La Tech - 2 AD

Yes, the complete lack of junior and senior talent and experience is the fault of Dooley.

 

For [uck fay]'s sake.......

So, we should have won tonight now? We have the roster we have now and we're going into a top ten team's house and get pissed when what should happen, does happen?

[uck fay] it, good luck guys hoping for that coach with the magic fairy dust that makes things impossible, possible. I'm sure we'd have a roster full of juniors and seniors with NFL talent were we to have gotten a Nick Saban-clone instead of Dooley.

Me, I'll live in the reality of expecting realistic results and progression until we get to the point in the short future where I do expect championships and wins against top ten teams.

Later.

 

When did I say I expected a win?

 

Unimane, I've got 15 years of Class 5A High School football coaching experience under my belt, about 1/2 of that as a D Coordinator. Even though I don't remotely consider myself as being on a college coach's level, I am not talking out of my ass here. I agree to a point that it is difficult to win with a lot of freshmen. One thing that I will emphatically disagree with is that even young players can do the fundamentals correctly. It is the coaches' job to instill proper tackling, gap responsibility, blocking assignments, coverage assignments, play and count discipline, alignments, clock and personnel management, etc. We look like shit in over 90% of those areas. If we were being victimized by pure speed, talent, size, and/or strength, I would totally agree with you. That isn't the case. We look like a Chinese firedrill too many times. We had a DB that allowed a catch to a receiver tonight where the ball was underthrown, batted multiple times, and nearly hit the ground, and NOT ONCE did the DB turn his head to find the ball. That's BASIC technique. We had backs swing out of the backfield where there wasn't a LB or any other defender within 20 yards of him. That's BASIC coverage fundamentals for a LB. We burned at least 4 time outs and had a delay penalty due to poor play clock management. That's BASIC fundamentals. We had ANOTHER procedure penalty on a crucial 3rd down and short early in the game. We have had multiple instances of this. That's BASIC fundamentals. It's not a size, talent, or experience gap that's frustrating many of us. It's the glaring absence of fundamental techniques that are essential for successthat is driving us crazy.


I am a straight shooting person and coach. I don't believe in sugar coating. If something looks like shit, smells like shit, feels like shit, or even tastes like shit, I'm gonna call it shit. And what we are getting in regards to attention to essential details and necessary fundamentals is pure shit.

 

Glad to help.

 

The timeouts being used up are driving me [uck fay]ing nuts. The true definitive example of an unprepared team.

 

James Franklin shows what a well coached team can be. Vandy lost to Arkansas too but at least they showed up and limit their mistakes. That's all I expect right now from UT. Show some improvement...I don't see any.

 

Bullshit.

South Carolina's best player is a sophomore TB that didn't play against Tennessee. Their QB is a more mobile Matt Simms (also, shockingly enough not an upperclassman). They have a true freshman DE starting and I believe 2 sophomores in the defensive backfield. Ace Sanders and Ellington are sophomores too.

UGA is poorly coached, undisciplined as hell and rely on a sophomore QB and a freshman RB. The D is littered with underclassmen starters due to injury.

 

But they are so young though

 

Again, we had 5 penalties for 33 yards. That's within the realm of normal. And, have you tried to coach a varsity team in your 15 years with freshmen and sophomores? If yes, how did it go? I've coached before in a number of sports and it's amazing how bad I look without talent and experience on my roster, then, amazingly, I recover when I get both.

It isn't like the coaching is blameless, but the criticisms are ridiculous based upon the circumstances.

 

I see what you did there. You're just trying to get me riled up..... Bad Groves, bad!

 

Getting the plays off in time was even an issue when super stud Tyler Bray was healthy. He'd yell for them to hurry up and give him the play.

 

And, that QB can't throw to save his life and South Carolina has looked shittier as the season has worn on due to missing a few key players. Plus, Simms is a great example of Dooley given a few worthless seniors to work with. But, you are kidding yourself if that team isn't loaded on defense with great upperclassmen on defense, plus that true freshman at DE was the #1 player in the nation and has looked so-so all year. We have a whole team of those guys.

But, even so, tell me this. Name one team, ONE, that has been in a similar situation with youth and inexperience, plus injuries depleting any depth, and performed better than us. Can you?

 

Apparently they are until the third year

 

So you're saying Tennessee should have won?

South Carolina.

 

No, not able to give realistic judgments on retaining them until the third year. Have you even read my comments?

 

South Carolina is false. They start 15 juniors or seniors (UT has 5, for comparison's sake), which is why they are able to overcome one inexperienced freshman.

 

5 penalties are not too bad, I agree. Pure numbers can be deceiving. Look at when they occur. They happen too often in critical nut cutting time 3rd or 4th down situations.

To answer your other question, we brought a freshman QB in the last 4 games of one season and went 3-1. Once again, I agree with you that it's dang near impossible to consistently win with freshmen. Where I disagree is that I know that even freshmen can play the game and be fundamentally sound. There is no age requirement for that. You just have to pay the price of focus, time, and an insisstance on being fundamentally sound.

I am not saying ghat anyone should be fired. All I am saying is that this staff's ability to demand and teach fundamentals seems to suck big hairy sweaty balls. If they don't remedy that, they will be fired and our nightmare will be extended.

 

You realize the 3-1 we went with Bray last year was against a far, far, far inferior set of opponents than the spell we just went through, right?

And, agreed, if the team can't improve on the fundamentals, then they should and will be fired. I just think that's not something that happens nearly as quickly as people think it does and I also think the lack of senior leadership on this team kills it more than it normally would. I really hope these underclassmen have some leadership qualities as they get older because they are receiving nothing from the older guys.

 

I agree with a lot of what you say Jay. My one comment on making any comparison from the college game to high school is the tremendous disparity in coaching from high school to college, which I think makes it quite possible for a freshman QB to go 3-1.

I look at what has happened at Science Hill and Greeneville recently and it is obvious how important coaching is at the high school rank. (And I don' think the talent difference has been that great).

I guess what I am trying to say is the coaches at the SEC level are all pretty good, even the bad ones. And they exploit talent differences at every turn. And when I look at our line-up, as angry as I get at our coaches, we just don't have the horses to do anything meaningful.