Tennessee still looking for answers

By RAY GLIER

For The AJC

Tennessee was a luxury brand on offense for so many years, it is difficult to imagine the Vols now walking the bargain aisle shopping for three yards here, two yards there and begging for a simple screen pass that could get six yards and a first down.

Once upon a time, there was a tight string between the quarterback and wide receiver. Andy Kelly to Carl Pickens. Heath Shuler to Craig Faulkner. Peyton Manning to Joey Kent. Tee Martin to Peerless Price. Erik Ainge to Robert Meachem. Alan Cockrell to Willie Gault. There was rhythm, then points, in the heyday of Wide Receiver U.

But these days, Tennessee’s offense resembles the prospector standing in a creek washing stones and looking for anything that shines. It’s a grind.

The Vols (2-3) have scored five touchdowns in three games against BCS opponents UCLA, Florida, and Auburn. Three of those touchdowns were against defenses guarding against big plays in the fourth quarter with their teams leading 23-6 (Florida, Auburn).

The Vols were 4-of-17 on third down against Auburn Saturday because of dropped passes, poor throws and poor route-running. In the three games against BCS teams, Tennessee is 13-of-45 on third down and the Vols have subsequently leaned too much on their defense, managing just two first half touchdown in those three games against similarly-resourced programs.

“We’re lacking explosive plays as a team,” said Lane Kiffin, the Tennessee coach, on his weekly television show.

Then he added, “You’re not going to win many games going 4-for-17 on third down.”

Through the first month of the season, Kiffin has been a measured, reasoned coach when assessing his team. There have been no public rants, which might be surprising to some people given the coach’s theatrics in the off-season.

His level-headed view of the Vols is they are starving on third down.

“On third downs, there is no rhythm to it and we put our defense out there forever ... we left them out there too long,” Kiffin said after the not-as-close-as-it looked 26-22 loss to Auburn.

Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton threw some nice balls against Auburn and looked sharper than he did against UCLA or Florida. There was one pass that looked like it could have come out of the hand of Manning, a daring fourth-down fade pass on an audible to Quintin Hancock that picked up a first down.

Crompton was 20-for-43 and, for the first time this season, did not throw an interception. He faced a lot of Auburn's four-man rush and zone coverage late in the Auburn game, which helped his percentage, but it is obvious Crompton has grown as a quarterback since the UCLA game.

His statistics could have been better if not for four dropped passes in the first half, Kiffin said. What Tennessee needs more than anything is a go-to receiver, who might be Hancock, a 6-foot-3 senior who leads the team with 15 receptions. Hancock missed the 34-23 win over Ohio with a jaw injury.

The Vols looked better offensively when they were in a no-huddle, two-minute offense. Kiffin indicated Tennessee might use that look more against Georgia this week.

Kiffin is also talking about defense, as well as offense, when he bemoans the lack of explosive plays.

Ohio threw 52 passes, Auburn threw 35 passes and there was not one sack by the Vols on those 87 snaps.

Just as there is no diversity to the offense, there is no diversity to the defense. Safety Eric Berry and linebacker Rico McCoy combined for 30 tackles against Auburn.

“We’re relying on a couple of guys to make too many plays,” Kiffin said on his radio show after the game. “We need more players to make plays.”

Still, defense is the strong suit of the Vols under the veteran defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, the father of the head coach.

Tennessee is 17th in the nation at 163.8 passing yards allowed per game and 19th in the nation at 278.2 total yards allowed per game. The Vols also rank third in the SEC in tackles for loss with 35 for a total of 150 yards.