That's not a bad observation. Regarding Muschamp... I've never seen him out coach anyone. I've seen him outlast though and I think that aligns with a defensive mindset.
I think that's why Mason gives him trouble too, but it wasn't the offense last year that list it.. it was the D.
Look at the teams CBJ loses too, Bama - good offense and great D
Arkansas - ball control and defense
USCe - defense
Vandy(uugghh) - defense
T a&m - we gave that one away.. fumbles
Oklahoma - same as Bama, good offense and stout D
We don't run a lot of different plays, we just change up formations. If someone can slow us down and play disciplined D against us, and we struggle, good chance we lose the game.
That's where the "predictably" complaint against Butch comes in. If your average fan can tell what's coming then how can a seasoned DC watching hours of tape not pick up on our tendencies? They do, that's when you just hope that you have the better athlete out there to make the play.
I look at it this way though, CBJ finished 9-4 last year. That's with a ton of injuries, team chemistry issues (Hurd), distractions (O'Brien, media analyzing he said and did), and discord among the defensive coaches (rumor but I feel some of it is true).
And STILL managed to go 9-4. I'm not pumping him up to be the best because he isn't... has to improve some of his game day decisions. But it would be hard for anyone to perform flawlessly at their job under those conditions. Everyone thinks he wasted our opportunity at the SEC championship last year, I lean towards he did a pretty decent job of salvaging what could have been a disasterous season.
Yes the Vandy and SC loss was almost unforgivable.. Almost.
But if he can hold it together through all that.. and still have a winning record I'm curious to see what happens when things fall into place for him for a change.
Then it will be more obvious if he learned from his game management mistakes, not having a S&C coach, waiting on replacing assistant coaches (if that was even his decision to make at the time), or even how he has grown as a coach.
From the changes he has made I think he has, only time will tell.