Davis's best game was 08 OU game when we opened with Ship in the slot. OU had more talent that day, but we put up over 40 pts on them. We ran sets we hadn't run all year and totally confused the gooners. Other then that, I was never a GD fan, but I will give him credit for that win.
I got to watch an Iowa game last season and it was really similar to what he did here... Bubble left... Bubble right... long pass punt. But eventually the team scored points. The problem with Iowa was not the Offense so much as it was the D. That was last year and haven't seen the Iowa team this season. No hated Davis when Texas was putting up 10 win seasons.. but they sure were upset with his predictable play calling.
I think Greg Davis' Best Year was 1999 Major Applewhite tied for Big XII Player of the year Hodges over 1000 yards rushing and 300 receiving 1999 Not a fan of Greg Davis' but someone mentioned the great years with the superstars. Shows how little they know about Texas Football.
You know, I'm glad GD is gone, but I don't feel any need to dogpile him on a message board. Not sure why some people still waste their energy doing **** like that.
I love how people throw out stats to fit their opinions. You quoted the statement Bubble Bubble Long Punt. What was the YAC during those years you quoted?
I have mixed feelings about Greg Davis. On one hand, I genuinely appreciated the fact that he was diverse enough to build his offenses to suit the unique talent of his players, instead of being one of those damned system guys who has to have players uniquely suited to run his system. On the other hand, despite the fact that he really seemed to get it on a macro big picture level, when we got down to the micro in-the-weeds execution, I thought his play-calling left a whole lot to be desired. The team did so much better when Davis had the personnel to run schemes (like the Zone Read) that allowed the QB to read the defense and choose the option on the fly. But, you know, I'm actually proud of my ambivalence towards Greg Davis because I believe it is a level of enlightenment I have attained. You see, I actually hated Greg Davis for several years and blamed him for things like starting Simms over Applewhite and pulling VY in the Holiday Bowl against Wazzou. Then I came to realize that a lot of those kind of problems was actually Mack Brown's meddling in Greg Davis' business. Hell, he did the same thing to Bryan Harsin. But my one great hope for Major Applewhite is that since he was once the victim of Mack's meddling, hopefully he's still pissed enough to fend off Mack from meddling in his offense. If he is, I think Texas may be all right.
My own personal problems with GDGD are as follows. He didn't seem to correct obvious issues. He kept throwing the same tired solutions to problems that didn't work in 99. why would they start working in 2010? If I as a fan can KNOW what play is coming from the formation, don't you think OU could figure it out, too? As the old proverb says, "A fool learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from the fool's." Well GD didn't even seem to learn from his own mistakes. Its second and one. i bet 98% of the time we do a dive type play. Getting that first down!!! So thats it for me in a nutshell. He seemed to still be living in 1995 even though lots of things changed in the game. He could call a good game if he had a year to do it. (Nebraska 2010, OU 2008) But struggled otherwise in most cases. Yes we won alot of games and he should be commended for some of that. But rarely did I EVER feel we outschemed folks in the offense. Just that we outplayed or out-talented others.
It's not personal Slugga. But folks here hold you up as some football guru. I've seen posters here actually implore you to send your notes to Mack Brown. When you're ranting on Greg Davis cloaked with some aura of subject matter expertise, your credibility on the subject is a legitimate discussion item. Maybe there were events that happened in your life that led you that way, but football experts don't go from a TAPPS position coach to a personal trainer at Gold's Gym.
Slugga, come on man...you're not fooling anyone. People here post, "hey Slugga, what do you think about the pistol?" or "slugga, tells us about how you think we should beat OU's defense." They're asking you because they see you as an expert, a brand that you have embraced and promoted. Most posters here are not football professionals, so accept as fact your "legitimate discussion" just like doctors who post here on medical matters, or mechanics on automotive matters, or mandingo on F1. Whether that's your inention or not, that's the reality. I use to follow your posts dilligently and admired your insights like everyone else, but then your criticsms didn't seem to match what was happening on the field. Also, most of your criticsms aren't based on results (because GD by and large produced), your criticisms most of the time are based on scheme...the domain of football experts. You've criticized GD's scheme vs what you think would be appropriate. GD's schemes were based off of 40 years of coaching at the highest levels of college. Yours are based off of decidely less then that at much lower levels. People point to his lack of HC offers as a sign of GDs incompetence as a coach. Then what exactly does your coaching career track say about you, HF's resident football guru, and your schematic competence? I'm not saying coaches are above criticism from regular fans and only "experts" have credibility. Not at all. On the contrary, changes in the way we view spors, especially in baseball and basketball, has shown that non-sports insiders can find insights that lifelong players, coaches, and scouts overlook. I'm also not the first one to question your football acumen.