Tennessee Vols offense eager to rebound from frustration

photo Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) looks for a receiver against Missouri.

KNOXVILLE - The whistle blew and the yellow piece of laundry hit the Neyland Stadium turf as Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs dropped back to throw what looked to be a long pass.

With the play dead due to a false-start penalty, the usually stoic sophomore spiked the football into the ground.

While Dobbs suggested this week it was to avoid any extra hits from any pass-rushers with hearing trouble, it could have applied, too, to the frustration the Volunteers endured on offense last week against Missouri after rolling up more than 1,100 yards in the previous two games.

"Obviously any time you can't be productive, it's frustrating," offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian said following Wednesday's practice. "We obviously just got back to the drawing board and focused on what we can improve upon and focused on getting better. We just needed to focus on technique, focus on execution and focus on assignments."

After scoring a combined 95 points -- the most in back-to-back SEC games since 2003 -- against South Carolina and Kentucky, Tennessee ran into a Missouri defense led by a front group who controlled the line of scrimmage and knocked the Vols out of their groove.

Tennessee managed just 279 yards against the Tigers and failed to take advantage of some good field position.

Five first-half drives into Missouri territory produced just one touchdown -- the fake-field-goal pass from holder Patrick Ashford to tight end Alex Ellis -- along with two field goals and two punts.

The Vols surrendered six sacks and had a season high in negative-yardage plays.

"That might be the best defensive front we've faced all year," Bajakian said. "Those guys have multiple NFL players up front that are going to have long careers at the next level. Still, we have to go out and we have to execute. We know the task at hand, and we have to do a better job across the board as players, as coaches -- you name it."

The Vols have an opportunity to rediscover their mojo Saturday against a Vanderbilt defense that's allowed 34 points or more in five of its seven SEC games.

"We still did good things out there (against Missouri)," Dobbs said. "It's not like we played bad all game. We still had explosive plays, we still moved the ball well -- we just didn't finish.

"As an offense, our heads are up. We're still excited for the next game. We know we can put up points and move the ball on any defense. We're excited to show what we've got this Saturday."

The Vols will have to eliminate some self-inflicted mistakes, though, that doomed them last week.

On its opening series of the second half, Tennessee picked up 21 yards on two straight plays and appeared to be taking a downfield shot when guard Marcus Jackson was flagged for a false start.

Pig Howard dropped a jet sweep shovel pass on the same drive after the play produced a big gain earlier in the game, and the receiver also had a drop on Tennessee's late touchdown drive on which a couple of players also failed to get out of bounds to stop the clock.

"Win or lose," said tailback Jalen Hurd, "we look at our mistakes and we try to execute the small details that we did wrong in those mistakes in practice and in the game the next week."

Dobbs fumbled in the third quarter, and freshman receiver Josh Malone had a pass bounce off his hands for an interception as Tennessee was driving and trailing by just three points early in the fourth quarter.

On two sacks in the first half, Tennessee's offensive line failed to pick up twists by Missouri's defensive line and allowed the Tigers a free lane to Dobbs, and the Vols were stuffed on a second-down run play to ruin their rhythm after the previous five plays gained 50 yards.

"Obviously there's a few plays we left out there as a unit and as a team," Bajakian said. "We lost, so we didn't play well enough. That's how we put it.

"We always have had a snap-and-clear mentality, and we continue to have a snap-and-clear mentality. We know that no play is dependent on the previous play. We've just got to go out, make sure we're giving great effort and executing as well as we can on each and every play."

Doing so in Nashville on Saturday would go a long way in Tennessee clinching its first bowl trip since 2010.

"It'll be exciting," Dobbs said. "Every time we step on the field we try to have a great performance and show what we've got. We're excited to brush off last week's loss and get back out on the field and compete again and show what we can do on offense."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com

Upcoming Events