Captain's Cogitations - Tennessee-Martin

Captain Sasquatch

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Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all against Franks, just find a new sport to watch you dumbasses!

I'm a little shocked this morning at the hate for Franks. I don't know what else he could have done last night to impress some of you who already have your minds made up about him. Play defense? Do a backflip? Bang a cheerleader on the field? He had a great game. He wasn't perfect, he certainly missed Pitts a couple times when he was open down the field, but he was extremely accurate and managed the game exactly the way he was supposed to.

Mullen said it after the game, and I definitely noticed it during the game, but UTM is constantly dropping 8 men and rushing 3 on defense. If some of you were concerned with him taking a long time to get the ball out, it's because we had 4-5 guys running routes being defended by 8 guys in zone. It's going to take a while when the defense plays like that. He'll have all day to throw, but the receivers have to get open. If you have an issue with the WR screens being called, then clearly you've never paid attention to a single Dan Mullen football game in your entire life. His offense has a lot of WR screens, even going back to Tebow.

Franks dropped dimes on every downfield throw except one of his two incomplete passes, the jump ball in the endzone (which was his one truly bad play, Swain was WIDE open about three seconds earlier on that play and he missed him). But if you guys are going to take the small handful of times he didn't make the right read out of an entire game's worth of passing plays and judge him on those, once again, find a new sport to watch. Or maybe pick up a copy of "College Football for Idiots" at Barnes and Noble today. Every single QB is going to make the wrong read a few times a game, just get over it. We left after Trask's TD pass because we had to drive home, so I'm not sure how either of them looked throughout the 4th quarter. But I can guarantee all of you the offense is in far better hands with Franks than it is with either of those guys..

The offensive line continues to worry me, they just aren't opening holes up for the run game right now. For those of you pissed about the short passes last night, we're calling them because those short passes are basically our running game for the time being. We can't open up enough space to make headway through the middle of the defense, might as well get the ball out into space quickly and take your chances out there instead of counting on our line to block. That's the one truly troubling thing about our offense moving forward. We've got to find a way to create more space up the middle or it's going to be very difficult to get the running game going no matter who is carrying the ball. And the tight ends certainly aren't pulling their weight blocking, either.

I was happy to see the defense pitch the shutout last night. Even though the opponent was clearly inferior, the tackling was much improved, and there really wasn't much to critique with the way they played. Felt good to have the first shutout in three years. Apparently UK's QB is hurt pretty bad, so our defense has to be letting out a sigh of relief they don't have to face him again this year. Feel terrible for the kid, though, hopefully it's not too serious of an injury.

The one thing that frustrated me the most was UTM taking their sweet ass time the whole game. It almost seemed like their strategy was just to shorten the game so they didn't get blown out by 70. Mullen also mentioned this in the postgame about how few plays we ran on offense in the first half because their offense was in stall mode. Anyway, having said all that, it was a decent enough game, but the Two Bits tribute was awesome and it's always great to walk out of a stadium with a W. Big game next week, it's time for SEC football!

:chomp:
 

Zambo

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Your observation about them dropping 8 into coverage doesn't make me feel any better about our run game.
 

MertzJay26

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Good stuff, Sas. I’ve been harsh on Franks as most have, but he’s really developed a lot under Mullen. Hate that people are going to bag on him no matter what. Guess some are still butthurt about the shushing episode.

Oh, and check this out:
 

gatorfan81

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I expected a game like this. Mullen treated it as a glorified practice to get some tape for his offensive line. Frank's showed great vision and you don't realize how well he plays until the other ones come in. Trask has a quicker release but does not pay attention to his surroundings aka the almost pick. Ej should of had the majority of the snaps through the 3rd quarter he will be our next Qb and if he does not get some meaningful playing time it will be disastrous. But then again he may steal a laptop transfer to Auburn and win them a national title. Cause that one qb we had sucked in games too when he first started for us also.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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Good stuff, Sas. I’ve been harsh on Franks as most have, but he’s really developed a lot under Mullen. Hate that people are going to bag on him no matter what. Guess some are still butthurt about the shushing episode.

Oh, and check this out:

It's the shushing episode and the horrible season he had in 2017, to which all I have to say is............:mac:

Whatever though, he'll continue to do his thing and we'll be fine.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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So a QB in a running QB spread option offense has nothing to do with the run game? Just want you to be clear.
Is he blocking? Just want you to be clear. Nothing about the way Franks is handing the ball off to Lamical Perine, Malik Davis, and Damien Pierce has anything to do with our running game struggles.
 

oxrageous

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Is he blocking? Just want you to be clear. Nothing about the way Franks is handing the ball off to Lamical Perine, Malik Davis, and Damien Pierce has anything to do with our running game struggles.
So the fact that he's not a threat to run doesn't hurt the offense at all?

He doesn't fit the offense, never has, never will, and you KNOW it - yet you can't say it because he wears the orange and blue.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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So the fact that he's not a threat to run doesn't hurt the offense at all?

He doesn't fit the offense, never has, never will, and you KNOW it - yet you can't say it because he wears the orange and blue.
Not a threat at all? You serious, Clark? :lol:

He's not Tim Tebow running the ball, but he's not Dan Marino, either. He has running ability, and has showed it numerous times throughout his career. Just admit you hate the kid for telling you to STFU, that's all this is about.
 

SeabeeGator

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Is he blocking? Just want you to be clear. Nothing about the way Franks is handing the ball off to Lamical Perine, Malik Davis, and Damien Pierce has anything to do with our running game struggles.
Ehhhh.... disagree here. He really struggled against Miami with the RPOs. Wasn’t focused enough on the game last night but his stats don’t make it seem like he rushed a lot, which is part of this offense. If he becomes a serious threat to run, the defense will have to make adjustments. Right now they key on the RB and it works.
 

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