to call plays accordingly. Could you imagine the playcalling difference under Kiffin if we had the 2012 OL and AJ McCarron? It would be drastically different. As it stands now we are basically limited to calling a handful of plays because our OL has been bad and our QB is inconsistent on his reads and confidence.

 

[mrchase]

Anyone notice that we faked the Jet Sweep on Henry's last touchdown.......

 

[OldPlayer]

This is what scouting and game planning is all about. We've all seen Alabama have success running the ball and then out of nowhere Kiffin throws the long ball. CNS has said that the off week is a time of self evaluation. I expect some changes coming against LSU.

 

[jdpas29]

i'm not sure that it's just tennessee. i find our offense to be mostly predictable. that doesn't mean it's all bad or anything but....

 

[bamascw]

This is what scouting and game planning is all about. We've all seen Alabama have success running the ball and then out of nowhere Kiffin throws the long ball. CNS has said that the off week is a time of self evaluation. I expect some changes coming against LSU.

I agree with you about some changes against LSU, even though the offense seemed to struggle against Tenn, it felt like we never opened up the playbook. It looked like they tried to keep 2 safetys in the game against us so maybe that's why we didn't see the long ball. But I was waiting to see it thrown at least once. I immagine we will see some new wrinkles next Saturday.

 

[bama alum]

Do you remember years ago when a barner defensive player said that he knew what play we'd be running by the way the human turnstile Chris Capps had set his feet and/or hands? I remember seeing a play this past Saturday when a UThug LB ran up to the LOS, screaming and pointing to either 71 or 74. Coker appeared to recognize that and I guess...Guess he called an audible (the snap count went much longer than normal). That play went for a whole 1 - 3 yards.

 

[Tidestalker]

It's really not that difficult to scout Kiffin... There's a few things he does constantly.

-1st downs, especially on change of possession, he likes the deep ball

-When Brandon Greene comes in, we run the ball

-Ridley is the first option in nearly every pass play (Just like Coop was, with a QB who has a hard time using his progressions)

-There QB will hand off on EVERY "read option" - There are no designed QB runs

-Last but not least - He loves passing in the red zone

 

[fairhope4bama]

One of the biggest problems I see is that Kiffin is part of the reason the Oline is having problems. He is taking way too long to get plays in and the defense is watching the play clock wind down and when it hits 3 the LBs are getting a walking/running start to the gaps. They know the ball is going to be snapped and they get the jump. I don't care how good of a line you have if the DL or LBs are getting that jump it is going to be hard to stop the TFL's that we are seeing. I believe this is causing some of the false starts as well. Just my two cents.

 

[Tidestalker]

One of the biggest problems I see is that Kiffin is part of the reason the Oline is having problems. He is taking way too long to get plays in and the defense is watching the play clock wind down and when it hits 3 the LBs are getting a walking/running start to the gaps. They know the ball is going to be snapped and they get the jump. I don't care how good of a line you have if the DL or LBs are getting that jump it is going to be hard to stop the TFL's that we are seeing. I believe this is causing some of the false starts as well. Just my two cents.

No question. This has been a problem since day 1. If impacts the rhythm offensively and gives the defense a head start on the snap.

 

[jdpas29]

"-There QB will hand off on EVERY "read option" - There are no designed QB runs"

Huge deal... especially considering that the few times we have had designed QB runs, they go pretty well. 1 for a TD that i recall and another that almost made it to the left pylon.

 

[UAgrad93]

A LOT of OCs go for the homerun on a quick change of possession. So we can't limit it to Lane and a tendency. He doesn't really seem to have his own identity in the Red Zone. Again, I have noticed A LOT of OCs besides Lane that will rush their team to the line and immediately run the same play. It seems to be a throwback from HS coaches. Our bunch for some reason or the other, seems to have a damn brain fart and jump or take a play off and the play that just gained 12 yards off LG gets blown up 3 yards deep in the backfield!! Lane loves 3-4 wide inside the 10 yard line for some reason.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

My opinion 10rc said from the outset of the game they were not going to give up the deep ball, and they challenged #21 and #50 to be as disruptive as they could knowing the safeties were basically going to be out of the play if it was 20 yds or closer to the LOS.

They were semi-successful with that plan, in that they took away the deep play action and hurried or sacked JC multiple times. I felt like the half time adjustments were CNS screaming at Kiff to run Henry and then on the final drive I felt like JC and obviously the receivers made some on the fly adjustments to get under those safeties. The inconsistency of the O-line is absolutely the biggest factor limiting this offense. I think if you want to call something "predictable" then I would say the inconsistent performance by the line would be predictable to some extent.

 

[OldPlayer]

A LOT of OCs go for the homerun on a quick change of possession. So we can't limit it to Lane and a tendency. He doesn't really seem to have his own identity in the Red Zone. Again, I have noticed A LOT of OCs besides Lane that will rush their team to the line and immediately run the same play. It seems to be a throwback from HS coaches. Our bunch for some reason or the other, seems to have a damn brain fart and jump or take a play off and the play that just gained 12 yards off LG gets blown up 3 yards deep in the backfield!! Lane loves 3-4 wide inside the 10 yard line for some reason.

Spreading the receivers out helps the line by creating more 1-on-1 matchups. The defenders go where the players are. If you have two tight ends and three backs in the backfield, all the defenders are in the box. If you spread out wide, you eliminate defenders in the box.

 

[UAgrad93]

@OldPlayer, I understand that, (played QB and coached HS ball for 15 years). The problem is, while the receivers are spread from number to number across the field, our OL still goes toe to toe on their splits and allows teams to pinch and come off the edges uncontested. Throwing inside the 10 and even 5 yard lines isn't easy even with 5 wide.

 

[BigCrimson]

My opinion 10rc said from the outset of the game they were not going to give up the deep ball, and they challenged #21 and #50 to be as disruptive as they could knowing the safeties were basically going to be out of the play if it was 20 yds or closer to the LOS.

They were semi-successful with that plan, in that they took away the deep play action and hurried or sacked JC multiple times. I felt like the half time adjustments were CNS screaming at Kiff to run Henry and then on the final drive I felt like JC and obviously the receivers made some on the fly adjustments to get under those safeties. The inconsistency of the O-line is absolutely the biggest factor limiting this offense. I think if you want to call something "predictable" then I would say the inconsistent performance by the line would be predictable to some extent.

BINGO!!! It is very hard to call plays when the OL is struggling to keep people out of the backfield or continually getting penalties.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

continually getting penalties.

It changes the whole dynamic when you have 2nd and 3 and somebody jumps and it goes to 2nd and 8. It infuriates me and I am just watching, imagine being the one with the waffle house menu and being forced to abandon a whole series of plays

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

When 'Bama created predictable down & distance plays, 3rd & long, it made UT's play calling easy peasy. When that happens against a Highly competitive opponent, that is what happens on sacks. Let's face it, UT is getting better & they are not beating themselves as much. It's not like they were in Kiffin's headset

 

[OldPlayer]

When 'Bama created predictable down & distance plays, 3rd & long, it made UT's play calling easy peasy. When that happens against a Highly competitive opponent, that is what happens on sacks. Let's face it, UT is getting better & they are not beating themselves as much. It's not like they were in Kiffin's headset

The conspiracy theorists will disagree with you. The ref on the Alabama sideline heard Kiffin call the play and used hand signals to tell UT. UT looked up the play on their conversion chart and signaled to the defense where the play was going and what defense to be in. This was all done within 5 seconds. This is true because I saw the UT coaches signaling and yelling to the defensive players on the field.