Kyle is entitled to his opinion and I respect it. I don't happen to agree with him. Yes, there was concern with Saban early on. But there was a lot of support also. While we weren't wiping the streets up with everyone, what I saw was a team that improved in conditioning, and a team that began to PLAY HARD for 60 minutes. They were well organized, usually. We didn't have the athletes to compete with everyone, but we tried hard all the time. And this is important, the scheme was not beating us. We played aggressive, and sometimes we lost, but you didn't get the idea we were being out-coached. Miles walked into a treasure trove of talent. An embarasement of riches. We still have a young QB who will improve. But the schemes on defense have looked 'soft' and it has cost us. Play calling on offense in the second half against Tenn. was too conservative, clock management was deficient, and not trying for a field goal at the end of the Tenn. game in regulation was just giving up an opportunity to score. You can say 'we might have tossed an interception and lost', but I can stand losing when you are trying to win and playing aggressive, I have a hard time taking losing when you toss an opportunity away. If we had won in overtime, I still would question tossing the opportunity to make a drive at the end of regulation. You only get so many opportunities, when you give them away, you increase your chance of losing. Hell, why go to work, any day you could get killed in your car on the way to work. Over 50,000 people die each year in auto accidents. Maybe we should all just stay home all the time, its safer. How many offensive drives are there a year in college football, and how many end in a turnover? Not that many. Trying to drive for a field goal is a reasonable thing to do, IMO. Saban wasn't perfect, and I don't think his system is the only one that can produce a championship. What we want is an organized looking team that competes hard every down, and that is playing schemes that reasonably look like they can achieve effective results. Some of us doubt that's what we got the first two weeks, and I think it is ok to say it. We're all still Tiger fans, and we want what is best for the team. Kyle is entitled to his opinion, and the fans are entitled to theirs as well.
You can't realistically complain about offensive playcalling in the second half against Tennessee & Miles in the same breath - the playcalling was like that ALL of last year (under Saban). Also, the refs made a mistake not giving LSU enough time to kick the field goal at the end of the half. Saban would have made the same "mistake" because it wasn't a mistake at all. It was the right call given the circumstances that we happened to get the short end of. JaMarcus was struggling during the Tennessee game. That is not, atleast directly, the coaches' fault. When we tried to press it, JaMarcus DID throw an interception. An interception that gave them 7 points and probably allowed them back into the game. We have a new DC with new corners. Give the defense a little bit of time. Also, has every single LSU fan in the world forgotten what this team has had to go through? I don't think so, but yet everyone seems to ignore any of it's possible effects.
he most certainly can and his post is spot on. saban could afford to play that way because of his defense. the teams are different and you must play to your strengths or not on your weaknesses. anyone with half a brain knew that LSU was not stopping even Midd Tenn St in OT. playcalling was horrendous in that situation regardless how you spin it.
