Just here to say that we have money issues.. not coaching

[somebodyshotmypaw]

You?re asking for the impossible. It?s the same as saying I want a Lambo on a McDonalds cashier salary and if I work hard enough for it I can do it. It?s a senseless take.

It's not impossible at all. Doug McMillon became CEO of WalMart at the age of 47. He started with WalMart as teenager on the loading dock. So a McDonalds cashier can become a manager, can become a franchise owner, can own a cluster of stores.

Everything ain't about money. Plenty of folks have succeeded at places that didn't have the resources. It happens every day. It's how you work, manage, create efficiencies out of inefficiencies, etc. You have to find the edge.

[confucius say]

Nope. Our Roster is nothing like theirs.

They have 3 five star players. we have none.

They have 35 four stars and we have 23.

That's a massive gap unless we never have injuries. We do. But it really shows up on the lines. We have a 3 star OL. Lane doesn't.

No they don't. Go look at their line of scrimmage metrics that Bill Radjewaki puts out on Twitter. They were behind us going into last week in line yards gained and barely ahead of us in line yards allowed, both opponent adjusted.

They do pass block better. But alot of that is scheme and coaching. We are often lost and have gotten worse through the year.
And yes, Injuries have killed us. Losing Whitson and the OL injuries suck.
Their roster is still better, but the gap has closed.

[confucius say]

No. We've shown we have the people to compete for 3/4 to 4/5 (OT) of a game with the big guys. That's the whole point so many are refusing to see. We have some starters. Even 2 deep in some places. But you still need high quality 2s and 3s especially on the lines. Do you really believe that Jayvin James allows us to compete? I never call out players - and he was absolutely terrible Saturday. He's SEC quality?? No way. Jimothy Lewis? Almost as bad. And those are two multi-game starters. Let alone our backups like Luke (Doesn't) Work.

We are in the talent acquisition game now. You need high quality coaches. Top analysts. Huge staffs (even by 2014 standards). And a deep bench of talent. And all of that costs money. Way more money then we care to commit as a fanbase and institution. You cheap out on coaches or staff - and you will get what you pay for. Can't pay for talent on the field - you will get what you pay for. There is no "diamond in the rough" solution to the game today.

We have gotten what we paid for. We are bottom of the SEC in coaching compensation. We are bottom of the SEC in staff size. We are bottom of the SEC (UK may be lower) in player compensation. And we got almost bottom of the league results.
There is a reason we were picked last in the SEC. There is a reason Vegas had our over/under at 3.5. The people who know talent knew.

Can certainly argue we have overachieved this year. Have flown past the over under of 3.5 wins.

Could also argue late game coaching decisions cost us 2-3 games.

Weird conundrum.

[BrunswickDawg]

Can certainly argue we have overachieved this year. Have flown past the over under of 3.5 wins.

Could also argue late game coaching decisions cost us 2-3 games.

Weird conundrum.

Yes it is. Frustratingly so.

[confucius say]

To add to the commentary about the gap between the rosters closing, we were +26 last year and this year the line is at 10.5 now.

[msstate7]

Can certainly argue we have overachieved this year. Have flown past the over under of 3.5 wins.

Could also argue late game coaching decisions cost us 2-3 games.

Weird conundrum.

How does that factor in to teams like Texas, ark, and Florida all going under their win total? You will almost certainly be adding mizzou to this list Saturday night.

[msstate7]

FPI has us 48th this season, which is an upgrade from 66th last year, so that's improvement. We are last in the sec though again, like last season

ETA... s&p+ has us 52nd, which is last in sec.

[confucius say]

How does that factor in to teams like Texas, ark, and Florida all going under their win total? You will almost certainly be adding mizzou to this list Saturday night.

I think it just means they underachieved expectations and we overachieved expectations.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Can certainly argue we have overachieved this year. Have flown past the over under of 3.5 wins.

Could also argue late game coaching decisions cost us 2-3 games.

Weird conundrum.

I feel pretty confident in saying if you told our fans on August 29th that we would be 5-6 going into the last game then about 95% of them would've said sign me up. I've said a couple of times, but the goalposts got moved after we beat Arizona St. They did. They literally got moved out of the stadium and they figuratively moved in fans minds that we all of a sudden were a 7-8 win team. And you know what, we were. We should easily be 7-4 right now. But I could just as easily say that we should be 3-8 right now. And it's ok to change expectations, it is. I think we all did. I know I did. But I also can look at things and see that we've improved MASSIVELY. Have we improved as much as we thought we had on Sept. 6th at around 10 PM? No. But we've improved more than people think at this current moment.

[confucius say]

FPI has us 48th this season, which is an upgrade from 66th last year, so that's improvement. We are last in the sec though again, like last season

Interesting. Would our FPI be higher if we had kicked the FG to beat Florida or held on against TN or Texas? Or does win-loss not really matter?

[msstate7]

FPI has us 48th this season, which is an upgrade from 66th last year, so that's improvement. We are last in the sec though again, like last season

ETA... s&p+ has us 52nd, which is last in sec.

Massey has us 48th, which is 15th in sec ahead of ark

[msstate7]

Interesting. Would our FPI be higher if we had kicked the FG to beat Florida or held on against TN or Texas? Or does win-loss not really matter?

Not positive, but I'd guess higher

[confucius say]

I feel pretty confident in saying if you told our fans on August 29th that we would be 5-6 going into the last game then about 95% of them would've said sign me up. I've said a couple of times, but the goalposts got moved after we beat Arizona St. They did. They literally got moved out of the stadium and they figuratively moved in fans minds that we all of a sudden were a 7-8 win team. And you know what, we were. We should easily be 7-4 right now. But I could just as easily say that we should be 3-8 right now. And it's ok to change expectations, it is. I think we all did. I know I did. But I also can look at things and see that we've improved MASSIVELY. Have we improved as much as we thought we had on Sept. 6th at around 10 PM? No. But we've improved more than people think at this current moment.

We've won 3 handily and lost 3 handily.

Then we've had 5 decided in the final minute and are 2-3 in those. We could easily be 3-8 or 8-3. Wild.

[StarkVegasSteve]

We've won 3 handily and lost 3 handily.

Then we've had 5 decided in the final minute and are 2-3 in those. We could easily be 3-8 or 8-3. Wild.

You're not wrong. I was even taking TN out of the equation because it was kind of back and forth the whole way.

[Maroon Glasses]

We've won 3 handily and lost 3 handily.

Then we've had 5 decided in the final minute and are 2-3 in those. We could easily be 3-8 or 8-3. Wild.

It is wild. I'm talking about myself here when I say this. I agree with SVS. I moved the goalpost for sure. Lebby has overachieved from where I thought we would be preseason. The aggravating part is the "what could/should" have been. We should be 7-4. Could be 8-3. The Texas and Florida loss are inexcusable. But on the flip side, Lebby has us in those games against much better talent on paper. So with me it's all a mixture of bad coaching and not buying better players. We have all seen teams throw the bank at rosters and utterly fail... 2022 A&M is the main one in my mind. I dont think we are far off from where we want to be especially if we improve the trenches. And didn't have to spend 35 mill to get there. Would it help? Absolutely. But with better coaching decisions we aren't even having this conversation. And hopefully that improves with experience.

[BrunswickDawg]

How does that factor in to teams like Texas, ark, and Florida all going under their win total? You will almost certainly be adding mizzou to this list Saturday night.

https://www.vegasinsider.com/college...ds/win-totals/

Texas was 9.5 - has a 7 pt and 8 pt loss plus the GA blow out. 7 wins with 2 to play. 2 losses to higher rated teams and the bad loss to UF. IF they win out, I'd say that's why their o/u was 9.5 and not 10 - it was 50/50 they would blow a winnable game.
Arkansas was 5.5 - 17 points across 6 SEC games has them 0-6. Plus a 1 pt loss to Memphis. That is unfathomable.
UF was 6.5 - UF has a whole lot of talent. But, SunBelt Billy showed why he has that nickname.
Mizzou was 7.5 - 7 wins with 2 to play, 1 of which is Arkansas. They should finish over.

Ultimately Vegas is trying to get people to bet, so it is all with a grain of salt.

[BrunswickDawg]

It is wild. I'm talking about myself here when I say this. I agree with SVS. I moved the goalpost for sure. Lebby has overachieved from where I thought we would be preseason. The aggravating part is the "what could/should" have been. We should be 7-4. Could be 8-3. The Texas and Florida loss are inexcusable. But on the flip side, Lebby has us in those games against much better talent on paper. So with me it's all a mixture of bad coaching and not buying better players. We have all seen teams throw the bank at rosters and utterly fail... 2022 A&M is the main one in my mind. I dont think we are far off from where we want to be especially if we improve the trenches. And didn't have to spend 35 mill to get there. Would it help? Absolutely. But with better coaching decisions we aren't even having this conversation. And hopefully that improves with experience.

I almost typed this in an earlier post and deleted it -

A big part of what has everyone so PO'd is that we bought in. Again. Got our hopes up. Again. And we shit the bed. Again.

[msstate7]

https://www.vegasinsider.com/college...ds/win-totals/

Texas was 9.5 - has a 7 pt and 8 pt loss plus the GA blow out. 7 wins with 2 to play. 2 losses to higher rated teams and the bad loss to UF. IF they win out, I'd say that's why their o/u was 9.5 and not 10 - it was 50/50 they would blow a winnable game.
Arkansas was 5.5 - 17 points across 6 SEC games has them 0-6. Plus a 1 pt loss to Memphis. That is unfathomable.
UF was 6.5 - UF has a whole lot of talent. But, SunBelt Billy showed why he has that nickname.
Mizzou was 7.5 - 7 wins with 2 to play, 1 of which is Arkansas. They should finish over.

Ultimately Vegas is trying to get people to bet, so it is all with a grain of salt.

https://collegefootballnews.com/coll...ns-spring-2025

I just used this one, which had Missouri at 8.5

ETA... tenn is another that has to win out to not be under

[Quaoarsking]

I feel pretty confident in saying if you told our fans on August 29th that we would be 5-6 going into the last game then about 95% of them would've said sign me up.

So what?

If you'd also told me the context of how we got to 5-6 and how many teams on our schedule weren't as good as we expected, I would have retracted the "sign me up."

Nuance matters. Always has. 6 years ago, our whole fanbase [rightfully] wanted to fire a guy who won an Egg Bowl to get to a second straight bowl because of the nuance.

[Maroon Glasses]

I almost typed this in an earlier post and deleted it -

A big part of what has everyone so PO'd is that we bought in. Again. Got our hopes up. Again. And we shit the bed. Again.

I've yet to learn my lesson. I think thats the definition of insanity lol