Adding graduate transfer linebacker Anthony Harrell of Georgia Tech NOW

[LongTooth]

I remember Spurrier's early teams laying some eggs on D after the seniors of the '90 squad left. his offense was so awesome from the get go that we were able to just outscore people. of course there were some great close wins that the defense was a big part of during the 91-95 run, but man, there were some stinkers between '91 and '95 too, culminating with the blowout massacre at the hands of nebraska. and during '95 several teams scored a pile of points on us (tennessee, auburn, fsu) but we just scored a bigger pile. that all broke down when we came up against the huskers. after that beatdown, steve brought in stoops to lock it down and ta da, we win the national championship in '96. the irony is that even though Spurrier's defenses were generally stouter after '96, he couldn't turn up another qb as good as danny and only secured one more SEC title in 2000 when he had Rex playing at his best.

No way Mac's offense comes out of the gate like Steve's, but he does have talent on the defensive side of the ball that may carry a mediocre DC for the short term, and a demonstrated ability for tackling problem areas on the team. If the D is starting to falter at some point down the road, Mac will attack whatever player or personnel issues he needs to in order to make it right.

I agree, Shannon would be a logical and easy promotion. If he's still around when and if the time comes that is.....

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Guys, we hired a DC who has averaged the 102nd or 103rd ranked defense. The belief that we are going to rely on the D "to be in every game" is sadly quite unrealistic.

That's a sobering thought. With the talent that we have coming back there should be no excuse for anything less than even an average defense at worst. I would be for a mid season demotion of the minister if this defense ranked 50th or below at that point. As someone else pointed out this season is not a complete free pass for the coaches to settle in. There is some leeway but we have to show up for every game or this program could be down for another 2 to 4 years.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

What will be interesting to me will be the adjustments our new DC makes in the event that our LB's get banged up or just aren't very good. Let's face it 2 guys who will be relied on heavily, MacMillan and Rolin have done little or nothing. AM will likely be limited for the first third of the season and maybe more. AA showed some promise toward the end of the season but has had shoulder issues in the past. We've talked about going to more nickel and using Harris or Neal as a rover or run stopping safety but does anyone know if the "minister" has been known for this?

I would rather see the best players on the field anyway and we are still pretty talented in the DB area.

 

[GatorJ]

Isn't Shannon's title "Co-DC"?

 

[t-gator]

Isn't Shannon's title "Co-DC"?

He is. Law is being dramatic and ignores the fact that Mississippi state probably had the weakest roster talent wise in the west. He's a young up and comer with some very proven position coaches and a bigger support staff than we've ever had.

 

[CaribGator]

Isn't Shannon's title "Co-DC"?

Yes, that was part of his deal, contract mumbo jumbo also from the last job where he could leave but only if it was a promotion. I think Mac seems to need this comfort level of familiarity with his hires, not having worked with Shannon in the past he didn't have that, but he realized his D coordinator isn't the greatest so he brings Shannon in to both recruit and be the "co-DC", which if Mac feels good about (Mac's a golly gee feel good kind of guy) will lead to Shannon taking over the job fully.

 

[maheo30]

The more I watch Coach Mac the more I get the feeling Muschump wasn't even trying.

 

[MertzJay26]

Mississippi St had the 23rd ranked scoring defense just last year but of course Mr Doom and Gloom will spin it as negatively as he can.

Troll harder Law.

 

[T REX]

http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?sport_code=MFB&division=11

Miss State had the 84th Total Defense...it's in black and white. Not much to spin really.

 

[LongTooth]

The more I watch Coach Mac the more I get the feeling Muschump wasn't even trying.

The more I watch Coach Mac the more I know Chump didn't know what he was doing.

 

[MertzJay26]

http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?sport_code=MFB&division=11

Miss State had the 84th Total Defense...it's in black and white. Not much to spin really.

Let me know when games start being decided by yards rather than points and then we will talk.

 

[T REX]

Let me know when games start being decided by yards rather than points and then we will talk.

Ok...let's just discount a major stats because it doesn't fit your narrative. BTW, 23rd isn't all that amazing either.

 

[Gatorphan]

I'm glad it was 23rd in points and 84th in yards, instead of 84th in points and 23rd in yards.

 

[MertzJay26]

Ok...let's just discount a major stats because it doesn't fit your narrative. BTW, 23rd isn't all that amazing either.

My narrative? Lol. Points are all that matters in football bottom line. His team's were top 25 in the only category that matters bud.

Also, our roster on D is waaayyyy more talented than anything he had at Mississipi State, AND we are in the lesser division.

Chin up pal, things are going to be alright 😉

 

[Gator Fever]

My narrative? Lol. Points are all that matters in football bottom line. His team's were top 25 in the only category that matters bud.

Also, our roster on D is waaayyyy more talented than anything he had at Mississipi State, AND we are in the lesser division.

Chin up pal, things are going to be alright 😉

I hope he works out but his defenses have a history of giving up some ground and although it was lower points given up how many of those games were played had something to do with that as MSU jumped on some teams big time early in some of those games making their play change which can lead to lower points. I hope some of it was a personnel issue and not a coaching issue.

 

[T REX]

My narrative? Lol. Points are all that matters in football bottom line. His team's were top 25 in the only category that matters bud.

Also, our roster on D is waaayyyy more talented than anything he had at Mississipi State, AND we are in the lesser division.

Chin up pal, things are going to be alright 😉

Obviously you've never heard of time of possession

 

[MertzJay26]

I hope he works out but his defenses have a history of giving up some ground and although it was lower points given up how many of those games were played had something to do with that as MSU jumped on some teams big time early in some of those games making their play change which can lead to lower points. I hope some of it was a personnel issue and not a coaching issue.

I mean we can speculate that is what happened, but who knows. Also they had the #1 redzone D which is pretty impressive is it not?

I'm not saying he is going to definitely be a homerun hire, but I'm willing to give him a chance and am optimistic he will do well given the talent we have.

 

[MertzJay26]

Obviously you've never heard of time of possession

lol that was a good one

 

[CaribGator]

The more I watch Coach Mac the more I get the feeling Muschump wasn"t even trying .

I see it like

The more I watch Coach Mac the more I get the feeling dawgchamp was trying to destroy us

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I mean we can speculate that is what happened, but who knows. Also they had the #1 redzone D which is pretty impressive is it not?

It is. Thanks for that.

However, they played 4 geographical schools, LSU, Vandy, and Kintucky. Seven games against pathetic offenses will really bolster your numbers. Of course, they played the two best offenses in the SEC also and got Ole Siss when Bo Driskel was in Doctor Jeckyll mode.

Having been here for the Zook and Hoke attempts at Bend But Don't Break defenses, I'm not fond of the genre. I like an attacking offense. If they beat us over the top, so be it.

The assertion that Cowbell has no defensive talent is questionable. Cowbell has always had a good to great defense. Cowbells were more than happy to see Collins leave and get Manny Diaz back. That bothers me a great deal. I hope they are wrong but they know the guy pretty well. At the same time we watch our own guys this year, we should note how quickly Diaz turns them around. That will tell us if the "lack of talent defense" has merit.

Bammers on the other hand seem confident that MacTatersalad is a great OC. I hope they are right.