I agree that it shouldn't be THIS bad, but IT IS. I made a lengthy post earlier as to the reasons why we fell so drastically.
You could be right, but I'm not ready to say that just yet. That's not to say that they didn't quit on Sat. I think things just kind of snowballed quickly with the turnovers and for whatever reason, (youth/inexperience/lack of on the field leadership), once that happened, they didn't know how to stop the bleeding.
I think this is a lot more accurate than that they just quit from the outset. TJ Finley never quit. I could go down the list of guys that didn’t quit until the offense handed Auburn their 21st point. The lack of offense coupled with the turnovers killed us and turned the game into a rout, which led to our guys giving up a bit. The real culprit was the offensive line.
If Burrow/Brady made the OL better last year, maybe our OL coach kinda stinks. That’s a group that comes up often. We also seem to struggle with recruiting/depth on both lines. Our OL coach holds some responsibility for that. Our DL coach too. I think on defense that might be one reason O wanted to go 4-3, hoping to attract more DL. Cutting bait with coaches comes with its own issues; O’s in a tough spot. I think I’ve moved passed the grieving stage.
I think you’re spot on on the O line. We haven’t been able to pull in a lot of studs. We get 1-2 4 stars per year, but with 5 spots to fill, that’s not much. Brady and Burrow definitely masked some poor line play, but hard to say they earned the top O Line award without being at least top 10 in the country. The problem is that we should have had 3of them back this year, not 1 and also that our young guys somehow aren’t ready (Kardell, Bradford). I think Cregg is doing the best with what he has: a bunch of 3 stars and Ed Ingram and Deculus. Recruiting needs to come up a notch for sure. It’s looking like we may pull two stud tackles in this recruiting class. One already in the bag. On D line, I think O’s done a pretty good job actually. Ojulari and Roy are demonstrating that last years class was solid, and he’s got a wave of edge rushers coming in next year with the potential to add 2 5 stars. I think, unfortunately, the O line play is piss poor because we don’t have talent there right now. We’ve lost at least 5 lineman since last year. They shouldn’t be this god damn bad, so coaching shares some blame, but this crop is not talented outside of Ingram and Deculus.
Not real impressed with the OL coaching either, but I think its recruiting, and I've been bitching about our o-line recruiting for awhile now. We got 1 4-star and 2-3 stars last year, plus Shanahan transferred in (he was a 3-star). Three 4-stars in 2019, but somehow none of them can beat out the guys on the field now? One 4-star (Juco transfer) and 2 3-stars (including another Juco) in 2018. You're not building a dominant group with that kind of foundation, and you're barely building depth either. Current class? One 4-star, and I know we're supposedly in the lead for Leigh - a 5-star - but that's still not acceptable.
It’s easy to try to pin the OL line issues on coaching, but that is not our problem. At the beginning of the 2019 season, who would have dreamed that our OL would be honored as best in the country. You have to give coach Cregg for that. I do not believe that he has forgotten how to coach in one year. He just doesn’t have the quality of players to match what we lost.
True, but why aren’t the highly talented young guys ready to go yet? I like Cregg. But I don’t understand why our blue chip OL prospects are all riding the bench.
