Vols searching for 'bread, butter' to move football

From the beginning of his tenure, first-year coordinator Dave Clawson said Tennessee's offense is all about playmakers and putting them in positions to be successful.

Heading into the second game of the season against UAB in Neyland Stadium on Saturday (TV: WVLT, 12:30 p.m.), the Vols have a good idea of who those playmakers are.

Finding an identity on offense, though, is an ongoing process, as it is for many teams this time of year.

Are the Vols a power-running team? Are they an offense that will lean on the passing game? Or are they somewhere in between?

"I really don't know what our bread and butter is right now because we've got a good passing game and good running game," quarterback Jonathan Crompton said. "We can go either way. It varies week to week, depending on the defense we're going to play."

In UT's 27-24 overtime loss to UCLA, the Vols faced a defense that was inexperienced in the secondary and had a pair of veteran defensive tackles, both of whom are considered NFL prospects.

The result was 41 passing attempts for Crompton to 34 running plays, which included six by Crompton. Not all those quarterback runs were designed runs, however.

"I really felt going into the game in order to run the ball we'd have to throw the ball early and loosen them up a little bit," Clawson said. "They gave us looks that you have to be able to throw it, and that's really where the breakdown was. We were getting looks to throw it, and we didn't execute the passing game as efficiently or as effectively as we need to."

By now, it's no secret the Vols missed on 22 of those 41 attempts. They also missed on shots down the field that UT coach Phillip Fulmer and Clawson have said would have opened up UCLA's defense to shorter passes and more running plays.

As it was, though, the Vols still managed 5.2 yards a carry, and tailbacks Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty combined for 162 yards on 25 attempts, or about 6.5 yards a carry.

Clawson said several of those carries came against less-than-ideal looks from UCLA's defense.

"Some of those plays we just let them run because we were doing a nice job up front and we were pushing the pile," Clawson said. "I thought both Arian and Montario were doing a nice job of making the unblocked guy miss.

"Certain defenses are going to take away the run, and they're going to put those guys in the box and you have a choice. You either throw it every down, or you take a hard-hat approach and you still try to knock them off the ball and let the backs try to make a guy miss. In the second half, we took a little bit more of that approach."

To a degree, though, an offense's method of attack is dictated by the looks presented by its opponent.

"It depends on how people try to play you," Fulmer said of trying to establish an identity on offense. "We ran several really good running plays into pressure and backs made safeties miss. It depends on who the safeties are. How are they trying to defend you, and what advantages can you gain? If people do as they (UCLA) did and try to lock up man-to-man, we need to make them pay. If they're going to (back) off and play coverage, you've got to be able to run the ball. That's the same in pro football, that's the same in high school football nowadays, and it's the same in college ball."

That doesn't mean Tennessee's offense won't be aggressive in attacking opponents, Fulmer said.

"We're always trying to be aggressive," Fulmer said. "I do think we take a very aggressive approach typically. We can be aggressive and run it 50 times. We can even throw it 50 times. We try to be as balanced as we can and do what we need to do to win."

And while Tennessee's identity as an offensive football team is still coming into focus, Crompton is confident the Vols can be productive.

"We can be a very powerful offense if we want to be. We got to put our minds to it," Crompton said. "We're trying to get used to what we want to do more, kind of get into our own little rhythm. I think if we get into a rhythm, we're hard to stop. I guess that's any offense in the country, but especially us with the personnel groupings we have.

"If we put our minds to it and get in a rhythm, I think we're hard to stop."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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