IIRC, the biggest complaint from fans was his inability to beat uga. For me the big wake up call was the humiliation at the hands of Utah in 2005. Teams with good QBs were trashing our blitzing defense and we were not scoring nearly enough.
Dragging?
2007 was definitely an instructive year. Tenuta’s defense seemed to work best with a comfortable lead but was less effective in close games. If the role of a defense is to keep the other team from scoring more points than your offense then the stat line, whatever it is, means little, if you lose. Going 4-4 in the ACC does not suggest a dominating defense.
Defense was up and down (yes, against top QB's we had problems like most everybody else) but on the whole, our main problem was the offense, not the defense. Tenuta came on in '02. First year gave up 51 to Ugag, the next 34, then a three-year run of allowing 19, 14, and 15 points which should have been good enough to beat Ugag with a decent offense. Last year Tenuta was here Ugag scored 31. Keep in mind that during that stretch Ugag was ranked coming into the game # 5, 5, 8, 13, unranked, and 6.
Overall, his D’s performed well but could be beaten by accurate QB’s who could avoid his blitzes. He had 1-2 total meltdowns per season.
We can cherry pick back and forth, but I distinctly remember our problems during the Gailey years being on offense much more than defense. Look at the offensive output in those game you listed. We averaged 8 points a game. There were a lot of low-scoring wins during those years, too.
Yep.
Those are all good points. And count me among those who finally wanted Gailey gone because of his frustratingly anemic offenses.
These aren’t “cherry picked” statistical data. I’m simply supplying the scores of a couple of games a year where CJT’s D got torched. It didn’t happen often, and they were indeed generally better than the O at that time.
Actually, I thought Tenuta's gambling defense would have been a perfect fit with Paul's ball-control offense. It would have been designed to get the offense back on the field one way or another. A bend-but-don't break defense works counter to that - it keeps the offense off the field.
They would have killed each other. Two alpha wolves in the same cage.
Well, yeah. But had they gotten along, it would have been a marriage made in heaven.
No question Tenuta's best years were at Tech. Here is the average ppg. given up by Tech during those seasons, according to my calculations. Total points, not just defense:
Oh, he left his heyday behind at Tech. And no doubt, the game passed him by. But for six years here, he was damned good.
There are a lot more examples of it, but the BC game stood out because Tenuta never changed anything in that game, despite the fact that it was clear to everyone watching that blitzing the fool out of Ryan wasn't going to rattle him and the blitzes weren't going to get to him in time. It was the final straw for many folks in the fan base - especially the big donors.
Agreed. I've always felt like Reggie was given too much blame. He's a super nice guy and didn't deserve the vitriolic disdain that much of the fanbase gave him. He laid it all on the line for GT and after everything he's endured, it's a true testament to his character that he still publicly supports a program that all but turned on him.
I don’t think that’s accurate - I think all the big upset wins of the Gailey era and many of the “should’ve had them” close losses like UGA were close games where the defense carried the day.