Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Tennessee

Joel Klatt calls out massive coaching failure by Tennessee on Joey Aguilar pick-six

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater3 hours agosamdg_33
Alabama DB Zabien Brown
(UA Athletics)

No. 11 Tennessee vs. No. 6 Alabama was setting up like another classic in the rivalry on the Third Saturday of October, with the Volunteers having a chance to score going into halftime to cut it to two against the Tide at 16-14. Instead, with a 99-yard pick-six by CB Zabien Brown, the Vols found themselves in a deficit they’d never get out of in Tuscaloosa.

On his show on Monday, though, Joel Klatt broke down the Xs and Os of why that pick-six was so bad for Tennessee. It goes beyond the poor throw by QB Joey Aguilar, as Klatt said that it was a complete coaching failure, situationally and in play-calling, to end the half there by Josh Heupel.

“There was a sequence in this football game, though, this Tennessee-‘Bama game, that totally changed the game, and obviously I’m talking about that end of the half sequence in the first half when Tennessee looks like they’re going to go down and at least get points,” Klatt set up in his breakdown. “It’s a, what was it, 16-7 game at this point, I believe it was 16-7, and it looks like they’re at least going to get three, so it’s going to be 16-10. Probably should get a touchdown. I know time is dwindling but Tennessee has got themselves down to this point where they’ve got 1st & goal, with a timeout in their pocket.

“This was a massive coaching failure on the Tennessee side. A total situational, strategic failure from Tennessee. I know Joey Aguilar is going to get the bulk of the criticism because of the pick-six, but let’s just think about this for a moment, this sequence that happens at the end of the half. It’s 16-7, you’re on the road, you’ve put together a drive – a really good drive, and you’re on the doorstep. It’s 1st & goal, I believe from the two-yard line, right around there, and you have a timeout in your pocket. Now, the timeout in your pocket is the only thing that gives you the run-pass conflict against the defense. It’s the only thing, because the time is so short – I believe it was under 15 seconds at this point. And so, yes, you can run the football, but, as soon as you run the football, you lose the ability to call timeout in future plays, which then means that you lose the run-pass conflict on the defense.”

On the final two plays of a 15-play, 74-yard drive going into halftime is where this took place. On 1st & goal for the Tide’s two-yard line, the Volunteers ran it for one yard with RB DeSean Bishop, resulting in a timeout to preserve the clock with nine seconds left. At that point, Tennessee got it into a tight set, with Klatt noting how it didn’t make sense for them to run the ball out of it, that they ran play-action out of, resulting the pick-six by Brown as he read the ball intended on the right side of the goal line to TE Miles Kitselman.

Again, Klatt said the Vols fooled no one, and certainly not the Tide’s defense, with that play call considering the circumstances of the situation at the end of half. He did put some of it on Aguilar, as the quarterback for throwing a poor ball behind his receiver, but more of it on the Tennessee staff for how they handled that stretch altogether

“So, on first down, Tennessee decides to run the ball. That’s fine, I guess, if you think you can really get it in. Now, maybe you think you can absolutely punch it in to the end zone at that point. Obviously, they think that they can. They don’t, and they have to burn the timeout. Okay, so, now at this point, it’s 2nd & goal and you don’t have a timeout. So, regardless of what you do with your formation or action in your concept, you lose the ability to put the defense in conflict because they know you’re not going to run the football. Running the football at that point is essentially saying, one snap to end the half versus throwing the ball and, if it’s complete, you know, you can throw it away and you’re going to get multiple snaps,” explained Klatt. “So, they decide not to get into a passing set in trying to orchestrate something in the passing game that can pick, that can gain a matchup on a defender – no, no, no. They decide to get in the same heavy formation, as if there’s some sort of run-pass conflict, and throw play-action pass out the backfield? You’re not faking anybody with the run! They know you’re not running it! You don’t have a timeout. Massive failure from the coaching staff at Tennessee.

“Which was then compounded by a poor throw. Joey Aguilar is not, you know, in a position that he gets no criticism, because it’s not a great throw. But, there’s no ability to put the corner in conflict, the defensive back in conflict at that point. The run fake? He doesn’t even pay attention to because you’re not going to run the football, because running the football ends the half. So, at that point, you need to get into a passing set – gain a matchup, pick, rub. Do something along those lines to gain the advantage necessary to score…And then it was compounded by the quarterback error. The ball is thrown really poorly, behind the intended wide receiver, and then it’s picked and it goes back for six. It’s like, it’s the worst possible case for Tennessee at that point. So, what should be a 16-14 game is, at half, now a two-score game, and you’re looking up and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Well, how are we going to come back from this? Now we put ourselves in a real hole. And, at the end of the game, you lose by 17, and that’s a 14-point swing. The rest of the game was, you know, back and forth. They traded touchdowns in the second half – two touchdowns for Tennessee, two touchdowns for Alabama.”

Tennessee could have come out of halftime with a two-point deficit had they scored in that sequence. Instead, after a momentum shifting play for ‘Bama inside Bryant-Denny, the Volunteers found themselves down two scores with a 15-point deficit. And, with the game resulting in a 17-point loss, Klatt kept looking back at how big and bad that swing, and the play-calling that caused it, was.

“That was a huge failure,” said Klatt. “See, a coach’s job is always to put his players in a position to succeed, and that didn’t happen for Tennessee in that sequence.

“That type of sequence cannot happen if you want to win on the road, in particular against a really good opponent in Alabama. That’s really the sequence. That’s the game. Now, everything else has to happen. You’ve got to go execute in all the other areas, but, in hindsight, you look at that scenario and, boy, like, that’s where the game ultimately turned…You have to play really well, and you have to take advantage of your opportunities when they present themselves and Tennessee wasn’t able to do that.”