re: "3rd and Chavis"

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fwiw, I didn't like most of pelini's defensive scheme either.

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I wasn't crazy about Pelini either. Maybe my expectations were too high but we had lost our sense of dominance on defense by the time he left.

Against the '08 backdrop and Chavis's reputation ("3rd and Chavis") the last thing we needed on defense was what we saw last Sat night.

In his defense, "starts" may not always be smooth and our D certainly showed improvement in the 2nd half. On the other hand, Sat night was nothing other than vintage John Chavis defense; completely consistent with his track record at Tenn.

Hopefully, Les will light a fire under his backside and let him know that if he can't do better than that he'll fire him faster than he can say Phil Fulmer.

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He said that his defense utilizes that loose zone until you get into the Red Zone

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Actually aggressive blitzes were what screwed us against UW at times, not the soft zone. Most fans wouldn't know that, though, because they merely relay what they hear from others and assume any defense that gives up yards must have played a soft zone.

Wash. was 11 of 19 on 3rd down conversions, but 6 of 8 in the first half. In the second half, they were 5 of 11. That's a significant improvement between halves and may indicate some good half-time adjustments-something that did not seem to be present last year. Also, given that Locker was very good, and they had no film of what to expect from Wash., it's not surprising it took some time to adjust. Also, as several people have pointed out, in Pelini's first game against AZ ST, the defense gave up huge numbers. We won that game on special teams, and an incredible pass play at the end of the game. I feel we won this game by the defense stepping up in second half and solid quarterback play-both absent last year IMHO.

TCU! You're kidding right. Look who they played for gods sake. If that same defense had to play our schedule they would look like clowns. My point was dominance is relative to the competition.

didnt they win a championship with him there? i cant remember. give the guy some time. i think the game against vandy will be a better judge of it.

This is my first post on your site and I am not here to rattle any cages, just like to mix it up with rivals some times. I have a couple of neighbors from LA. that came up after Katrina that are some of my best friends. Fun to drink and argue football with LSU fans. That being said, the term 3rd and Chavis is nothing new to Vol fans. Chavis is a good OC but we have lost or came close to loosing several games due to his prevent defense once up in the late in games. I am interested to see if that continues because I always wondered if it was more him or Fulmer being too conservative. I am telling you, you loose a couple a year like that and it will drive you nuts.