The Tennessee Playbook, Part 1b: You Can't Spell Smashmouth without UT

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This is the second installment in a multi-part series about what plays the Tennessee offense runs in various situations. This post, along with Part 1a, dissects how UT has started the game on offense under Josh Heupel.

Hit the Ground Runnin’

A screen pass has been Tennessee’s opening play under Josh Heupel 29% of the time. Another 29% of opening plays has come from one of two different run schemes: Inside Zone Read (16% share, 33% success rate) or Outside Power Read (13% share, 43% success rate). Power is a gap blocking scheme and works in a completely different way than Zone, but UT works both schemes into the offense to keep defenses off balance. It’s also interesting that Zone gets called a little more often on play number one since gap schemes have been a larger share of the offense overall under Heupel.

Inside Zone Read

Tennessee ran what was the most textbook-perfect example of Inside Zone Read you’ll ever see, against Georgia of all teams, on Play No. 1 in 2023. In fact, this play is such a great example of inside zone read, I made a video breaking it down:

Here’s the way it’s drawn up:

And in case you didn’t bother with the video:

Here’s another example of the pay in action, not as spectacular as the UGA example, but still a successful play, to start the 2021 Music City Bowl against Purdue:

Outside Power Read

So in a very basic sense, the difference between a zone scheme and a gap scheme is that gap recognizes the natural spaces (gaps) created by the splits between linemen and uses those gaps to leverage the defense.

As said before, zone can be as simple as step playside and block whatever’s there. Gap schemes will always have complex rules. For example, here’s a set of blocking rules for UT’s counter scheme from a clinic by OL coach Glen Elarbee (available on coachtube.com):

As you can see… it’s complicated. These rules have a playside call and a backside call, ”alert” calls, etc. And that’s just against one particular front. There’s more going on than covered vs. uncovered. That doesn’t mean that gap is better or worse than zone, they’re simply different approaches.

The gap scheme Tennessee uses most on opening plays is Outside Power Read. You’ll remember this play from Play No. 1 of the 2023 UTSA game, where Joe Milton pulls the ball and goes around end for an 81-yard touchdown.

I actually think this is a another superb scouting job by the UT coaching staff. Just a guess, but I’d bet the staff saw UTSA’s #1, the DE that’s being read on this play, with a tendency to squeeze down the line and follow a pulling OT. That pulling lineman, along with the pre-snap “orbit” motion, pulls the defense’s eyes away from the real threat of the play. Of course, if the DE plays with discipline and keeps outside contain on the play, the QB can hand off and let the RB follow the pulling tackle instead.

Another view of the play. You can see how the DE never considered contain, making it an easy pull and run for Milton.

The first play of the 2022 Akron game was a similar scheme, although this time I believe it’s the backside LB being read for an RPO. You can see Hendon Hooker’s head turn to the LB between the hash and the numbers. If that LB crashes into the box to stop the run, there’s a bubble screen available to the outside. Since the defender stays wide, it’s an easy choice to hand off, and even thought the read LB ends up making the tackle, it’s after a 10-yard gain.

Break the Mold

These three schemes Tennessee most often starts games with (screens, inside zone read, and outside power read) are a large part of the Vols’ offense on other downs too. But they are disproportionally big on the opening play. Screen passes have made up about 9% of the UT offense under Heupel—but 29% of opening play calls. The two run plays are even more interesting. Outside Power Read has been 7% of Tennessee’s plays calls the past three years, but 13% of opening plays. Inside Zone Read has been 11% of Tennessee’s offense over that span, but 16% of openers. Now I know you’re thinking, I though you said this would be interesting, and her it is: Tennessee ran Outside Power Read more in 2023 than they did in 2021 and ‘22 combined. On the flip side, Inside Zone Read has seen precipitously less play year over year, with 162 reps in ‘21, 100 in ‘22, and just 51 total reps in ‘23. What accounts for the difference in how UT has used these plays over the years? I can think of a few possibilities:

• Perhaps Inside Zone Read, which Heupel relied on a ton in year 1 at Tennessee, just isn’t as effective against SEC defenses as it was at UCF (I don’t have the data to back that up).

• It could be that defenses have simply adapted

• Like anything else in life, football follows trends. Maybe the trend has moved away from IZR to Outside Read.

• Maybe Outside Power Read fit the ‘23 personnel better than Inside Zone Read.

To those last two points, according to secstatcat.com ($)—which is where I get this play data—Inside Zone Read has been the #1 concept among SEC teams the last three years (always 12% or mor of all play calls), with Outside Power Read being a tiny percent of play calls in the conference (around 3% or less year over year). That leads me to the assumption that Tennessee’s read-based run game philosophy changed because the starting QB changed. I could be wrong. Maybe it was the change at offensive coordinator that made the difference, although it seems odd that Joey Halze would be all finally Alex Golesh is gone I can run all the Outside Power Read I want. I do believe that these two plays are a core part of Tennessee’s opening strategy because they are smash-mouth, tone-setting plays. But when you think back to the difference in running style between Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton, it’s likely that inside zone worked better for one and outside zone worked better for the other.

If that’s true, I wonder what it means for 2024 and beyond. I have a feeling that Nico Iamaleava’s skillset will be different that Hooker's or Milton’s. Looking back at the Citrus Bowl, Tennessee utilized more rollout action with Nico than they did any other time in the season, including on the first play of the game where Tennessee ran an RPO that featured Nico rolling out to hit the TE in the flat. It looked more like the type of RPO that USC ran with Caleb Williams than the type of RPO we’ve seen from the Vols over the last three years. Will we see more of that action with Nico going forward, or was that a tendency breaker being thrown at a notoriously tendency-driven Iowa defense?

But that is the future, and we’re still looking at the past, as we will continue to do for the next few installments of this series. I am itching to start on some 2024 content, so I might cut this series short, but at least expect a look at what Tennessee runs on third downs, in short yardage, and what plays have been the most explosive for the Vols under Josh Heupel.