Blatant Homerism: Tennessee and a not-so-fun trip down memory lane
When I look at this year’s version of the Tennessee Volunteers, I see a more talented facsimile of the 2013 Baylor Bears.
That squad represented the culmination of coach Art Briles’ vision for his program. The Bear Raid offense fashioned by Briles and his staff melded spread passing concepts with an inside run game, played at lightning-fast tempo. Led by talented junior quarterback Bryce Petty and a cavalcade of physical, fast weapons at the skill positions, Baylor punished defenses that were forced to choose between guarding against deep shots in the passing game or dedicating numbers closer to the ball to slow down the Bears on the ground.
Baylor complemented its prolific offense with an ultra-aggressive defense built on pressuring offenses into negative plays and turnovers. It was a gambling style intended to get the ball back to the offense as quickly as possible, even if it risked allowing explosive plays.
En route to a Big 12 title that season, the Bears smashed the Oklahoma Sooners, 41-12, on a Thursday night game in Waco. It wasn’t a fun day at the office for the OU defense, which was on the field for 80 plays and gave up a total of 459 yards.
But in reality, OU’s ineptitude on the other side of the ball was the real story of the game. It became apparent from the first drive of the game when the Sooners quickly went three-and-out that they had little chance of consistently moving the ball on the Baylor D. Baylor contributed 58 yards in personal fouls to OU’s only credible drive of the first half, which the Bears stoned on the goal line. OU’s defense and special teams chipped in five points with a safety and long kick return that positioned the team for a field goal, but the O compounded the Sooners’ problems by tossing an interception deep in its own territory to set up a Baylor touchdown right before the end of the half. OU went into the locker room down 24-5, with little hope of making the game competitive in the second half.
As offensive coordinator of the Sooners, Josh Heupel witnessed that beatdown from the Bears firsthand. Ironically, the team he is bringing to Oklahoma this weekend has Baylor-like vibes (on the field) – right down to his twist on the Bear Raid. Watching UT’s 51-10 blowout win over North Carolina State from earlier this year felt kinda like seeing OU-Baylor in ‘13 all over again.
The Wolfpack put up a good fight for most of the first half against the explosive Volunteers offense. Unfortunately, they brought a popgun to a rocket fight. Their first three offensive drives covered a total of 21 yards on 18 plays. Still within striking range down 10-3 in the second quarter, disaster struck when UT defensive back Will Brooks picked off a pass from NC State QB Grayson McCall and took it 85 yards the other way for a score.
Down two scores, the Wolfpack were already cooked. The second half turned bloody, with UT scoring on five of seven offensive possessions.
And therein lies the biggest area of concern for OU when the Vols come to town on Saturday.
The Sooners have yet to face a team this year capable of putting up points the way Tennessee can. Nevertheless, third-year coach Brent Venables and his assistants have constructed a legitimate defense that will be the Vols’ best test yet. It seems unlikely that UT will march up and down the field on the Sooners from gun to gun.
But will OU’s defense have to contend with its own offense, too?
OU has struggled to string together drives against the likes of Temple and Houston so far this year. One in three of the offense’s possessions have gone three-and-out, and the O has sputtered at some critical junctures in tight games. To wit, holding an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter versus Tulane, the Sooners had three consecutive drives that ended with a pick-six and two three-and-outs. It would make a difference if OU could produce big plays every so often, but those have been non-existent.
Frankly, OU could afford to stumble around on offense in the first three games. The Sooners now have to play significantly better to have any shot at upsetting the Tennessee, and they have to do it while stepping up in class. It doesn’t matter how much OU has improved on defense – the Vols will eventually pile up points if the Sooners are quickly giving the ball back to them.
Picks and Recs: Gangs of London
Netflix has picked up a big catalogue of AMC series for streaming, and the collection includes the only two seasons (so far) of this import from the UK. I started it back up in the last week when circumstances left me hunkered down on the couch for an extended period.
This patently ridiculous and pornographically violent show suggests modern-day London lacks any semblance of a police presence, aside from one undercover cop and his handler. Daily life around the city apparently still carries on as normal while rival factions representing an assortment of races and ethnicities wage war with one another. What they don’t realize is an anonymous cabal of the rich and powerful is actually pulling all the strings!
I wouldn’t say Gangs is good, but I’m in the tank for creator Gareth Evans’ work. The action and fight sequences bear all the hallmarks of his superb style of filmmaking. I also like British-Nigerian actor Sope Dirisu, who stars as the aforementioned secret agent. Give it a go if that sounds like your bag, but don’t rush to catch up on this.