Interesting Comment By Bo Bounds This Morning....

[ShotgunDawg]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

[Big4Dawg]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

Because he practices against a top SEC defense everyday

[ShotgunDawg]

Because he practices against a top SEC defense everyday

Sure. Which makes it all the more perplexing.

How was our offense able to move the ball on our defense in preseason practice?

Also, how much of Nick not playing the Spring & missing the first game have to do with this?

[Jack Lambert]

Because he practices against a top SEC defense everyday

Practice speed is not game speed. I don't care what anyone says. I am not saying you don't practice hard but you do hold back in practice but in games you are going all out every play. Just like cramps. You hardly see anyone get cramps in practice and after Summer, fall camp you still see cramps in games. There is a different speed between the two.

Also Bo is a ass hat.

[ShotgunDawg]

Practice speed is not game speed. I don't care what anyone says. I am not saying you don't practice hard but you do hold back in practice but in games you are going all out every play. Just like cramps. You hardly see anyone get cramps in practice and after Summer, fall camp you still see cramps in games. There is a different speed between the two.

Also Bo is a ass hat.

Sure, maybe this is the reason.

It's clear that JoMo just wasn't aware of what the SEC standard was. Hard lesson learned but hopefully it has been learned

[dawgday166]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

How do you know it didn't affect Meyer & Saban? Meyer went 9-3 at FL and Saban went 8-4 at LSU. Both also came into SEC when it wasn't as strong as it is now.

[ShotgunDawg]

How do you know it didn't affect Meyer & Saban? Meyer went 9-3 at FL and Saban went 8-4 at LSU. Both also came into SEC when it wasn't as strong as it is now.

Good point. Maybe it did, but the quality of the conference disguised it. Good point

[Leroy Jenkins]

I call BS.... Unless CJM doesn't own a TV, (or a film projector, or a VHS player, or a radio, or a newspaper, or a magazine) which is unlikely.

[ShotgunDawg]

I call BS.... Unless CJM doesn't own a TV, which is unlikely.

I'm not sure TV does it justice.

Particularly when all the TV guys are trying to sell ocean front property in Arizona and you want to believe that property exists

[Irondawg]

I made this point after the FL loss but we know our secondary isn’t great. Not terrible but not at the level of a lot of teams. I think that plus the def line not going all out during practice might have painted a false illusion of how well we could pass.

[was21]

Bounds just parroting what a lot of other people already thought when he was hired and said as much

[ShotgunDawg]

Bounds just parroting what a lot of other people already thought when he was hired and said as much

I disagree. He has contacts inside the program. Much of what he attributes to being inside info is correct.

[was21]

Speed on film is not as apparent as it is in reality

[Tbonewannabe]

Also, we rolled everyone prior to UK. UK was screwed up from all of the penalties. There isn't many offenses that would do well with 160 yards of penalties.

[hacker]

Sure. Which makes it all the more perplexing.

How was our offense able to move the ball on our defense in preseason practice?

Also, how much of Nick not playing the Spring & missing the first game have to do with this?

The offense practices against the scout team, not the #1 defense for some reason. Not sure why.

[DanDority]

BOO and his you guy's life still is a ******* JOKE!

[BrunswickDawg]

How do you know it didn't affect Meyer & Saban? Meyer went 9-3 at FL and Saban went 8-4 at LSU. Both also came into SEC when it wasn't as strong as it is now.

Meyer and Saban also came to two programs who traditionally have had some of the fastest players - particularly on Defense - in the country. Makes that adjustment a lot easier.

To Shotgun's points - I can totally see it being possible, and not unprecedented for a coach to not be prepared for the across the board athleticism and speed of the SEC. We see it almost every year in bowl season when the SEC dominates bowl games. The only SEC teams Joe has faced in his coaching career were South Carolina (7-6) in the 1/2/10 Papa John's Bowl (W) and Vandy 2010 (W) & 2011 (L) . Those teams aren't exactly known for their speed.
And is it bonehead, stubborn, naive, etc.? Probably. In the long run, it probably helps us more then it hurts us. It puts an emphasis on what we need from a speed and athleticism standpoint to be successful. I wouldn't be shocked at all for Joe to go out and find some speed guys to round out our signing class.

[BrunswickDawg]

The offense practices against the scout team, not the #1 defense for some reason. Not sure why.

Because everyone practices against scout teams? The whole point of scout teams is to present the opposing team's scheme and replicate it on the field for practice. Haven't you seen "Rudy"?

[ckDOG]

Took him a couple Ls to figure out what his players are capable of doing live against quality competition. Y'all have to get over it. He's learning. We got better and will continue to get better as he learns what we can and cannot do. New staffs don't kick into high gear overnight - especially staffs not headed by power 5 veterans commanding 6M a year +. We paid for a green coach with upside. You have to live with the mistakes and move on or pony up 15M a year for Jimbo or Dabo.

[Bully13]

Took him a couple Ls to figure out what his players are capable of doing live against quality competition. Y'all have to get over it. He's learning. We got better and will continue to get better as he learns what we can and cannot do. New staffs don't kick into high gear overnight - especially staffs not headed by power 5 veterans commanding 6M a year +. We paid for a green coach with upside. You have to live with the mistakes and move on or pony up 15M a year for Jimbo or Dabo.

I'll go with CK's take. "word from within the program" Not Buying. I would hate like hell hearing that from JOMO's mouth.

[Cooterpoot]

No has zero inside info. He’s a hack trying to keep shit stirred. Stop helping him.

[starkvegasdawg]

If it is true I wish he could have figured it out before seeing 8 quarters of it.

[maroonmania]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

None of the adjustment would have been a big deal if we hadn't had such high expectations for this year. Mullen just screwed us over by bailing on what would have likely been his best overall MSU team. And on top of that, Mullen never groomed anyone in his country club that could have taken over his program seamlessly upon him leaving. They are all just his little minions and that's all they ever will be. Mullen probably would have gone 10-2 with this team, possibly even 11-1 and still would have had all kind of coaching opportunities afterward if he had wanted. Everyone knows we won't be as good personnel wise next year so it actually would have been a much more favorable year to change coaches. So we just have to deal with coaching transition costing at least 2 games this year and then see if JoMo can get players in here that can effectively run more of his RPO stuff eventually. Still believe at least some of the RPO stuff can work in this league but you have to have competent players in the passing game (and I'm talking a QB that can read coverage, WRs that can get open and catch, and a pass blocking OL) that we don't really currently have.

[LC Dawg]

Fitz didn't practice in the spring. I guess he looked good enough in fall practice for Coach Moorhead to go ahead with his system into the start of the season. The quarterback isn't getting hit in practice so it doesn't show you everything. Fitz didn't play the first game. Offense didn't look great against KSU game but Fitz's first game. Why would he think it won't be successful at that point. Everything clicked against ULL but its ULL so you don't really know anything but why would you think it wouldn't work in the SEC at this point. We don't play well against Kentucky but its in a monsoon so Coach Moorhead decides to stick with what has made him successful up to this point in his career. Sucked against Florida so coach took what he had seen and made some changes. I know its not ideal but at least our head coach made some changes and we beat a good team. The head coach is responsible for everything so obviously the losses are on him but at least he swallowed his pride a little and made some changes.
If Kentucky was their normal self this year we would have beaten them, not changed the offense, and been beaten by Florida and Auburn and Coach Moorhead would make changes for the LSU game. Not much to do but move forward and see what happens.

[West Tn Dawg]

*Fitz missed all the pre-season practice and the first game, of a completely new system.
*Complete overhaul of the Staff
*Totally different scheme
*Fl and Ky have really good teams.
Is it really a mystery?
Did you actually look at Sabans first two years?

[RiverCityDawg]

Not buying. He's played Ohio State who has just as much speed as UK or Florida, plus he sees it every day in practice.

I think the success in the first 3 games gave him a false understanding of what we could do well against legit competition. I also think the penalties against UK made him think "ok, we fix the penalties and we will be fine." Which was clearly wrong but explains why major adjustments were made after Florida when the penalties were cleaned up. Not excusing it, he should have known already, but it makes more sense to me than "he underestimated SEC speed". That just doesn't jive.

[Todd4State]

I think he thought he could implement his system because he had a fifth year senior QB and a lot of returning vets and then realized their limits after two games.

[PassInterference]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.


Saban
Meyer
Miles
Freeze

Not buying that you have to be an SEC coach to make it in the SEC.

[Pit Bull]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

Our conference's worst team went to South Bend and barely lost to the Fighting Irish (and should have won). Notre Dame is being pushed by the national media as a playoff team. BAMA will beat them by at least 4-5 TDs.

[Behrdawg]

Bo has solid sources. I’m not sure why so many of you are so quick to say he doesn’t. Many of his contacts are connected to some of us as well. I only say that to support that many of his sources are legit.

[MetEdDawg]

Because everyone practices against scout teams? The whole point of scout teams is to present the opposing team's scheme and replicate it on the field for practice. Haven't you seen "Rudy"?

Yeah I'm not sure why people don't get this. The offenses' job is to dissect and be successful against the other team's defense. Our defense isn't going to sit there and learn the schemes of the opposing team. They are dissecting the other team's offense and learning their tendencies.

Do people really think we just line up against our defense and just play? No wonder our board football IQ is so damn low.

[ShotgunDawg]

Saban
Meyer
Miles
Freeze

Not buying that you have to be an SEC coach to make it in the SEC.

Freeze had coached in the SEC before and lost a good bit his first year.

Agree on Miles, but he played the perfect style for the SEC.

My guess is that power guys have an easier adjustment

[Bully13]

MSU Friends don't let their MSU Friends listen to Bo. It's not a Good Lifestyle.

[gravedigger]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.

1. I dont agree that he was caught off guard by anything. Bo is just making good conversation.
2. Moorhead will target the kids he needs for his system. How long will it take for them to be truly effective? Not sure.
3. Moorhead didnt stubbornly lose two games. He expected Division 1 athletes to have the wherewithal to pickup his offense more effectively. We all did. Maybe that was his miscalculation. Fitz being out due to injury in the spring and the violation of team rules aggravated the situation.
4. I know we all want to find the answer to the riddle of why our expectations were not realized. The answer is that things take time. UK is a pretty good defense. UF has a very good Defensive coordinator and they are no slouch.

The SEC is superior to other conferences in that teams like MSU, Mizzou and UK that are/were notoriously in the lower half are not cakewalks for the perennial contenders in the conference. Our conference 'out athletes' others. But Joe is putting in a system that requires a higher level of awareness from his offensive players. Most certainly the QB, WR and the OL.

When the offense does start clicking in the passing game we as fans are immediately going to attribute it to better players. That wont necessarily be so. We have great players. But just as anyone who has started a new job knows, it takes a while to get a rhythm and used to the routines. It can seem overwhelming at times.

[Ezsoil]

This morning Bo said that word from within the program was that Moorehead was caught off guard by the speed of SEC defenses & was not prepared for that until he saw it.

I think this is an interesting comment that brings up a number of questions:

- I'm not sure if you can blame this on Moorehead, sure he's responsible, but how would he have known?

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

- It's amazing how the national media has effectively created an illusion that the quality of college football teams across the country is mostly similar. I don't completely blame the media though because 1. They are not scouts & 2. Everyone outside of the SEC footprint wants to believe their teams are similar with SEC teams.

- Will Moorehead also need this adjustment period in recruiting? My guess is yes

- If Moorehead has indeed learned his lesson, was it worth losing 2 games with this roster for him to learn it?

Just some thoughts on a comment that I think tells a lot. Also, I wish Moorehead would've learned his lesson a little quicker, but credit to him for making adjustments & realizing he wasn't in the land of slow white boys anymore in which decisions can be made slower & there is infinitely more field to work with due to the lack of speed.


I call BS on this ...because James Franklin warned him explicitly...and Shoop should have also warned him....and he can see there is a reason 1/3 of the the defensive players in the NFL went to SEC schools. The reason he was caught off guard is because Fitzgerald made all the throws in the Louisiana game, he felt he could handle it.

[WSOPdawg]

No has zero inside info. He’s a hack trying to keep shit stirred. Stop helping him.

^^^ This all day -- rep given.

[StateDawg44]

I call BS on this ...because James Franklin warned him explicitly...and Shoop should have also warned him....and he can see there is a reason 1/3 of the the defensive players in the NFL went to SEC schools. The reason he was caught off guard is because Fitzgerald made all the throws in the Louisiana game, he felt he could handle it.

Just because some one tells me it's cold outside doesn't mean that I understand how cold it actually is.

[gravedigger]

Just because some one tells me it's cold outside doesn't mean that I understand how cold it actually is.

And just because we desire a single person to blame for something, doesnt mean that other circumstances didnt contribute, or how much.

Fact is, in a process or system, it's almost never one thing or one person that is the cause for success or failure. It's a series of events and circumstances. But that usually doesnt work for people who need a simple reason to direct their anger toward.

[Commercecomet24]

1. I dont agree that he was caught off guard by anything. Bo is just making good conversation.
2. Moorhead will target the kids he needs for his system. How long will it take for them to be truly effective? Not sure.
3. Moorhead didnt stubbornly lose two games. He expected Division 1 athletes to have the wherewithal to pickup his offense more effectively. We all did. Maybe that was his miscalculation. Fitz being out due to injury in the spring and the violation of team rules aggravated the situation.
4. I know we all want to find the answer to the riddle of why our expectations were not realized. The answer is that things take time. UK is a pretty good defense. UF has a very good Defensive coordinator and they are no slouch.

The SEC is superior to other conferences in that teams like MSU, Mizzou and UK that are/were notoriously in the lower half are not cakewalks for the perennial contenders in the conference. Our conference 'out athletes' others. But Joe is putting in a system that requires a higher level of awareness from his offensive players. Most certainly the QB, WR and the OL.

When the offense does start clicking in the passing game we as fans are immediately going to attribute it to better players. That wont necessarily be so. We have great players. But just as anyone who has started a new job knows, it takes a while to get a rhythm and used to the routines. It can seem overwhelming at times.

Great Post! You nailed it!

[mstatefan91]

I made this point after the FL loss but we know our secondary isn?t great. Not terrible but not at the level of a lot of teams. I think that plus the def line not going all out during practice might have painted a false illusion of how well we could pass.

Who knows that? I certainly don't know that. You certainly don't know that. Our secondary has been solid. They may wind up getting picked on, but you have zero basis for this statement.

[Tbonewannabe]

I call BS on this ...because James Franklin warned him explicitly...and Shoop should have also warned him....and he can see there is a reason 1/3 of the the defensive players in the NFL went to SEC schools. The reason he was caught off guard is because Fitzgerald made all the throws in the Louisiana game, he felt he could handle it.

The UK game was also different in that it was in a rainstorm and we had 160 yards of penalties. We should have went to the run earlier but having penalties like we did would have screwed up our offense anyway.

[BB30]

Yeah I'm not sure why people don't get this. The offenses' job is to dissect and be successful against the other team's defense. Our defense isn't going to sit there and learn the schemes of the opposing team. They are dissecting the other team's offense and learning their tendencies.

Do people really think we just line up against our defense and just play? No wonder our board football IQ is so damn low.

During the season absolutely. But, this team saw 1s v 1s in the spring and fall camps. It's not like our 1s on O never went up against some 1s on defense. There is a lot of mixing and matching going on during the spring and fall camps.

[GoDawgz]

Stopped listening to Bo a while ago. Watch him on Twitter every weekend spin stuff just to get reactions from people in a effort to generate interest in his show for Monday. He is a salesman, a good one, but salesman non the less. The more people believe what he chirps the more he can tell his sponsors on how well his brand is doing. Any attention, even if its negtive attention, is better than no attention. He thrives on it.

As far as the speed of the SEC, no doubt it was probably a surprise, but the speed of the game as far as making decisions as a head coach was also a huge adjustment. At Penn St, he had time when the defense was on the field to think about strategy and change game-planning if it wasnt working. Head coach must monitor all facets of the game to some degree.
I believe that Joe will get there. Dan had the adjustment time too, and he still had his brain fart moments.
Just my opinion.

[drunkernhelldawg]

The lesson from the two losses is that every opponent must be respected. I'll never understand the blocking scheme against the right side of Kentucky's D line. The weather didn't help either.

That said, I think Moorehead could be a good coach although I'm not down with that clean off a shelf bullshit they're promoting.

[Token Bammer]

- This is why people always ask when you hire a new coach, "Has he coached in the SEC?" I'm not sure why it didn't matter for Saban & Meyer, but maybe they are just outliers. This is why people ask whether or not coaches have SEC experience & why they rightfully should ask.

It did matter to both Saban and Meyer.

Saban had some adjusting to do from the B1G to the SEC. He went 8-4 in year one (2000). Then 10-3 (SEC champs), 8-5, 13-1 (National Champs), and then 9-3.

Several of Saban's losses were blow outs as well.

Meyer went 9-3 in his first season of 2005 with a loaded roster, and at least one of his losses was a blow out. Alabama put a beat down on him and he quickly realized afterwards that he was going to have to make some changes. I still remember how shocked he was during his half time interview of that game. He could barely talk.

Like Meyer, maybe JoMo has learned this conference is about physicality and defense first. Having a creative offense system is great, but it better be physical first or it will not be successful.

[Commercecomet24]

It did matter to both Saban and Meyer.

Saban had some adjusting to do from the B1G to the SEC. He went 8-4 in year one (2000). Then 10-3 (SEC champs), 8-5, 13-1 (National Champs), and then 9-3.

Several of Saban's losses were blow outs as well.

Meyer went 9-3 in his first season of 2005 with a loaded roster, and at least one of his losses was a blow out. Alabama put a beat down on him and he quickly realized afterwards that he was going to have to make some changes. I still remember how shocked he was during his half time interview of that game. He could barely talk.

Like Meyer, maybe JoMo has learned this conference is about physicality and defense first. Having a creative offense system is great, but it better be physical first or it will not be successful.

Good post. I remember Meyer after he got to Ohio State, saying that he had to get more overall team speed on defense and offense for them to compete nationally. Also said he would have to get more physical players on both LOS to compete. Ohio State now is basically an SEC team in the Big 10, it's why they're dominating there. Same could be said for Clemson.

[gravedigger]

Sure, maybe this is the reason.

It's clear that JoMo just wasn't aware of what the SEC standard was. Hard lesson learned but hopefully it has been learned

You do realize that a coach can be perfectly aware of something that the players struggle to overcome, right? Our players were tentative about a new offense and as such werent aggressive. Thus all the penalties in the UK game and qb misreads in the Florida game. This is all very new. Joe's realization of how fast or physical defenses are in the sec affected the play on the field in the same way a fans cheers affect a players actions.

[Todd4State]

I don't know it Moorhead was caught off guard by SEC defenses or not. What I do think happened is:

1. We've all heard about how it takes five games for Joe's offense to get going. Kentucky and Florida were fortunate to fall within that window. I don't think he underestimated SEC defenses. I think it was a perfect storm of playing two top 10 nationally ranked defenses and not having our offensive system completely installed. With Kentucky there were other things that played into it to making it a perfect storm- bad weather, UK players running smack which factored in to the penalty situation which we did not manage well, plus playing the best UK team possibly since the 1970's on the road. I'm interested to see how the second half of the season goes- but I wouldn't be surprised if we start to take off offensively.

2. Nick getting suspended a game essentially pushed that five game window back one game. I have a feeling that had Nick not been suspended we would have seen a gameplan more similar to what we saw against Auburn against Florida and probably with similar results.

3. Our fans hear the word West Coast Offense passing scheme and automatically assume that this is going to go like Croom. Down to the "He's stubborn and won't adjust because Croom didn't adjust because they ran a similar passing system." Joe has shown quite the opposite in terms of making adjustments.

4. I think we have a lot of fans that aren't comfortable with a smart football coach that doesn't rip people a new asshole when they don't do something perfect. They equate not yelling with "soft" and just assume that the inmates are running the asylum. I think yelling is also associated by some of our fans with "SEC football" because that's what Saban does. The fact is our RB coach, TE coach, OL coach, DL coach, CB coach, DC/S coach, and ST coach all have SEC experience as coaches and or as players. I'm pretty sure that they know what the SEC is all about- especially since several were on probably the best and most successful Vanderbilt coaching staff the 80 years, our TE coach was on our 2010 Gator Bowl winning staff, our OL coach was on Eli's Cotton Bowl winning Ole Miss team that won 10 games, and our ST coach played for freaking Bear Bryant himself and has a couple of National Championship rings.