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Posted (edited)

I thought having the most continuity in the country for a coaching staff was going to be an advantage for this team this season and why I was so high on them, on top of all the talent on the roster, but boy was I wrong. It’s on me for overlooking the obvious:

 

1. Flood has recruited like shit at O-Line

We’ve made excuses for it ad nauseam the last 3 years because of the 22 class. This dude has taken nothing but fat losers and 1 good decent every year. Those chubby chickens are coming home to roost now.

 

Aside from Brandon Baker (who was ranked in the top 40 in his class), the next highest-rated recruit we’ve landed on the OL over the last 4 seasons was Jaydon Chatman at 214 looking at On3 composite. I understand OL ranking is not perfect, but the rankings have to be trusted somewhat.

 

All you need to do is look at our 22 class for proof of that with where DJ and Banks were ranked. There is talent we are passing over and it’s killing us now. Not to mention, backbreaking, drive-killing penalties. More on that later.

 

 

 

2. Banks has let the special teams unit regress year after year

We saw it last year with the FG kicking situation and trotting a punter out there that was lucky to get it 30 yards downfield. I mean, we basically hold our breath every time special teams hits the field now, just hoping they don’t fuck up.

 

A good play for them is pretty much just catching a punt—which we can’t even seem to do now since they just let them roll past them for an extra 15 yards every time.

 

I can’t find stats on this, but I can almost guarantee we have more roughing the kicker/running into the kicker penalties in the last 4 years than we do blocked punts. 2021 was an anomaly and we just need to see it as that now.

 

We have blocked fewer punts year over year since 2021. We have consistently had poor field position due to bad decisions on KO and punt returns. Looking at the stats, I think we have 1 return over 30 yards on KO in the last 2 seasons.

 

We’ve got the dude giving out scholarships to long snappers out of high school and his unit is doodooing all over itself like the monkey he’s got caged up at his house.

 

 

 

3. Quarterbacks have not been getting better

We saw it with Quinn and blamed him. Now it seems to be more like a systemic issue. The longer these guys are here, the worse they’re getting. Who’s to blame—Sark, Milwee, the boogeyman, Russia? I don’t know.

 

 

 

4. Motherfucking penalties

These have been here since the beginning. I don’t know why I thought they’d suddenly go away now. As people have stated before, this is a feature of this team, not a bug.

 

It starts with the O-Line, and now it feels like a virus infecting the rest of the team. Since 2021, this team has racked up more penalties per game each season and has never been better than 55th in the country in penalties per game:

 

  • 2021 – 55th
  • 2022 – 66th
  • 2023 – 98th
  • 2024 – 87th (but bottom 5 in total penalties)
  • 2025 – 128th (and will probably be bottom 3 after this week)

 

 

 

 

5. Red Zone Offense

Before today we were 110th in red zone conversions. Last year 101st. 2023, 90th. We knew this issue the last 2 seasons and I’m not convinced it’s getting fixed this year either  

 

Just like me after I had a few too many at Maggie Mae’s in college — we can’t finish.

 

 

It’s becoming clear that this is the identity of these units and the team as a whole. Something needs to change or else things will continue to unravel at an uncomfortable speed.

 

We thought we could lean on our defense this season to carry water for a young and volatile offense, but that premise was shattered into a million pieces today by Simple Sunbelt Billy Napier.

 

Now we have to ask ourselves: what does this team do well? On offense, I can’t name one thing right now. Defense will probably bounce back, but this team has no margin for error moving forward now.

 

Edited by theBigHen
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

I got some heat from my Jeff Banks needs to go thread from earlier in the season saying I was going full TexAgs but doesn’t seem so stupid now. We’re 5 years in, we know what we need to know about these guys. 

  • Hook 'Em 1

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