For those that are questioning the University of Tennessee's offensive decisions against the Florida Gators last week, I ask of you one question: Why?Coming off one of the worst offensive seasons in Tennessee Vols history, we entered this season with the same starting quarterback, Jonathan Crompton. While last year's schemes were terrible for many reasons, Crompton struggled. This year, with the hiring of Lane Kiffin and the new coaching staff, the Vols implemented a new system. It's a much more conservative system that has already proven to be more effective than the train wreck last season. However, it is based off the strong running game of the Vols.
After a strong offensive showing against the worst team in Division I football, many people thought the Vols were going to put up those numbers on a weekly basis. Let's face it, that was never going to happen. The Vols ran the same type of game plan against UCLA and the Bruins defense made Crompton look like he had never taken a snap before. Once Kiffin and company saw what kind of quarterback they had playing against a legit D-1 team, the game plan changed. They were going to use the run to pound the ball and wear down defenses.
Kiffin and his coaching staff are smart. They will do whatever they think will help them win. Against Florida, they wanted to limit mistakes and maintain possession of the ball as much as possible. To do that, they needed to limit the mistakes of Crompton and the best way to do that is hand the ball of as much as possible. Senior running back Montario Hardesty had a solid effort on the ground, gaining 96 yards on 20 carries and scoring the Vols only touchdown in the 23-13 defeat.
The Vols currently rank 104th in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 154.3 passing yards per game. They rank 27th in rushing offense, averaging 204 yards per game. The reason for this is obvious - the Vols simply do not have a quarterback capable of putting up better numbers. Crompton now has seven interceptions to only five touchdowns on the season. He has thrown for 419 yards on the season on 45-of-73 passing for a 62 percent completion percentage.
Those numbers alone prove that the Vols strength right now is not in the passing game. The Vols will continue to hand the ball off to Hardesty, who is leading the team in rushing with 356 yards on 64 carries and three touchdowns. Freshmen Bryce Brown and David Oku will also get a lot of opportunities to carry the ball along with sophomore Tauren Poole.
As long as Crompton is on the field, the Vols passing game will continue to struggle. It is unrealistic to think otherwise. For those who are in favor of junior Nick Stephens, I ask you one simple question. If the Vols coaches though he was a better option than Crompton, don't you think they would have made the change already?
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