Whether you will admitted it or not the talent between bama vs OU and UT vs vandy is about the same. Would you say that the great coach that is Saban that all other coaches from now to eternity should be compared had a bad game? If so even a great coach can have a bad game.
I would say that Saban has a bad game once in awhile. I would have to look but he may have never been beaten by 28+ points since coming to the SEC much less 4 times in the same season. Saban has a bad game once in awhile and routinely has very good ones against the best teams he faces. Jones had two good games this year couple with six bad games. So yes. I would accept your comparison with consideration to the frequency a coach has a bad game.
So above you at least agree that UT has more talent than Vandy? That's progress I suppose.
Who would you consider a great coach? Saban before being hied at LSU? A great coach has to have a chance to be great.
Agree totally. I hold out hope that what we saw this year was not the "true" Jones when it comes to developing and coaching his team. They were not consistently competitive, they underachieved the talent, and whatever progressive development occurred was not apparent on the field.
Great coaches show it early and often. Many here love to point to Saban's first year at Bama as some kind of proof that its OK to have a loss to a lesser team or have a bad record in year one. The problem with that reasoning that is so often ignored is that Bama didn't lose a single one of those 6 games that year by more than 7 points. He proved that even under bad circumstances he could get a team prepared to compete with all comers. Both the record and competitiveness improved over Shula's last year even as Saban had to clean house and rid the program of bad characters, those who didn't buy in, and underachievers. Their average margin of loss that year was 2.75 pts... not even a FG.
Jones' avg margin of loss was 24! Half that would have been more difficult to argue against. For reference, Dooley's avg loss margin in year one was 18 pts. Year two was 19. Year 3 was 13. The first two years were comparable in difficulty to what Jones faced this year and MORE dependent on young or untalented players.
Both coaches had roster issues. Both coaches faced tough schedules though UT's was in fact more difficult (but not enough to explain a 21 pt difference in loss margin). Both coaches replaced fired coaches who left problems in their wake. One coach immediately made his team competitive and poised to take a big step forward the next year. The other coach... left HUGE questions about his staff's ability to compete in the SEC.