I totally believe what Bruce wrote is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (The Defense needed to find a way to do just that because that is how the game played out.) I cannot believe any of you think that the O is the problem. We just ran up 600 yards this week, close to 500 yards last week and if it wasn't for a couple of errors each week we win even w a very weak defense. JeT is just getting better and better, not just in running the TO but in his passing accuracy as well (he had pretty good numbers yesterday) and if the OL does not twitch on the touchdown call back, and that is all that it was just a twitch, we put up 4 more pts, and probably 2 more other points because we are kicking instead of going for two. The game is then tied at the end of regulation. If we stop them when they had 4th and 6, we win. IF if if .... But the fact is that we could not stop them just like they could not stop us and not many people have. Most of the time we stop ourselves on O when we do get stopped.
We lost 5 or 6 key players on the defense over the off season that would have made a HUGE difference for us (lost Justin Akin and Jimmie Kitchen, both of who were coming along nicely; PLUS JHD and Whitehead and then add in Robbins and Commisiong and that's a lot guys to be losing from your DL before camp even starts) And from where I sit those losses were not on the coaches. We should blitz more IMHO. We should NOT give them the cushion we do and gamble that they will fail to execute over the top. But this is not an offense problem. It is a defense problem and some of that problem will be addressed when we get some of this talent back (JHD and Whitehead especially) and our new recruits (very excited about Henderson, Glanton and Sellers) and our current freshman and sophomores gain more playing time. And some has to be once again addressed by PJ overriding the schemes Roof is coming up with and Roof coaching better D technique (tackling and DB positioning in particular).
Using the logic of many on this board, I guess Baylor should fire their coach since they gave up 40+ to WVA; Texas A&M should fire their coach - no offense and terrible defense the past couple of weeks; Bobby Ross would have been fired before he won us a NT; and the list goes on. For all of you that think we can get consistent top 20 recruiting classes, you are just not understanding what GT is today. Most of us on this board would probably not get into GT today. No coach has recruited that consistently since we left the SEC. You need to get out of the fantasy world you are living in and see what the Hill has made GT and the constraints they have put on CJ since he has been here. No way IMHO, O'Leary could recruit today like he did when he was here. Times have change. I am still in PJ's court. I love the recruiting class that he is putting together. I love his O for GT. It gives us a real chance to win against anyone. But man, I do want like the rest of you a D that can get even good O's off the field ever once in awhile, especially when we have them 3rd and long. I long for the day when we do have our opponent 3rd or 4th and long and I am confident in a stop instead of thinking "they have us right where they want us".
