Reading reports quoting both coaches and players this week it would appear that 1st half of the Troy game was more Ensminger style offense as Eaux tried to calm down the pre-snap movements and move to a system that was a little more familiar to the team coming off of last year. 0 Points scored. The second half featured Canada's offense. More shifts, more of the new offense. 21 points scored. Take that with a grain of salt because you can always look to the hurry up segments of the game which doesn't always tell story of the whole game. It sounds like the players believe in the system that is still being installed and that's important. It is also important to remember that doing this takes time especially when you have soooo many young guys out there. College Football alone is a big jump for 17 and 18 year old players. I agree that the biggest threat is if the team quits or loses faith in what the coaches are doing. Given the players only meeting and that some of our "field leaders" stepped up, my confidence is renewed. I think the response (not a win or loss) by the team this week in the swamp will give us some indication.
Did you ever see such a glaring example of the very significant importance of having strength in the trenches? It's been said many times that winning starts on the lines. Boy are we seeing that play out this year. Everything comes back to those warriors up front on both sides of the ball.
LSU still has a lot of talent... http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2...kledge_on_lsu_t.html#incart_river_mobile_home
This is it. I keep looking back to last year and the way the team played. I look at this year and believe we have as good if not better coaches than we ended with last season. Then I look at the fact that we have issues in all aspects of the game. We never expected our defense to be playing the way they have but no one is calling for Aranda to be fired. So ... what gives? Take a look at the roster. Look at all the "FR" and "SO" players on the field. Then look at the coaching staff and see how many 1st year coaches we have. On offense our OC, RB, and WR coaches are all 1st year. LOTS of changes and lots of new or young people to the program. I understand that we expect wins every time the Tigers step on the field, but all of these guys are learning each other, adjusting to a new world and dealing with a heap of changes in their lives. We just threw them all in the pool and expected them to win Gold medals.
Watch this team when they are running tempo. They look like an entirely different team. They actually look capable.
Even when Miles ran tempo the same capability was there. We have always excelled in the 2 minute offense. Etlings best play has come from that pace. We just don't use it as often because the philosophy is we are not gonna trade blows with another team that does use tempo. So we try to slow it down and look like shit doing it. Bama has historically had troubles with a tempo offense, but those days are numbered because they have caught up to their weaknesses, whatever that is...
It's only fair to give him time to see if he can actually make adjustments and improve. He hasn't had enough time to see if that's actually possible. So far? No good. However Some folks (myself included) will have to be hard sold on him as a capable HC for us to turn our opinion of him around. We can't erase his past just like we can't fast forward his future.
I agree with all the changes in scheme and coaching (including defense). I'll also agree to an extent that this was the perfect formula for a Sun Belt team to upset an SEC team it their own stadium. It's college football folks. But the problem with all that, is STILL....we lost to Troy..........Talent, depth, injuries, nope, not buying it. Troy blew our line off the ball the very 1st drive to a 7-0 lead. Lack of passion, leadership and glaring locker room issues, yes, I'll buy that. Maybe it's just the homer in me.
