Midseason Analysis

[CharlieK]

They've already alienated Haack. They've disrespected the kid and his work, AND his commitment. (He will probably go back to a QB breeding ground in the area he's from and not endorse this school or staff at all). Let Brooks transfer out to a competent staff, so that young man can continue his career. He deserves it.

Let Jordan Davis sling it around and see what we have. Unless promises made during recruiting are blocking this scenario, (and that should be the case), it's the only option.

You have inside info from Haack or are you speculating. I can't see Nixon finishing the year at QB anyway....we will need Haack.

[ManAboutTown]

I'll disagree with you here. I don't think the season is over. We plays 4 bad teams (ULM, Georgia State, NMSU, & Troy), 1 decent team (South Alabama), and 1 team that will likely hang 60 on us (App State). If Hud can get his head out of his ___...we should beat the fantastic (sarcasm) 4. Hell, even if he doesn't...we should still beat them. I think the quality of our opponents is contributing to Hud's new mentality. With how bad these teams are...preparation and coaching players up...is for the birds.

App and South Al will crush us, Geo State coming in with a lot of confidence and Arbuckle is on fire. ULM plays their Super Bowl here next weekend.

Hawk, we can not pass the football. Any team that gets a healthy lead on us (via turnover, special teams, whatever) we are doomed.

[cajunhawk]

App and South Al will crush us, Geo State coming in with a lot of confidence and Arbuckle is on fire. ULM plays their Super Bowl here next weekend.

Hawk, we can not pass the football. Any team that gets a healthy lead on us (via turnover, special teams, whatever) we are doomed.

I don't see those 4 teams getting a healthy lead. App State will soundly thump us. South Al should too...but they have a penchant for playing down.

[ManAboutTown]

You have inside info from Haack or are you speculating. I can't see Nixon finishing the year at QB anyway....we will need Haack.

I can't confirm or deny, but that sentence in particular (Haack transferring) is an assumption on my part. I can guarantee you that barring injury to Jalen, Haack will not play substantial minutes going forward.

[ManAboutTown]

I don't see those 4 teams getting a healthy lead. App State will soundly thump us. South Al should too...but they have a penchant for playing down.

You don't see Arbuckle exploiting this pass rush and secondary combination? They have real athletes at WR. Weapons in the slot also.

[MetryCajun]

Adjustments have been made. Several times. None are working consistently. If your OL can not pick up a stunt or counteract a spin move what can you do? In our OL's case, they unfortunately go against a subpar DL everyday in practice. I'm sure blocking Briscoe in practice is a breeze compared to what we normally face on game day. We have no QB so moving Nixon to RB may not be the worst idea.
On defense everyone here screamed about our soft zone coverage last year (me included). Guess what, they cannot play press and now our Safetys are frequently out of position. We have tried every scheme. None work because our players are not physical enough.
Do you think the coaches are telling the players to not wrap up on tackles? Of course they aren't. Our guys are not wrapping up because they are overmatched in many cases (the guy he is trying to bring down is either stronger or faster). One question I do have about coaching is the conditioning of the team. Many guys look overweight and even more look tired. Hopefully the APC will address some of this.

[CajunNation]

Adjustments have been made. Several times. None are working consistently. If your OL can not pick up a stunt or counteract a spin move what can you do? In our OL's case, they unfortunately go against a subpar DL everyday in practice. I'm sure blocking Briscoe in practice is a breeze compared to what we normally face on game day. We have no QB so moving Nixon to RB may not be the worst idea.
On defense everyone here screamed about our soft zone coverage last year (me included). Guess what, they cannot play press and now our Safetys are frequently out of position. We have tried every scheme. None work because our players are not physical enough.
Do you think the coaches are telling the players to not wrap up on tackles? Of course they aren't. Our guys are not wrapping up because they are overmatched in many cases (the guy he is trying to bring down is either stronger or faster). One question I do have about coaching is the conditioning of the team. Many guys look overweight and even more look tired. Hopefully the APC will address some of this.

This offense is on life support. The minute Eli goes down, Heaven forbid, we immediately become the worst offense in the league.

[CharlieK]

Adjustments have been made. Several times. None are working consistently. If your OL can not pick up a stunt or counteract a spin move what can you do? In our OL's case, they unfortunately go against a subpar DL everyday in practice. I'm sure blocking Briscoe in practice is a breeze compared to what we normally face on game day. We have no QB so moving Nixon to RB may not be the worst idea.
On defense everyone here screamed about our soft zone coverage last year (me included). Guess what, they cannot play press and now our Safetys are frequently out of position. We have tried every scheme. None work because our players are not physical enough.
Do you think the coaches are telling the players to not wrap up on tackles? Of course they aren't. Our guys are not wrapping up because they are overmatched in many cases (the guy he is trying to bring down is either stronger or faster). One question I do have about coaching is the conditioning of the team. Many guys look overweight and even more look tired. Hopefully the APC will address some of this.

Wrapping up is not a coachable fundamental? I disagree.

What adjustments on offense have we made to fit our personnel? I see us trying to run the same things we ran last year when we had a huge RB and 3 year dual threat quarterback. We made no visable adjustments.

Our defense has played well often from late 2nd quarter on (except for the tackling). Do we suddenly get more talented and then return to an untalented state for the next game?

I'm not saying we don't have some holes, but I think we are not doing ourselves any favors.

[CajunNation]

Wrapping up is not a coachable fundamental? I disagree.

What adjustments on offense have we made to fit our personnel? I see us trying to run the same things we ran last year when we had a huge RB and 3 year dual threat quarterback. We made no visable adjustments.

Our defense has played well often from late 2nd quarter on (except for the tackling). Do we suddenly get more talented and then return to an untalented state for the next game?

I'm not saying we don't have some holes, but I think we are not doing ourselves any favors.

Charlie, I think you are going to see a HUGE jump in overall play of the defense as the year goes on and into next season. New schemes and new players takes a toll.

The offense, well......

[MetryCajun]

Wrapping up is not a coachable fundamental? I disagree.

What adjustments on offense have we made to fit our personnel? I see us trying to run the same things we ran last year when we had a huge RB and 3 year dual threat quarterback. We made no visable adjustments.

Our defense has played well often from late 2nd quarter on (except for the tackling). Do we suddenly get more talented and then return to an untalented state for the next game?

I'm not saying we don't have some holes, but I think we are not doing ourselves any favors.

Everything is coachable, but I think what we are seeing is kids not adjusting to game speed. I think many of our new defensive guys are overwhelmed by the speed of the game.
And I agree with Nation. We are one injury away from being the worst offense in Division 1. Not sure how realistic it is to change an entire offensive scheme mid season, but a two back set could be worth trying.

[CharlieK]

Everything is coachable, but I think what we are seeing is kids not adjusting to game speed. I think many of our new defensive guys are overwhelmed by the speed of the game.
And I agree with Nation. We are one injury away from being the worst offense in Division 1. Not sure how realistic it is to change an entire offensive scheme mid season, but a two back set could be worth trying.

Fair enough and yep.

[HoustonCajun]

Everything is coachable, but I think what we are seeing is kids not adjusting to game speed. I think many of our new defensive guys are overwhelmed by the speed of the game.
And I agree with Nation. We are one injury away from being the worst offense in Division 1. Not sure how realistic it is to change an entire offensive scheme mid season, but a two back set could be worth trying.

A 2 back set-up with Nixon and McGuire plus Haack at QB is certainly worth trying.

Looking at the remainder of the season, there is no team on our remaining schedule we cannot beat, App State being our most difficult game. Certainly, we will have to play much better to beat them. What we need to happen is for App State to beat GA Southern tonight and for App State to beat Ark State next week, giving Ark State 1 loss. S. Alabama's toughest games remaining are vs. UL, GA Southern and App State and they already have 1 loss. If GA Southern loses to App State, their toughest remaining game is vs. S. Alabama. In this scenario, every team will have at least 1 loss except App State. So, our game vs. App State could determine the conference championship or at best for UL a shared conference championship with only 1 loss. This is a scenario that could definitely play out. Given the way we are playing, winning the rest of our games, which are all possible as none of these teams are very good with the exception of S. Alabama, hope of winning the conference and beating App State is all we have to hang on to. Doesn't look likely at this point, but could happen if this team and coaches can get their _____ together. It ain't over 'til its over, so let's remain optimistic that we can still pull this off. And, if it happens, we finish 8-4 with a bowl game to play and a shot at another 9-4 season. That would be a huge salvage of a thus far very disappointing season.

UL (2-4, 1-1) plays ULM, GA State, S. Alabama, NM State, App State and Troy.

S. Alabama (3-3, 1-1) plays TX State, Idaho, UL, GA State, GA Southern, App State

Ark. State (4-3, 3-0) plays GA State, App State, ULM, NM State, TX State

App State (5-1, 3-0) plays GA Southern, Troy, Ark State, Idaho, UL, S. Alabama

GA Southern (5-1. 3-0) plays App State, TX State, Troy, Georgia, S. Alabama, GA State