Making the Right Hire

[sjt18]

Say what you want, you won’t see any team with a weak defense win the SEC or national championship. Seems like some of the younger crowd don’t like good defense, I don’t for the life of me understand why some want to downplay defense. Sure I would love to score points, but I prefer I not give up just as many. Football was meant to be tough to score, it isn’t supposed to be easy. And I don’t want us too be making it easy for people either.

I love good defense. But the definition of "good defense" has changed... and will probably continue to change as the style of play evolves and recycles.

Good D in 1998 was 14.5 ppg and a 33 ppg avg on O. Today maybe it is a D that can get off the field on 3rd down, get turnovers, get big plays,... but allows 25 ppg while the O avgs 40 ppg?

One of the most incredible things about Saban is that he as a highly successful coach evolved when he saw the game evolving. Fulmer didn't which led to his end. Most coaches who have had success cannot change with the game. Saban did. He used to win with absolutely dominant D and run heavy power O. As late as 2016, he went to the NC with an O that rushed for more yds than it had passing. After his shift, they allow about a TD more than they did before per game. They score around 10 pts more... and have continued to win.

I would rather win 40-7 than 42-40, a win is a win but give me a complete team all day long! That’s why I love football it’s a total team game and it takes everybody on both sides of the ball. GBO!

That's not really the choice though. Would you rather win 30-14 or 48-28? Is there any difference between a 35-31 win and a 14-10 win?

The win with D philosophy worked in the past. UGA made it work last year. It is an approach to the game that leads to certain types of decisions about risks. It is literally a "defensive" type of thinking... don't make mistakes, look for opponent errors, then take advantage.

Heupel began talking about being aggressive the moment he arrived. He's going to take more risks. His goal is to score points and put pressure on the opponent... to force them not only into mistakes but into abandoning their gameplan/style of play.

The best example I can think of to illustrate was Fulmer vs Spurrier in the 90's. Fulmer wanted to "pound the rock". Spurrier wanted to wear out the scoreboard. More often than not, Spurrier would get a lead and force Fulmer to either abandon his gameplan or stick with it. Either way... he was beaten. That is what UT did to both USCe and Mizzou last year.

 

[VOLtaism]

When you purchase a coach you need to be clear what you are buying instead of reaching in the bag and pulling one out. We purchased on offense and ended up with much more. What did we purchase with Dooley, Jones? They were known for nothing, grab bag hires, at least Pruitt was a defensive hire? I did not think his offense would work in the SEC, I could not have been wronger! LOL! Defense wins championships but I like put up 40 and rolling the dice.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

Good defenses like Georgia last year put their offense on the field so much the Georgia O line would wear teams down in the second half. Hence, they could just wear teams down and still score 35-42 points without having to get creative. I don’t care if we win 38-35 or 24-20 or 14-10. I am just saying in Football being solid to strong on both sides of the line of scrimmage is important. You need both of them you need it all. Football is the ultimate team game. From special teams to offense to defense, they are all very important. Teams always adjust, offenses and defenses adjust, football is fluid! GBO!!!!!

 

[VOLtaism]

What I noticed last season was, for the first time in a long time, we seemed to win the 1st quarter in most games. The offense game plan coming in had the opposing coaches making big time adjustments and if they were unsuccessful we were up 28-0, against power 5's close score. I remember Sabin throwing his headset and cussing for example. This was a huge step forward that i hope continues this season.

 

[Clayton]

Who’s data? Who is ignoring offense and special teams? I have always said you have to be complete. If anything folks these days act like defense isn’t important. Bottom line is your not winning the SEC without a solid offense or defense, they are equally important. GBO!

You are completely correct. What people seem to ignore is that in addition to Georgia's great defense last year they had a very good offense (which will be significantly better this year). For all the talk of Tennessee's high powered offense that "mediocre" Georgia offense scored 1 less point per game than Tennessee. Georgia was a complete team last year its just the defense was stellar. All you have to do is look at UA, Ohio State, Georgia to see what it takes and it's a good offense and defense along with consistent great recruiting. Tennessee is several top 5 recruiting classes behind those three. TN is improving and may beat one of these teams but not consistently until they have consistent top 5 recruiting.