'Learning tape' for UT Vols' offensive line

photo UT quarterback Justin Worley waits for center Mack Crowder to snap the ball in the game against Arkansas State at Neyland Stadium.

KNOXVILLE - There may not have been much in the way of screaming and yelling.

That doesn't mean the Tennessee offensive line's review of Saturday night's performance at Oklahoma was easy to watch for coach Don Mahoney and his players.

The Volunteers and their all-true freshmen right side and two other first-time road starters often looked overwhelmed against perhaps the best defensive line they'll see all season, but Tennessee showed signs of progress in the second half by allowing just one of its five sacks and paving the way for a 123-yard half on the ground.

"Not so much difficult, because we didn't do terrible, but it was more of a learning tape than anything," center Mack Crowder said following Wednesday's practice. "There's obviously things that we can correct, just like in any other game.

"It wasn't painful to go back and watch. I guess in a sense it was because we lost, but we were ready to go back and watch it just so we could learn a little bit from it."

It was a baptism by fire for Crowder and his fellow offensive linemen.

Oklahoma, with its combination of size and athleticism inside with Jordan Phillips, Chuka Ndulue and Charles Tapper and speed outside with Eric Striker and Geneo Grissom, clearly outmatched the Vols and knocked quarterback Justin Worley around all night.

In the first half, the Sooners had four sacks, eight tackles for loss and held Tennessee to minus-11 yards rushing.

Mike Bajakian said Tennessee didn't help its offensive line with poor production on first down, and including the two sacks the Sooners had negated by penalty, three were on third-and-long and two more were on second-and-10.

"As much as we can say it's the offensive line, it's not," the offensive coordinator said. "Our biggest problem was not being efficient on early down-and-distances. We had 11 third-and-10-plus snaps. Our first-down efficiency was 33 percent.

"Say what you want, I don't care who you're playing or who's playing for you, when you're in third-and-10-plus, you're at a disadvantage. Guys are gonna pin their ears back and get after you. It's not necessarily having a young offensive line. It's being third-and-13 that's gonna affect your playcalling."

Mahoney believes his young unit never was "truly rattled" and said after Tuesday's practice that the Vols didn't execute up front "large in part to what they did."

Oklahoma often got rushers in Worley's face with blitzes off the edge or defensive-line stunts Tennessee failed to pick up, and the Sooners sacked Worley with a three-man rush after a miscommunication between true freshman right tackle Coleman Thomas and tight end Brendan Downs.

Phillips beat right guard Jashon Robertson, Tennessee's other freshman starter, for another sack, and Striker's ability to speed around Thomas forced Worley to step up into another.

"I wasn't quite sure what to think with Coleman's first start, if he would have that look at all," Mahoney said. "But for the practice Friday leaving here, the hotel meetings and walk-throughs and demeanor and all that, I saw a guy that was excited. And he played that way.

"Technically, there's things that tend to go out the window whenever you play a ball game in which you kind of forget your training of what you're trying to accomplish and do from a fundamental and technique standpoint. All in all, for those two guys being freshmen, you wouldn't know it by the way they carried themselves."

The execution and players' poise improved in the second half, when Mahoney said Tennessee's line "grew up a lot."

Now, with the SEC portion of the schedule looming, the Vols will try to build from Saturday night.

"I'm always a big believer in Coach [Butch] Jones and his philosophy of correcting and teaching and making sure that we get the mistakes corrected," Mahoney said. "It's easy to go in and yell and scream, but you don't get a lot accomplished.

"You've got to make sure they understand what went wrong, the mistakes that took place and obviously never allowing for a lack of effort and strain and want-to. That part was good by our kids."

As intense as Mahoney can be during practice, Crowder said he appreciates his coach's calmer approach.

"Sometimes I do like it," he said, "but other times, I believe he does a great job of getting on us when he needs to. Other times, whenever it's time to learn, then he does a great job of calming us down and saying, 'Hey, this is what you did wrong and this is what you need to do better.' I do like that as a player, because I do get to learn a little bit better.

"But whenever he needs to get on to us, he does."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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