Now, you are ready for the truth: Fire Dooley.

The bottom line stays the same from week to week no matter how many times we get beat. This team has no depth, little talent, has major injuries, lost too many transfers, had too many recruiting busts the past 4 years and, possibly as a result from those problems, has absolutely no speed anywhere. On the flip side, there are so many little things that should be figured out by now. There shouldn't be so many illegal motions, shouldn't be so many false starts and after two years we should have a more effective kicking game. I would've started Brodus Saturday and I'm not making that up to get a response. That said, as was brought up in the live chat, all of Dooley's little moves to gamble are starting to resemble a coach who has given up being able to be conventional and knowing that he has to do anything and everything to win. All these 4th and go for its are showing that he has no faith that the team can win if you ask me. It's a realistic thought, but it can't help the morale of the team. Do it a couple of times and it shows your team you're willing to take chances. Do it all the time and you're just looking hopeless.

 

I agree that he is making it look like things are hopeless. Without Bray hope definitely got pretty well extinguished. That said, I still don't think we are as bad as we are solely because of depth, talent, and experience. Troy, the uncocked Gamecocks, Vandy, and even Ole Miss found ways to be competitive against Arkansas. We got beat by six touchdowns and once again couldn't score in the second half.

None of those guys, save South Carolina, has an edge on us in talent. Depth? Well I'd say a third-stringer like Nigel Mitchell-Thornton would probably be one of the top 5 highest rated recruits on Vandy's squad, so do they really have an edge there? And did the experience of losing 10 games last year really help them out so much?

 

I blame myself for being so damned hopeful as to set myself up for disappointment. My brain knew 6 wins was the goal this year, no more. We may not have beaten anyone of significance, but we haven't lost to anyone pathetic either. If we win out, I would call this year "par" considering injuries and where we are. Next year, we must win some big games. Must.

 

I really think an overwhelming majority of people on this site overrate current talent. I'm not talking about possible future talent, I'm talking about the players right now that matter right now. There's only a handful of them really.

 

The offensive line is far more talented than their performance on the field indicates. They aren't really very inexperienced at this point, either.

 

This is an interesting post that I hope you are willing to elaborate on. You have my attention.

 

Here's the deal with college football, IMO

Every year a team is going to play one game above what it really is and one game less than what it really is. I think it's safe to say the Cinncinatti game is good one and Arkansas is the bad one. All things considered, you don't need to factor in those two games into judgement about this team. They are made up of the other 8.

 

Even with lack of talent there have been several coaching mistakes and he has yet to upset anyone.

 

I think that is true. I express a similar idea like this:

A game is but a single outcome of a series of chance events. The outcomes themselves do not define what the probabilities of outcomes were. For an example, if one flips a coin and correctly predicts tails, that doesn't mean there was a 100 % chance of tails or that the predictor is always right. It was chance.

Similarly, we had perhaps a 10 % chance of beating Arkansas. The outcome fell somewhere in the Eightieth or ninetieth percentile. We had perhaps a 70 % chance of beating Cincinnati. The outcome fell in something like the fifteenth percentile.

The LSU-Alabama game was literally a toss-up. LSU executed, Alabama didn't. It was still a 50-50 matchup, but it was in something like the 48th percentile in LSU's favor as far as outcome.

 

D Rogers and Rivera are players that could contribute on just about any SEC team, but why are we so certain the offensive line is so talented? They've improved immensely throughout the season, but they still aren't that good, at least right now. Who else on offense has any modicum of great talent right now? T Poole had a good season last year, but he's always been a why is he not better than this player. Young and Lane have flashes, but they're too young, especially for a team that isn't talented anywhere else.

Defensively:

Hood has never produced, Malik Jackson is good for a few amazing plays a game, but he's going to do almost as many incredibly stupid things a game. Smith and Walls have the talent (I think), but they're still learning how to go against the size of the SEC and the game is still too fast for them. Bohannon? well he's never gotten it altogether. Maggitt gets better every game. He's going to be a stud. But right now, he's still learning every moment he's in the game. You can't expect him to a be a game changer right now. The Johnsons and Thornton just don't have in game speed to compete with the speed and power that LSU, Bama, Arkansas, even USCe and Florida have. Waggner is about the only player Tennessee has with any resemblance of an SEC defensive back. How scary is that? There's no one else in the secondary I trust defending any legit SEC receiver. They are all waaaaaaay too slow. I'm not talking about taking bad routes or whatever, they just can't keep up with the speed of the rest of SEC. Add the fact that for reasons I can't explain, Matt Darr and Michael Palardy have been enormous busts and it's a big reason why we are where we are. By all accounts, Darr and Palardy were good pickups as recruits, but they are choking under pressure. I'm sure most will blame that on coaching, but I can't just yet.

 

In regards to my previous post:

To add to that, the best teams are the ones who "make their own luck" by doing the little things well, which snowball into bigger things. LSU is a prime example of that, in that their tenacity on defense (shout out to Tenny D) makes things happen in their favor. Similarly, they avoid big mistakes on offense that would give the other team things in their favor.

 

I blame Adidas for Palardy's struggles.

 

the scary thing is that as much as I want to be mad at Dooley for all his fourth down attempts (and I've actually voiced it a couple of times), I sometimes thinks he knows a FG is at best a 50/50 chance even if it's a chip shot and that anything and everything will happen on a punt. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to leave our anemic offense out there.

 

I don't fault him for the 4th downs, usually. The only exception for that was one time in the SCAR game. The way the game had been going, he should have played field position.

 

Most of our OL was very well sought after by a lot of programs better than our own is right now. I don't think Dallas Thomas is all that great, but we've got a pretty solid group with the other four and the backups shouldn't be too shabby. Essentially, if our OL is actually untalented, it means that we managed to land 7-8 guys that pretty much everyone thought would be good but are in reality terrible. It's just not probable.

As far as Poole, you don't need a superstar RB to have a decent 150ypg rushing attack. If we get blockers knocking people past the line of scrimmage, one of our backs will find a way to get behind him and get a few yards. We pretty much never break the 3 yard mark because there is always an unblocked defender there prior to that distance.

And yes, Rivera is good. Why have we decided to use Zach Rogers more than him? It's not like leaving him into block is helping out a whole lot.

You won't see me complaining too much about the D. They've done alright, other than the Arky game. Wilcox does do some really odd (Chris Walker or AJ Johnson covering 4.3 wideouts) things occasionally, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for awhile longer.

 

Agreed. The onside kick wasn't a good move in that game, either. Taking the risk was worth it the other times, though I wasn't always psyched about the playcalls.

 

most programs our better than ours right now. and just about all of those programs had players in place that could help the youngsters transition into it. I think the Oline should be further along than they are right now, but to say this line hasn't drastically improved throughout the season is wrong and I can't help but feel a biased opinion. Early in the year I was ready to replace Hiestand, but I guess I'm too curious to see what this offense can do at full strength before I make judgements on anyone.

 

We need to nut up on those QB sneaks. Jump high or extend and churn low. Don't go into a fetal position while burying your face in your center's ass. It's a family game, for god's sake.

 

They still do not get to the second level at all. Ever. Not once or twice in a game, but never.

We didn't do all that well against one of the worst rushing defenses in the SEC this week. We had to install an impromptu wildcat package to pick up more rushing yards. We are still trying multiple end arounds per game. The only thing that really got better was removing Stone's errant snaps from the equation, but he'd already badly impacted two huge games (Florida and UGA) before the move.

Just not seeing what the "drastic" improvement has been.

 

Has one more year...8 wins or else...doesn't matter what happens Saturday. [uck fay] Vandy.