Coaching
Nathanael: D
I think Ben puts it very well below my response here. I agree with his take on the play-action passes and the overall offensive play-calling. I will say that I have no problem with Pruitt trying an onside kick when he did, and I also don’t have nearly as big of an issue of Pruitt chasing points in the third quarter after the touchdown to start the second half as some people do. It’s just nit-picking to go after that decision, in my opinion. Now, Pruitt trying to use a timeout to call in a two-point conversion play instead of taking the delay of game would’ve been really dumb in my opinion, but ultimately he didn’t get the timeout in and it didn’t matter. But overall, I don’t think coaching was the problem, but it certainly wasn’t as keen on Saturday as it has been in other games.
Ben: D
Tennessee’s offensive game-plan was disappointing to see, and Jeremy Pruitt alluded to this post-game. I didn’t understand calling play-action plays that require a few seconds to develop when the offensive line had shown they weren’t capable of holding a block for a second. I also didn’t understand the dedication to running into an uneven box. Pruitt and his staff were out-coached on Saturday, but I do believe part of it was they just don’t have the guys to compete with Missouri’s weapons.
