What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — The Tennessee Game Edition

I know that Tennessee’s patience running the ball reminds me of Michigan. They average 4.4 ypc in the first quarter, 5.1 in the second quarter, and 6.5 in the third quarter. They get better as the game goes on and they’re perfectly happy getting three yards on first down because it eventually becomes five or six when the game is on the line.

I think the biggest advantage in this game for either team is the crowd noise for Ohio State. If Tennessee has to go to a silent count, life gets more difficult for the Vol tackles. Crowd noise has not been kind to the Tennessee offensive line this year. There’s no reason for that to change tonight.

I wonder how much running is too much for Ohio State? At what point is it time to abandon the run? How patient is too patient?

I know OSU has replicated Tennessee’s receiver splits in practice. The Vols will line them up out past the numbers at times, which forces the defense to put people out there as well.

I think Sonny Styles does a good job of explaining how it impacts him. Here’s the answer he gave me this week. “Obviously, sometimes it stretches the linebackers outside the box. You get a linebacker apex between the endman and the receiver. So you’re coming in from a wider angle to make the play. It’s a little different than what you see with most teams. You apex a lot, but not to that extent. So I mean, you’ve got to counteract that with different looks. You might not be apexing all the time. Sometimes you might stay in the box. Sometimes you might not match the receivers’ width. But I think you’ve got to be sharp with your eyes. When you’re coming from that far, you’ve got to know exactly what you’re seeing. And once you see, you got to go because you’ve got a lot of space to make up.”

I wonder if we’ll see the Chip Kelly and Ryan Day who have earned reputations as some of the best game planners and play callers in college football. Even if we do, they’re still limited by the offensive line and quarterback.

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