The fake punt pass -- with Palardy of all people -- was a gutsy call. On the road against a hated rival in a tight game and you call it and execute it. Kudos. It extended the drive and led to 3 points. I think Dooley knows what it takes to win in the league. We are getting bigger at every position and trying to get better at the units that are musts -- offensive and defensive line. Other than Malik Jackson and Da'Rick Rogers, no one on our team would play meaningful snaps for LSU or Bama. I think we have our gripes with the play-calling and certain units that are justified. But the big picture strategy is sound. And it bodes well for our future, whether Dooley is here to see it or not.
That was the second time Palardy dazzled me. He sure has let him down otherwise. Not sure I've ever been as disappointed with the potential I thought somebody was bringing.
I think in the 90s the SEC had two really good coaches: Fulmer and Spurrier. Fulmer raided South Carolina, Georgia, and to a small extent Alabama for talent during those years. I'm afraid between Miles, Saban, Richt, and even Chizik given their ability to recruit, it is going to be difficult to ever see that kind of dominance again no matter who is the coach. Do I think Dooley could win the East? Yes. Win an SEC championship? Maybe. Be dominant? Don't think so.
honestly, at that point it didn't matter that we were a 31 point underdog. Our D was playing well and Bama's O looked flat. We had all kinds of momentum to lose had that failed. By it being successful, we kept momentum and kept Bama on their heels for a little while longer.
I didn't say I didn't like the call, but I have a hard time giving a lot of credit for guts in a nothing to lose situation.
I think the backlash would have amounted to Priest saying, "Well, it didn't work, but he had to take his shot when he saw it."
To this point, even though we don't have the wins, I like what Dooley has done. I like the guys he is bringing in and think we have a good staff. Its hard to say whether or not he's the guy simply because of what he's working with. Once he's got another class or two under his belt we should have a better idea of whether or not he's the guy. I just hope our fan base is patient enough to give him a chance.
My concern is that the fan base is going to be overly patient. Dooley is going to have the core of his team in their Jr. season next year. He will still have some holes, particularly on defense, but the OLine, WR, and QB positions should be set. LB will be more experienced with talent, and kicking game, DL, and secondary problems will have had time to be addressed if not completely solved. If we are still getting blown out by everybody that is good at football, I'm going to start a mob.
My concern is that the fan base is going to be overly patient. Dooley is going to have the core of his team in their Jr. season next year. He will still have some holes, particularly on defense, but the OLine, WR, and QB positions should be set. LB will be more experienced with talent, and kicking game, DL, and secondary problems will have had time to be addressed if not completely solved. If we are still getting blown out by everybody that is good at football, I'm going to start a mob.
Next year's schedule is our most reasonable yet under Dooley with a team that is close to having depth at every position. Dec. 1st 2012 we will have a pretty good idea if he is the guy.
It's been hard to recruit given the circumstances with other teams in the conference having great success the past few years and Tennessee being so down, and facing possible sanctions. I think Dooley has done a good job so far. But I'm sure if we don't show some major improvement next year, the torches will be coming out in force.
As they probably should. When he was hired I, essentially expected two years of crap, or the two years to be a time of preparation. People are [itch bay]ing about all kinds of stuff regarding "bad coaching", but freshmen and sophomores create teams that look poorly coached. Year 3 is when you should start to see some of the delivery on that potential and year 4 is when they need to be finished with the rebuilding and competing, then year 5 should be championship level expectations. So, I'll never know why people are [itch bay]ing about this year. We all knew we'd struggle, then we lost a ton of our best players and a portion of the fan base somehow expected these young guys to magically morph into upperclassmen. They remind me of children constantly asking "Are we there, yet?!?" No, we're not because, just like in August, the same guys are still freshmen and sophomores.
That is my expectation as well. There are at least two types of fans that are constantly [itch bay]ing: 1. The full on mouth breathing, drooling retards that have no idea about whats going on other than we're not winning enough. They can't work through the simple logic that their demand for firing Dooley will just result in more of the same, not withstanding the fact that no coach of any stature would take the job at this point. These constitute the majority of posters on Volnation and GovolsXtra comments. 2. Those that are normally reasonable and informed but are just frustrated as hell. I feel your pain. The hole that Fulmer and then Kiffin put this program in is not an easy one to climb out of.
I wasn't expecting championships in year 2, or anything, but the lack of development of the OL and DBs is disturbing. If Marsalis Teague has improved, it's minimal. Brent Brewer hadn't played football in years, so you'd expect a big leap forward for his second season, but he might actually have gotten worse. The OL hasn't gotten any better, but now that the right-handed James Stone experiment is over, that might change. The little things you look for as harbingers of good times in 2012 and 2013 aren't really there except with Bray and the wide receivers. I'm also expecting a big leap forward for the linebackers next year. But I don't really know why I should be expecting anything much from the OL or DBs next year.
