The Football Brainiacs

Image via timesfreepress.com

Late last night I sat down and checked out the front wall that the Volunteers are bringing to Norman.

During one of our first two games, can’t remember which one, the announcer said the O-line on a team has to function like the fingers on a glove. That couldn’t be more accurate. On most tight knit teams, and I know ours was when I played, the O-line hangs out together a majority of the time. A lot of position groups do, but more so with the O-line than a lot of other groups. The funny thing an O-line can have going for it sometimes is that even though there may not be someone who is a standout over the others, an line together as a whole can be great. On the flip side of that, you can have a supremely talented player here or there on the line, or even all the way across, but unless that group functions together as a single unit, they may not be as good as a less talented group who plays very well together.

That’s a connection a lot of fans make sometimes and assume that since a team is more talented, or we have the most talented individual players, that equates to success. We’ve had a close up look at how that’s not always the case with the teams in Austin under Mack Brown and there for a few years with the Cowboys in the late 2000’s. Bob Stoops, on the other hand, and his staff have made a living on finding players over the year that fit into the system and can do the things they ask them to do. Very similar, in fact, to what the New England Patriots have done and continue to do.

So I guess what I’m getting at is that Tennessee has a talented, athletic offensive line. At this point though it will be their third start together as a group, so the experience they have working together is just not there at this point. Now with the guys individually, I think they have a couple of big, athletic, strong tackles that may win some one-on-one battles against our guys. The left guard is probably the quickest one of the group, because he’s always the first off of the line. But next to him at center is a guy who gets pushed around a little bit. So I really expect us to bring some pressure up the middle, and I look for Jordan Phillips to have a big game Saturday. I think with the inexperience they have together that M.Stoops is going to throw the kitchen sink at them in terms of blitzes, twists, stunts, and everything else. He’ll probably get more creative than he normally does, and with he and Bob taking games against the SEC personally, they’ll want to make a statement. Also given the recruiting we’ve done in Louisiana and dipping into Florida and other states in the deep south, we want to show that we can dominate some SEC competition.

I think there’s zero chance that our guys come out flat in this game, and I look for our defense to set the tone. Next year when we play these guys in Knoxville, it may be a different story since these guys will have had the chance to work together a little bit. But for what’s getting ready to take place in Norman on Saturday, I don’t think with the amount of sophistication and discipline that is needed for an O-line to have success against a Mike Stoops defense that has the potential to be elite is going to be there. These guys couldn’t run against Utah St. or Ark. St., so I don’t think they’ll be able to do it with us either. So given the pressure I’m expecting us to bring, they’re going to run some screen game and some short passes and may abandon the run altogether if it’s not working early on and we’re up a couple of scores. Bringing pressure in the A and B-gaps will flush Worley out, and I don’t think he’s athletic enough to outrun our linebackers and safeties.

I’m looking forward to it. Boomer!