NCAA Football, Tennessee Volunteers Football NEWS
Clawson + Crompton = Clueless
Published by MoonDog on September 28, 2008
Tennessee’s anemic offense costs Vols win at Auburn.
In what may have been the worst offensive performance by a Volunteer team in over 20 years, Auburn held on to defeat Tennessee 14-12 Saturday in a game dominated by the defenses.
Tennessee Head Coach Phil Fulmer
Tennessee managed just 191 yards of total offense against the Tigers, with quarterback Jonathan Crompton completing only 8-of-23 passes for 67 yards.
There were no less than three plays where Crompton didn’t read the defense correctly and missed wide open receivers. He frequently overthrew his intended targets, on one such attempt the pass was so errant a spectator had a better chance of catching the ball.
Even more troubling was Dave Clawson’s continued ineffectual play calling. The Vols offensive coordinator has yet to show any originality and didn’t make adjustments to offset Auburn’s defensive strategy.
Head coach Phil Fulmer’s unwillingness to replace Crompton when it became obvious the offense was incapable of moving the ball was a costly mistake. Crompton has clearly showed no signs of progressing and may have actually taken a step back Saturday.
On a day when Tennessee got a strong performance from its defense, the offense had eight possessions that resulted in three plays and out, five of which took place in the second half when the Vols had the ball inside Auburn territory.
Tennessee RB Montario Hardesty Scores The Vols Only TD vs Auburn
In what amounted to the game’s decisive play, Cromtpon muffed a handoff to running back Arian Foster that resulted in an Auburn touchdown and a 14-6 lead with 7:06 remaining in the first half.
Crompton turned the ball over twice last week in goal line situations, costing Tennessee opportunities to score against Florida.
Tennessee (1-3, 0-2) is off to its worst start since 1994, the year Peyton Manning was a freshman. After the game, Fulmer spoke to the media attempting to explain the Vols loss.
“It’s easy to point fingers at somebody else,” Fulmer said. “I know we didn’t make every perfect call as coaches. We didn’t make every tackle we’re supposed to make, and we didn’t make every block. Any number of things could have changed the face of that game.”
Fulmer has taken a lot of heat since last week’s loss to the Gators and its only going to get warmer with the Vols continued poor play.
Tennessee LB Adam Meyers-Whites Sits on The Bench After The Vols 14-12 Loss to Auburn
Addressing the criticisms of last week’s loss to Florida, Fulmer said, “We didn’t all of a sudden get stupid as coaches.” Saturday’s game didn’t help that perception and will only accelerate the calls for his dismissal from an increasingly restless fan base.
Crompton meanwhile, appears to be in a state of total confusion on the field, often looking more like he’s in a hurry to get rid of the ball instead of reading the defense and making an accurate throw.
After the game he cited the Vols lack of execution as the reason for the loss. In reality, it was his personal performance and Clawson’s unimaginative play calling that lead to Tennessee’s defeat.
Fulmer attempted to put a positive spin on the Vols loss saying, “I don’t think this team’s lost its spirit at all. I think we have good leadership and it’s growing all the time.
Adversity will challenge us all and we will see where we really stand. It was very disappointing to get that kind of effort out of our defense and out of our kicking game and not get the win.”
Fulmer’s right, there’s plenty of adversity surrounding the Vols program, perhaps more than at any other time in his tenure.
With games against Georgia, Alabama and Vanderbilt remaining, Fulmer will have to find a way to get Tennessee turned around or he’ll endure his second losing season in four years.
Read more reaction to the Vols loss here and here.
Latest news: Vols to open up QB competition. Crompton says, “He’s the Guy.”
Fulmer explains botched handoff. “The fumbled handoff between Crompton and tailback Arian Foster that resulted in an Auburn touchdown was a result of Foster holding his right elbow too low on the exchange. It hit Arian’s elbow, He didn’t quite have his elbow up as high as he should have.”
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MadMan on Sun, 28th Sep 2008 11:17
My first read of several. Good stuff and no death threats… yet;)
MoonDog on Sun, 28th Sep 2008 12:06
I heard someone say that in most conferences, if your team is losing the fans burn you in effigy.
In the SEC, they burn your house down. Fulmer might want to think about relocating to Montana.