I Start To RunAbbreviated writeup…
Last week was interesting…if you’re into pain and suffering, self-loathing, things like that. I’m not, so I was miserable. With that behind us, time to move on and see what we can salvage our of a pretty disappointing season.
The UF Game:
The Good: Ealey getting his eyes gouges out shed light on Brandon Spikes’ general despicableness. That’s about it.
The Bad: Pretty much everything else. The defense gave up another big offensive day to a team that had been struggling to put up points. The offense showed some fight at times but has become so predictable it’s beyond sad. Cox threw into quadruple coverage once. AJ is a fine football player but c’mon. 4 guys? It was just a total wreck.
The Key: The opening drive. We kicked off and simply watched Florida go straight down the field on us. Just to make sure they understood exactly what we were about, we let them do it again on their second drive. Meyer had his team focused and they came out executing on all cylinders. Us, not so much.
The Tennessee Tech Game Overall:
AJ is out so our offense will have to find another way to score. Look for us to try and pound the ball to try and estbalish some sense of running game. King and Ealey still have potential to be excellent backs this year for us but we’ve yet to see consistency. With AJ out and Wooten stepping into his role we should be looking at some opportunities for some of these other WRs to step up. Wooten has looked good the couple of times we’ve gotten him the ball. Hopefully Marlon Brown can have a breakout. We really need for Cox to have a big day just from a confidence standpoint.
On defense we just need to pitch a shutout or something close to it. We’ve got depth and against a team this overmatched we should be able to just out-athlete them. I just don’t know what to expect. I want some turnovers forced and some 3 and outs with regularity.
Positional Notes:
- Like I said, AJ is out so we’ll rely on others to step up. I think Charles might have a big game.
- Boling looks OK to go. That’s nice.
- Houston hurt his elbow and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was very limited. That’s not terrible because I’d love to see guys like Washington and Robinson get some shots to provide a spark. They’re the future, let’s get them ready.
- It wouldn’t shock me to see a random LB unit to start the game. Curran and pretty much any of the 8 or so other LBs wouldn’t surprise me at all. They just haven’t been that effective despite the incredible amount of talent there.
- Hopefully Gray gets his shot to operate the offense under normal conditions. The couple of times he’s had the opportunity to operate the whole offense, i.e. not just the wildcat, it’s been in games so far decided as to be laughable. Hopefully he can come in for some mop up duty and get some confidence.
Random Thoughts:
- Most of my thoughts aren’t print-worthy…still…
- I know most folks don’t care, I don’t really either, but I imagine the Indiana football team feels completely snake bit. I mean first they had the whole Michigan game ending INT thing, then the TD overturn against Iowa. Couple that with the fact that they’re in a turnaround year where two wins could make a huge difference in their season. I mean, imagine that happening to Vandy when they were trying to get bowl eligible.
- OK, the season basically boils down to two games now…Auburn and GT. Lose both of those and this season is one of the worst of the last two decades. Win them both and it’s probably only the worst of the Richt era. Actually, I still think we’re going to play a solid game on both sides of the ball against someone this year and win convincingly.
- Can someone tell Brandon Spikes to buckle his chin strap? Josh Davis gets accused of “ripping Spikes’ helmet off” when it seemed clear to me it was popping off every other play.
- The winner of the LSU-Bama game still controls their own destiny, for the whole shebang too. If LSU wins out they’ll likely be in the MNC, more than likely against Texas. Who’s going to keep them out? Iowa? Boise State? Oregon? Not likely…at all…
- I know everyone is pretty well sold on the fact that Martinez is gone after the season, at least as DC, but I’ve yet to hear a DC name that really excites me and makes sense. Richt’s hires typically have some connection, on some level, and I’ve yet to hear one of those that makes sense. Tubberville of course has gotten thrown around some, but he hasn’t coordinated in a long, long time. Not saying he couldn’t, just throwing it out there. I don’t know who else would make sense. I’d love to hear new ideas. Is there any connection to Jim Haslett? That guy coached the Steelers’ defenses of the late 90s before moving on to New Orleans and then eventual obscurity. He’s now the head coach of a UFL team (that’s that 4-team pro league you’ve never heard of). I’d be willing to take someone that would only be here for 2 or 3 years if they’d reestablish our defensive presence. Any thoughts?
Well I went to UGA and teach at IUP, which is where Haslett went to school. So there’s your connection. I’ll place a call.
I’ll do it.
The D-Coordinator at TCU is the most logical fit. Dominant defense, with marginal talent. It’s like the Mike Leach argument – think what he could do with top notch athletes. It would be a step up for the guy, and per the coach-in-waiting role that seems in vogue now, it’s entirely possible that after a successful run of a few years, he gets handed the reins when Richt moves on to missionary work.
They key is new position coaches as well. People wonder why we don’t get a lot out of our Linebackers – I say look at their stances and you can see that they haven’t been properly coached. Starts and ends with coaches, always.
Plus if you can ever stomach a TCU game, it’s plainly clear that they know how to tackle. That would be nice.
Bob
I actually saw that Haslett was an IUP grad when I googled him. I had no idea. Do they have a statue of him right next to Jimmy Stuart?
Nice. Get your resume ready Jim, I can’t imagine you’d do much worse honestly.
Bumpas at TCU makes some sense for sure. He did a good job holding Oklahoma down a few years ago when they played but other than that he hasn’t faced top flight offenses very often. No doubting his success though and he’s put a few players into the NFL recently, but Patterson was a DC and likely has a lot to do with the D gameplan, a la Saban with Smart. Plus, have you seen Bumpas? He looks like Sam Elliot, actually more like Mark Twain.
Are people offering up Bud Foster as a suggestion? I don’t think there’s a connection to Richt with him, though. Would a move to the SEC give him a better springboard for a head coaching job that he so desires? Jody, that would fit in with your 2-3 year model?
I like your idea about Haslet as DC. In fact, why not go to the UFL and nap both Haslet as DC and Jim Fassel as OC. I know that won’t happen, but you have to admit that those two guys are extremely qualified to do the job and would be a huge upgrade in terms of experience from what we have today.
Foster is getting mentioned, but I just don’t see it. He’s set to just stay there and take over whenever beamer decides to hang it up. No idea when that will be but he’s been there so long I can’t imagine him picking now. Not sure we better prepare him to be a HC either really unless you’re just assuming that a move would signal his willingness to listen to offers. I’d think his agent, or hiring of one if he doesn’t have one, could handle that on his own.
Yeah, I thought of that. The problem you have with OC is that the O staff is much stronger than the D in my opinion. Searles would likely leave, McClendon probably wouldn’t be retained, Ball could probably make it since he could handle RBs or WRs, and Lilly would probably hang on at TE and as the likely recruiting coordinator, but you’re looking at major staff turnover in that scenario. Richt has been all about stability. I don’t see it happening honestly, especially if your D staff is already going to be rebuilt. I could be wrong, but I just don’t see Richt basically trading in his entire coaching staff.
I will say that if Garner leaves, our first call should be to Travis Jones. The guy can coach, can recruit and he’s got obvious ties here. It’d cost a ton of money since he’s in the NFL, but he’d be worth it. Recruiting coordinators from LSU’s power years with NFL coaching experience from your alma mater don’t grow on trees.
Jody, please do not fall into the trap of utilizing the phrase “controls their own destiny.” One’s destiny CANNOT be controlled. It unfolds. It can be controlled from “on high” but not by the individual. Destiny is predetermined, fore-ordained, fixed, unchangeable. Sports commentators completely misuse the word destiny all the time when when they utilize it in the aforementioned phrase. Don’t let there ignorance of the word’s meaning and use have a negative influence on your awesome body of work. :-) Hey, just one of those things that gets me….like nails on a chalkboard.
Good point. While fundamentally correct, a team’s destiny is unchanged, no matter what happens, they have no impact on their destiny, it just is, the phrase control your own destiny is a part of the lexicon now, like it or not. There are other phrases like that out there, just can’t think of any off the top of my head. Controls their own future doesn’t work. There’s something about “destiny” that just sounds appropriate. Controls their own fate?