One of the most successful plays that Tennessee ran in Butch Jones’ first season was a nice misdirection concept. The Vols ran playaction, rolled the quarterback out and had almost all the receivers move to one side of the field. Then they slipped a single receiver to the backside. With the flow of the roll out and all the receivers crossing to the same side, the defense is prone to overreact and leave the backside receiver wide open.
Tennessee’s second touchdown in the Utah State game came on one of Butch Jones’ favorite pass concepts, Y Cross. This is a play the Vols especially like using in the red zone. Also known as weakside flood, Y Cross is a key play from the Air Raid offense. The Vols have adapted the concept from how Hal Mumme and Mike Leach originally ran it to make it a playaction pass and use an H-Back to help sell the run fake.
One of the more interesting plays Tennessee ran against Utah State was a play that was unsuccessful and, as a result, did not get much attention. Late in the second quarter, the Vols were starting a drive at the Aggies 45 yard line and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian dialed up a trick play to attempt to give Tennessee an easy score.
One of Butch Jones’ favorite run plays is the inverted veer. This play has become popular in recent years, most famously by Gus Malzahn. The play involves the quarterback reading the playside defensive end to determine if he should keep the ball and run up the middle or hand off to a back, often coming in motion, on a sweep.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed from the Tennessee offense against Utah State was the use of some new packaged plays. During the 2013 season, the Vols did not use many packaged plays beyond the traditional inside zone with a backside bubble screen. During the offseason, offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian and the other Tennessee coaches added a few new concepts to the playbook in an attempt to put more stress on the defense. Against Utah State, Tennessee unveiled two brand new packaged plays that were very effective.
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