Vol in Buckeye Land
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So here we are. This team has fiddle farted away any chance to do anything meaningful this season with really poor play in our three losses so far. They’ve had a lot of help in the form of poor game planning, awful offensive playcalling, and absurdly one-sided officiating.
I really can’t say where I stand with this staff outside of Rodney Garner, Mike Ekeler, and maybe Jerry Mack. The program is obviously in a better place than it has been for years; the results speak to the fact that Heupel is head and shoulders above the three stooges that preceded him. Is he good enough (perhaps more pressingly, is the staff he’s assembled good enough) to get us back where we want to be as a perennial top 2-3 team in the conference, contending for championships consistently? Jury is out. Games like this give me pause because of the apparent lack of discipline I see from our guys.
Multiple things can be true, and officiating has been abysmal in all three losses and some wins. Something has to give there. But a lot has to change. Joe was not sharp enough to start the year. The running game disappeared in big games. Offensive line depth has a very, very long way to go if we’re going to compete for the SEC. Obviously they’ve had success against the weaker teams on the schedule, and played very well against A&M. The margin seems to be very thin, though, if we’re getting whipped at the los like we were tonight, and like we did against UF. In no world should Ollie Lane be starting on our offensive line, but the chickens of 20/21 have come home to roost this year. Can Ellarbee back up his recruiting success in the ‘24 class with the ability to develop not only them, but the guys who should be starting ahead of them. Will we see the likes of Addison Nichols and Sham Umarov step up like Darnell Wright did?
Most of the rest of the position coaches are in the same boat; they’ve shown promise in places, but they haven’t proven they can consistently produce quite yet:
- How much of Jalin Hyatt’s success last year was due to Kelsey Pope’s coaching, and how much was his individual effort of working constantly to get better? Can Thornton (best of luck to him as he heals up), Nimrod, Webb, et al take a step forward and start consistently beating SEC dbs?
- I was very impressed with coach BJM based on Beasley’s growth from a liability in 21 to a star the last two years. Linebackers were put in a bad spot this year losing Pili, and they’ve been ok but not great. How Carter and Telander look next year will tell us a LOT about BJM as a coach.
- Not much to go on with Abeln. Warren and Castles were both veterans coming into the year. What we see from Davis, Echols, and Okoye over the next 2-3 years will tell the story.
- Willie Martinez has been much maligned on here. The numbers are improving, Hadden was a bright spot, and we’ve got young talent coming in. Secondary play overall has still left a lot to be desired though. We’ll see if Gibson, Matthews and co can turn things around.
A long post to express what essentially boils down to a shrug. I think what has made this year and last year’s South Carolina game so hard as a fan is that up until a point, Heupel seemed like he could do no wrong. We lost games in ‘21 of course, but we still overachieved that year. Then up until Georgia a year ago, we looked unstoppable. This year Heupel is suddenly human. It’s like we were in an eclipse for 15 years, suddenly the sun comes out last year, and now it’s overcast. Hard not to flinch a little, even if it’s clouds covering the sun and not the moon. Onwards and upwards, I guess. GBO. Let’s give Georgia our best shot.
I really can’t say where I stand with this staff outside of Rodney Garner, Mike Ekeler, and maybe Jerry Mack. The program is obviously in a better place than it has been for years; the results speak to the fact that Heupel is head and shoulders above the three stooges that preceded him. Is he good enough (perhaps more pressingly, is the staff he’s assembled good enough) to get us back where we want to be as a perennial top 2-3 team in the conference, contending for championships consistently? Jury is out. Games like this give me pause because of the apparent lack of discipline I see from our guys.
Multiple things can be true, and officiating has been abysmal in all three losses and some wins. Something has to give there. But a lot has to change. Joe was not sharp enough to start the year. The running game disappeared in big games. Offensive line depth has a very, very long way to go if we’re going to compete for the SEC. Obviously they’ve had success against the weaker teams on the schedule, and played very well against A&M. The margin seems to be very thin, though, if we’re getting whipped at the los like we were tonight, and like we did against UF. In no world should Ollie Lane be starting on our offensive line, but the chickens of 20/21 have come home to roost this year. Can Ellarbee back up his recruiting success in the ‘24 class with the ability to develop not only them, but the guys who should be starting ahead of them. Will we see the likes of Addison Nichols and Sham Umarov step up like Darnell Wright did?
Most of the rest of the position coaches are in the same boat; they’ve shown promise in places, but they haven’t proven they can consistently produce quite yet:
- How much of Jalin Hyatt’s success last year was due to Kelsey Pope’s coaching, and how much was his individual effort of working constantly to get better? Can Thornton (best of luck to him as he heals up), Nimrod, Webb, et al take a step forward and start consistently beating SEC dbs?
- I was very impressed with coach BJM based on Beasley’s growth from a liability in 21 to a star the last two years. Linebackers were put in a bad spot this year losing Pili, and they’ve been ok but not great. How Carter and Telander look next year will tell us a LOT about BJM as a coach.
- Not much to go on with Abeln. Warren and Castles were both veterans coming into the year. What we see from Davis, Echols, and Okoye over the next 2-3 years will tell the story.
- Willie Martinez has been much maligned on here. The numbers are improving, Hadden was a bright spot, and we’ve got young talent coming in. Secondary play overall has still left a lot to be desired though. We’ll see if Gibson, Matthews and co can turn things around.
A long post to express what essentially boils down to a shrug. I think what has made this year and last year’s South Carolina game so hard as a fan is that up until a point, Heupel seemed like he could do no wrong. We lost games in ‘21 of course, but we still overachieved that year. Then up until Georgia a year ago, we looked unstoppable. This year Heupel is suddenly human. It’s like we were in an eclipse for 15 years, suddenly the sun comes out last year, and now it’s overcast. Hard not to flinch a little, even if it’s clouds covering the sun and not the moon. Onwards and upwards, I guess. GBO. Let’s give Georgia our best shot.
