I was watching then. I can name a lot of players on that Miracle at South Bend team. And I have the 1990 Sugar Bowl on VHS. I just don’t remember his name at all. Fail by me because I was fairly obsessed as a kid.
I was on campus at that time and hes same age as me. Again back then, there was a lot of interaction between players and students, either at frat houses or on the strip or wherever really.
Pretty much. The HC was Jeff Francis. Chief was DC. Both forgot more about football than I’ll ever know. I likely couldn’t intelligently speak to either on the subject, tbh. The lesson, for me at least, and particularly when one looks at Bama / Clemson / OSU /OU, is that you can have as many great coaches as you want, 10,000 “analysts”, 5* athletes across the board, etc. - there’s only so much that 85 kids can absorb and simultaneously execute, 11 players, 1 football, 1 down and for 4 quarters at a time. Which reminds me.... Bama isn’t appreciably better than they were two years ago, when an all-time bad TN team had seized momentum in Birmingham, was about to punch it in to get within a TD late in the 2nd half....and with Pruitt as coach and JG at QB. They’re not appreciably better than they were several years ago, when a Butch Jones-lead team took the lead late in the game on a Jalen Hurd TD, and also in Birmingham. [uck fay] Alabama. That’s my point, here. And TN isn’t appreciably worse, even now. Oh, we lost a bunch of “talent” off of a 3-7 team? Oh gosh, how could we possibly find average speed LB’s who manage to both get lost in space on every down and somehow still never be around the ball carrier / receiver, even by pure accident? Goodness, how can we possibly replace Wanya “The Turnstile” Morris at tackle? I liked that kid better when he was called “Drew Richmond” - overhyped and soft, both inside and out, upstairs and down. Good riddance. Don’t give one shit that they’re gone. At least with Heupel’s QB-laden offensive-driven scheme we’re at least playing the right game now, and will have a puncher’s chance in every game. That’s more than we’ve had for several years now. If we get 4-5 stops a game, by hook or by crook, we’ve got a chance to beat anyone, certainly including Bama. I’m tired of everyone licking their boots and anointing them King each season. That’s a big part of the overall problem. Because again, and I cannot stress this enough, [uck fay] Alabama.
Lots of truth...especially the f Bama part. The reality is we picked a really good defensive coordinator with an immeasurably low IQ to lead the football program at the exact time Saban was embracing offense and the paradigm in the SEC was shifting. At the very least it seems like we might allow the new AD to usher the program into the 21st century, and maybe the offense will be watchable again.
It is pretty damn funny that we have an entire offensive staff at the moment that we're pretending we haven't hired. And on the other hand we have no clue what's happening on defense.
This seems like the perfect DC opportunity. First of all, Heupel doesn’t care about managing the defense so you won’t be micromanaged and you really can be in control. Also, you already have a built in excuse if your numbers don’t look good due to the type of offense Heupel is running. Your asked to get a few stops a game and your offense is likely giving you more than 24 points to cover your ass.
