Well Bunk I made a post at the beginning of the year predicting an 8-4 record, then after the Georgia game I changed that prediction to 7-5, now I think we are back to 8-4, but we’ve got our work cut out for us to get there. Miss State is a good football team, not great, but very well coached and has a play caller at the helm who’s completely in sync with what his QB executes well on offense. South Carolina while limited on the personnel side plays extremely hard, and Alabama is still is as talented as any team in the country but is undisciplined in several phases on offense and defense which makes them slightly more vulnerable on the road than they’ve been in the past.
As I said earlier this week, A&M had the best front seven on defense we’d seen since UGA and it showed yesterday. I’m not going to blame anyone player as the whole offense had a piss pour outing. We had very good play calls at times and just didn’t execute whether it was Bo, the protection, dropped passes and bad routes, or a misdiagnosed read by our backs. Give credit where credit is due, A&M and DC Mike Elko forced the action yesterday and played exceptionally physical with some well timed blitzes from various defenders and a nice blend of run stunts. Disguised combo coverages from the secondary and the pressure generated by A&M‘s defense had Bo off his timing and he never got comfortable which limited the whole offense. Even when Bo had time his footwork was bad which caused several low and off balanced throws, essentially a regression game for this offense. All that said we are capable of playing better at home next week and that’s what I expect us to do.
8-4 is not where we as fans want to be as a program or what we should ever except, that said 8-4 in Harsin’s first season against the schedule we’ve played is impressive, especially when you consider the lack of explosive playmakers on the outside, a QB who is still developing, and an OL that has improved by is still out manned at times and is adjusting to actual pro-style blocking concepts vice what the previous regime asked of them. It will be a better record than Sark and likely all other first year head coaches this season and sets the tone for what I hear will be a very physical offseason for the players who return next year. Two of those players that I expect to return are Kauffman and Tennison and both of those caught my eye yesterday and need to continue to get snaps. Those two plus Puckett could give us some very versatile pieces at Nickel and Safety to play with next year.
Whats next has to be recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, and some roster management through the portal. Right now we are in the top 3 in the SEC west in overall talent (with more defensive playmakers than offensive) but if we don’t finish this class well with some impact transfers and HS/Juco prospects, that could severally limit our growth moving forward and make this more of a rebuild than anyone wants. I’m not in the group that says you’ve got to land a certain number of stars in every class as I just don’t buy that Rivals or any other recruiting service gets it right all the time. What I do know is we need impact players that fit our system and the culture that CBH wants to build. I like the approach we’ve taken in recruiting so far and a lot of the prospects we’ve targeted, but now it’s time to close. I feel certain our player development program will get guys to the league, but you’ve got to get them on campus so you can develop them. In that vein I expect a big group of recruits to be on campus for the MSU and Bama games and a huge focus on recruiting down the stretch. War Eagle everyone, and let’s get some much needed momentum back into the program next week with a win.
As I said earlier this week, A&M had the best front seven on defense we’d seen since UGA and it showed yesterday. I’m not going to blame anyone player as the whole offense had a piss pour outing. We had very good play calls at times and just didn’t execute whether it was Bo, the protection, dropped passes and bad routes, or a misdiagnosed read by our backs. Give credit where credit is due, A&M and DC Mike Elko forced the action yesterday and played exceptionally physical with some well timed blitzes from various defenders and a nice blend of run stunts. Disguised combo coverages from the secondary and the pressure generated by A&M‘s defense had Bo off his timing and he never got comfortable which limited the whole offense. Even when Bo had time his footwork was bad which caused several low and off balanced throws, essentially a regression game for this offense. All that said we are capable of playing better at home next week and that’s what I expect us to do.
8-4 is not where we as fans want to be as a program or what we should ever except, that said 8-4 in Harsin’s first season against the schedule we’ve played is impressive, especially when you consider the lack of explosive playmakers on the outside, a QB who is still developing, and an OL that has improved by is still out manned at times and is adjusting to actual pro-style blocking concepts vice what the previous regime asked of them. It will be a better record than Sark and likely all other first year head coaches this season and sets the tone for what I hear will be a very physical offseason for the players who return next year. Two of those players that I expect to return are Kauffman and Tennison and both of those caught my eye yesterday and need to continue to get snaps. Those two plus Puckett could give us some very versatile pieces at Nickel and Safety to play with next year.
Whats next has to be recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, and some roster management through the portal. Right now we are in the top 3 in the SEC west in overall talent (with more defensive playmakers than offensive) but if we don’t finish this class well with some impact transfers and HS/Juco prospects, that could severally limit our growth moving forward and make this more of a rebuild than anyone wants. I’m not in the group that says you’ve got to land a certain number of stars in every class as I just don’t buy that Rivals or any other recruiting service gets it right all the time. What I do know is we need impact players that fit our system and the culture that CBH wants to build. I like the approach we’ve taken in recruiting so far and a lot of the prospects we’ve targeted, but now it’s time to close. I feel certain our player development program will get guys to the league, but you’ve got to get them on campus so you can develop them. In that vein I expect a big group of recruits to be on campus for the MSU and Bama games and a huge focus on recruiting down the stretch. War Eagle everyone, and let’s get some much needed momentum back into the program next week with a win.
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