Coaching
Nathanael: B-
For the first time this season, I didn’t think the coaching was all that great in this game. The decision to put in Keller Chryst with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter was odd to me, and it completely disrupted the Vols’ offense. I would’ve preferred to see Guarantano get to run through a two-minute drill, especially since Chryst came in and just handed it off three times before throwing an incomplete pass. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the offensive play-calling, though I understand they were probably keeping it vanilla on purpose. I liked the three or four deep shots they took, and I think putting Tim Jordan in a wildcat was a good call. It certainly wasn’t a poorly-coached game, but there were a few more mistakes made.
Ben: B
My lone bone to pick with the coaching staff this week is their decision to put Keller Chryst in the game with just under two minutes to go in the first half. It was a perfect opportunity to allow Guarantano to go through the two-minute drill against somebody other than his teammates. Yes, it’s important to get the backup quarterback some reps when playing cupcakes. But it’s more important to get a relatively young quarterback reps in the two-minute drill.
