xpsyclonex2002
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It's Wednesday after a good win. I'm having what I believe to be a moment of calm and clarity. The team has had a tumultuous season so far. I think that we limp into the post season with no more losses and go to a respectable bowl game and it's a total toss up if we win.
Looking back, I think the team and the coaches have been vilified more unfairly than fairly. Considering the injuries and the as of late revelation of the locker room troubles with Hurd and Williams(and maybe Kongbo), I think that we should re-think collectively about how good or bad this team is. We were expecting a potential NC run. That's dashed. We were banking on at the very least an SECC appearance. That's still a possibility but we are not in control of our own destiny.
Our early wins were not pretty. They showed signs of the trouble to come. But they were wins. The team looked either unprepared or else something else was going on. It's conjecture, but I am going to go on a limb and say that Hurd and Williams may have had the team unfocused because the other players knew about their discontent and possibly could see some sandbagging on the field. The injuries started piling up early and that probably didn't help the mental state. I think we all know that the Georgia game was the trigger for the 3 following losses. As Jalen came off the field and told the coach that they couldn't win a game without him, he set the tone for the next few weeks. He became the proverbial "Turd in the punchbowl". His benching, and the team knowing that the reason given was BS, clearly had them in freefall. But they are a mentally tough bunch. That was proven but their comebacks in the previous games. They were ready for a fight without Hurd on the field but the injuries mounted up quickly in the A&M game. They rallied and took it to overtime but it was all too much. The next week was Bama and well.....Bama is Bama. Between our injuries and off the field issues, we probably never stood a chance. If every player was healthy and we were hitting on all 8 cylinders, we maybe could have squeaked out a win. It was demoralizing to them to watch their playoff chances drift away.
We had two weeks to prepare for Carolina. Those 2 weeks must have been hell behind the scenes. That team walked onto the field and looked like dead men walking. I have no doubt in my mind that Dobbs and the rest of the team new what was up with Hurd before that game started. They were a team who had just watched Williams walk off the team and now Hurd was talking the same crap. They had a quitter as the starting RB. The coach probably tried to play through it. Get Hurd on teh field, let him have a great game, let him think about his place on teh team, etc. But Hurd flopped. The team could see it. He quit on them, and they in turn quit on him. Sad. We gave the game away. I personally lay the blame at the feet of Hurd. I'm not going to brag on teh job of the coaching, but this game is on Hurd.
But every day is a new day. Hurd left. The players stepped up. Kamara and Kelly stepped into the breach like a boss. It was addition by subtraction. Our running game looked stellar. It was Kentucky admittedly, but still, we looked better on offense than any other time this year.
Moving forward, a lot of the injured players are coming back. We have what should be cupcakes in front of us. At least one of them will surprise us with a hard fought game. But we should win out, pad the stats, finish with the best record in years, and go to a bowl game.
This isn't what we imagined at the beginning of the season, but it's what we got. I won't defend the coaches or torch them. They have had their ups and downs. With Hurd gone, time will tell if the offense was sputtering because of Hurd or the play calling. So far Kelly is showing that the play calling wasn't as bad as we thought.
Looking back, I think the team and the coaches have been vilified more unfairly than fairly. Considering the injuries and the as of late revelation of the locker room troubles with Hurd and Williams(and maybe Kongbo), I think that we should re-think collectively about how good or bad this team is. We were expecting a potential NC run. That's dashed. We were banking on at the very least an SECC appearance. That's still a possibility but we are not in control of our own destiny.
Our early wins were not pretty. They showed signs of the trouble to come. But they were wins. The team looked either unprepared or else something else was going on. It's conjecture, but I am going to go on a limb and say that Hurd and Williams may have had the team unfocused because the other players knew about their discontent and possibly could see some sandbagging on the field. The injuries started piling up early and that probably didn't help the mental state. I think we all know that the Georgia game was the trigger for the 3 following losses. As Jalen came off the field and told the coach that they couldn't win a game without him, he set the tone for the next few weeks. He became the proverbial "Turd in the punchbowl". His benching, and the team knowing that the reason given was BS, clearly had them in freefall. But they are a mentally tough bunch. That was proven but their comebacks in the previous games. They were ready for a fight without Hurd on the field but the injuries mounted up quickly in the A&M game. They rallied and took it to overtime but it was all too much. The next week was Bama and well.....Bama is Bama. Between our injuries and off the field issues, we probably never stood a chance. If every player was healthy and we were hitting on all 8 cylinders, we maybe could have squeaked out a win. It was demoralizing to them to watch their playoff chances drift away.
We had two weeks to prepare for Carolina. Those 2 weeks must have been hell behind the scenes. That team walked onto the field and looked like dead men walking. I have no doubt in my mind that Dobbs and the rest of the team new what was up with Hurd before that game started. They were a team who had just watched Williams walk off the team and now Hurd was talking the same crap. They had a quitter as the starting RB. The coach probably tried to play through it. Get Hurd on teh field, let him have a great game, let him think about his place on teh team, etc. But Hurd flopped. The team could see it. He quit on them, and they in turn quit on him. Sad. We gave the game away. I personally lay the blame at the feet of Hurd. I'm not going to brag on teh job of the coaching, but this game is on Hurd.
But every day is a new day. Hurd left. The players stepped up. Kamara and Kelly stepped into the breach like a boss. It was addition by subtraction. Our running game looked stellar. It was Kentucky admittedly, but still, we looked better on offense than any other time this year.
Moving forward, a lot of the injured players are coming back. We have what should be cupcakes in front of us. At least one of them will surprise us with a hard fought game. But we should win out, pad the stats, finish with the best record in years, and go to a bowl game.
This isn't what we imagined at the beginning of the season, but it's what we got. I won't defend the coaches or torch them. They have had their ups and downs. With Hurd gone, time will tell if the offense was sputtering because of Hurd or the play calling. So far Kelly is showing that the play calling wasn't as bad as we thought.
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