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Tennessee really looked good Friday against a pretty solid Iowa team. The Hawkeyes scored two late touchdowns to make the game look closer, as the Vols won the TaxSlayer Bowl by a final score of 45-28.
Dobbs completed 16 of 21 for 129 yards with one touchdown and one pick. He added 13 carries for 76 yards and another two touchdowns.
Not the craziest stats through the air, but Tennessee didn’t need him to light it up. Dobbs did display his mobility against the Hawkeyes and Volunteers fans have a lot to look forward to the next few years.
I’m going to take a look at the touchdown pass to Von Pearson right before halftime.
We see Tennessee in a 2 by 1 shotgun formation with an offset fullback/tight end to the boundary. Pearson lined up in the slot position to the field. You can see that Iowa was in press coverage on the outside receivers, and it placed a linebacker over top of Pearson.
This type of coverage is known as two-man. The corners and linebacker are all in man coverage, and the Hawkeyes have two safeties over the top to help deep.
When teams are running this type of coverage, they usually don’t produce a very good pass rush because they have seven defenders in coverage and only rush four. I can’t necessarily blame Iowa, because Tennessee’s offensive line has been brutal all year. But take a look at this pocket for Dobbs. The line gave him a clean pocket and he had all day to make his reads.
Here’s a little sidenote for you: in a two-man coverage, nobody is responsible for the quarterback, so if all else failed, Dobbs probably could’ve run for another touchdown.
Now take a look at this ball placement. Dobbs could’ve thrown the corner route to Pig Howard (top of this picture), but he liked the matchup with a linebacker on Pearson (can’t blame him). He threw a perfect back-shoulder ball right on the front pylon.
Covering a slot receiver in the SEC is a very tough task to ask of a linebacker, and Dobbs made them pay for it.
Tennessee fans should be excited about the future and it will have some major momentum heading into 2015.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
