Tennessee must accept Joshua Dobbs for who he is, play accordingly
Tennessee spent about five quarters trying to turn senior quarterback Joshua Dobbs into something he’s not.
Wisely, coach Butch Jones and Co. scrapped that plan and went back to letting Dobbs do what he was meant to do. He’s never going to be effective as a traditional drop-back passer. He’ll always be a better runner than thrower.
As a result, the Volunteers answered a 14-0 deficit — getting help from some careless turnovers from Virginia Tech, of course — with a 31-0 run to win the Battle at Bristol, 45-24. A record crowd of 156,990 packed into Bristol Motor Speedway watched Dobbs do what he does best with 106 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
While he only accounted for 91 yards on 10-of-19 passing, Dobbs made the most of his opportunities with 3 TDs through the air.
For long stretches in a less-than-impressive win over Appalachian State in Week 1, UT was clearly trying to transform Dobbs into more of a distributor. He struggled mightily and was lucky to escape, 20-13 in overtime.
Completing just 16-of-29 passes in the opener, Dobbs averaged a measly 6.6 yards per attempt and made some horrible decisions — including a silly INT in the red zone — when plays began to break down. Even more curious, the Vols seemed to avoid calling his number in the running game. He posted minus-4 yards on 9 carries.
But in Week 2, Dobbs was most dangerous either throwing to his primary option when open or tucking it and running when said option was covered.
The runaway favorite to win the East, Tennessee can only take the next step if its passing game keeps defenses honest. Clearly, this offense isn’t there yet. Dobbs is as experienced as they get. Expecting any more growth is simply foolish.
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The young man is what he is at this point. Dobbs is a rudimentary one-read QB in the passing attack but a dangerous read-option threat in the running attack. While he may leave a lot to be desired at the game’s most important position, he’s certainly productive enough to lead the Volunteers to Atlanta. Beyond that? Perhaps not.
On the bright side, he recognized some one-on-one matchups and let his superior athletes on the outside make plays for him.
Following the first of what would a be a flock of fumbles for the Hokies — send some Stickum to Blacksburg, please — Dobbs fired a fade to Jauan Jennings on the next play for a 5-yard TD to cut the early gap to 14-7.
Just five minutes of game time later, Dobbs tied it at 14 with a 38-yard scoring strike to Josh Malone. Finally, Dobbs appears to have a go-to receiver. The 4-play, 90-drive was highlighted by a 40-yard scamper from the studious signal caller, who started to rediscover his mojo as a legit running threat in the open field.
Some of the mistakes we saw nine days ago in Knoxville were repeated, though. He’s not out of the woods as a decision maker yet.
The one interception he threw in the neutral-site contest happened when he stared down Malone on a deep route. Dobbs held the ball twice as long as he should have, then chucked it into coverage for his lone turnover of the contest.
Fortunately for the Vols, Virginia Tech couldn’t get out of its own way. For the second game in a row, the Hokies lost four fumbles. They managed to survive putting the ball on the carpet that often a week ago hosting Liberty. But facing a big-boy program at a neutral site, they weren’t good enough to overcome all those unforced errors.
Coughing up the ball at their own 5-yard line in the second quarter with a 14-0 advantage turned the entire game around.
Up until that point, there was a collective look of here-we-go-again on the faces along the Tennessee sideline. Without that gift from Tech, it’s fair to wonder if the Volunteers would have completely crumbled under the pressure.
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So far through two weeks of the regular season, rarely has UT resembled a squad capable of making the leap from nine wins to College Football Playoff contender. Not with an offense that seemingly has the same limitations — no downfield passing game — as a year ago. Even Alabama makes dynamic plays through the air.
If anybody on Rocky Top is hoping for Dobbs to challenge Chad Kelly of Ole Miss as the league’s premier passer, they’re not paying attention.
He’s a fantastic football player. Considering the level of quarterback play in the SEC so far in 2016, Dobbs is a better choice to man an offense than most of them. And, warts and all, the Vols are 2-0 with their goals intact.
However, any plan the coaching staff may have had to turn Dobbs into more of a Kelly-like presence in the pocket needs to be abandoned — it’s a square-peg-round-hole situation. The best coaches are the ones who scheme accordingly based on what their players do well. Here’s what Dobbs does well: make easy throws and run the rock.
Returning back home to contend with overmatched Ohio in Week 3, the Volunteers have one more opportunity to nip and tuck before the schedule gets nasty.
UT faces one of the more brutal four-game stretches in the country beginning in Week 4, when Florida visits Neyland Stadium. The Gators are already 2-0 and boast an 11-game winning streak in the series.
Even if the Vols end that curse against UF, their next three contests are at Georgia, at Texas A&M and then the defending national Crimson Tide at home — like Florida, they’re all undefeated and off to good starts. While expecting them to run the table is a tall order, 3-1 may be required to win the East.
Dobbs walks like a duck. He talks like a duck. Face it, he’s a duck. Tennessee smartly stopped asking him to be a swan.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
