Tennessee coach Derek Dooley is a smart guy, but I’m beginning to wonder if he knows that the Volunteers inability to run the football has reached a crisis stage.
Georgia won an important SEC East game on Saturday not so much because they were the better team, but because Tennessee mustered a whopping minus 20 yards rushing.
In 28 rushing attempts, the Volunteers lost 20 yards to a Bulldogs defense that was allowing 107 yards per game on the ground.
To put Tennessee’s performance into perspective, Coastal Carolina, an FCS team, managed 63 yards rushing in their September 17 game against the Bulldogs.
If a team in the junior division of college football can gain 63 yards on the ground against Georgia, you’d think Tennessee could at least equal that.
In the Vols’ two SEC games against Florida and Georgia, Tennessee has 49 rushing attempts for minus 29 yards. That’s beyond pathetic.
If the five young men who make up Tennessee’s offensive line can’t do any better than that, then the Volunteers are in serious trouble.
While Dooley surely knows this, he’s apparently having trouble communicating that fact to his team.
At some point in the very immediate future, Dooley and his staff have to make it abundantly clear that the Vols will never beat a quality opponent unless they start running the football.
It’s that simple. It’s been that simple since the game was invented.
Some will make the excuse that Tennessee doesn’t have enough talent to compete against SEC teams, but that isn’t much of an excuse for their anemic running game.
The kids who make up Tennessee’s offensive line were supposedly good enough to play football in the Southeastern Conference, but as of now they couldn’t play in Conference USA.
Run blocking is the easiest thing an offensive lineman has to do. If we’re to believe the Volunteers have players that are capable of getting the job done, then perhaps their issues are a matter of coaching.
Offensive coordinator Jim Cheney has become terribly predictable with his play calling and the lack of creativity is clearly to the advantage of opposing defenses.
With the Vols being incapable of running the ball, play action is obviously not an element of the offense that can be employed.
But trying to run the same basic sweeps and dive plays into the teeth of the defense isn’t going to work either, and that’s exactly what Tennessee’s running plays amount to.
Even more disturbing is the lack of progress being made. Following the loss to Florida, you’d think the Vols would have focused most of their efforts on the running game and special teams.
But against Georgia, we saw more of what ails the Vols than we did against the Gators.
No rushing attack, special teams breakdowns and no pass rush on the opposing quarterback equals losses, and the Vols are going to have many more losses unless they get all of those issues resolved post haste.
Derek Dooley is getting paid big bucks to solve the Vols problems and he better start earning his salary.
