I'm watching the player press conference and I find myself absolutely baffled by the attitude of every player they've talked to so far. No one seems angry, no one seems to really have a whole lot of give a damn in them. It's like they've all been given a script in which they have to say "we didn't execute" over and over again. Jason Hall was asked point blank how getting a grade of F by his coach affected him and he just more or less shrugged it off. Cedric Flowers is now on and saying a lot of the same things. If the players refuse to be or can't be motivated to be angry and make themselves accountable to get this fixed then nothing the coaches say or do will matter one bit. It's depressing to see the lack of fire from these guys.
After watching the Arky game and the ND game, I am not surprised. The fire we expected to be instilled by this staff just isn't there.
Win or lose, they have to go back home to their dorm room and sleep 8 feet away from their 300 pound lineman roommate until their senior year.
I get that, but maybe there is some sarcasm here that my meter isn't detecting I don't expect them to call out their teammates to the press. But it would be nice to hear some personal (meaningful) anger/attitude about the way the player talking played and how he was going to take it upon himself to change it and get better. Coaches can only do so much. The player has to have the fire to not ever want to be embarrassed like that again. I didn't get the sense that anyone they talked to today felt that way.
There were a number of times during the game I saw players throw up their hands in either frustration or disgust after a play. You don't do that if you're bought into the system. Seems to me they aren't bought in. Their reactions told me they question the coaching decisions. It's almost as if they're saying "C'mon coach, just let us play".
There's really nothing they can say right now. They just have to prove it on the field. Mack after the 1999 ou debacle said this will never happen again. It happened 4 more times in a row. The rebuilding will take time and longer without a QB.
The problem is Charlie is on pace to catch the total amount of 20+ point losses Mack Brown had in 16 years in 2-3 years at this point in time.
Charlie is nowhere near Mack's league right now, not even close. Not even burned out Mack's league. Last I checked Mack ended his last 3 years 25-14. CS is sitting at 6-8 with six 21+ point drubbings. We'll see how Charlie handles this and if he can make this season respectable. But as of now the new coaching staff has been a resounding failure where it counts...on the field. An 8-5 soft Mack team would be a delight to have right now.
Remember when the knock on us was we were soft? These were the same frustrations I had with player interviews back then, they all seemed fine with the loss, no matter to whom and no matter the degree of beat down. Only. Thing different is I did not hear the "don't let a loss beat you twice" mantra.
From 2000-2004 we had loads more talent than we have now but there are some of the same issues. We were out coached, didn't play the right QB, blown off the ball, against ou anyway. 2005 VY came in and changed the attitude of the team and coaches. At this point I would take anybody over Swoopes but the main thing missing right now is the QB. 2nd we have some over paid assistant coaches not doing their job.
Not sure getting angry would really show any big difference. Diggs got hella angry last year and we still sucked. I agree that it's more about the execution on the field. They're either not doing it because they don't have the brains/talent to do it, or because the coaches aren't putting them in a position to do it. The long TD passes (and the first one of the game) were just massive mental blunders, predicated on the idea that "well maybe if we got some pressure, Zaire wouldn't be able to connect, and even if there is no pressure, our zone might confuse him into throwing it into my hands." It's the laziest scheme I've ever seen against a good team, which was a hallmark of Bedford's defenses in his two years as OK State's DC. It's what you do against New Mexico State when you're up by 40. I think the players have this mental block about playing decent teams, too. "This is what happened the last time we played a ranked team" syndrome.
I could be wrong, but Hager reminds me of a guy who speaks only a few words, but means what he says. I see him as a leader on the team in the short run. He won't allow guys to wuss around.
Part of me winced when he got in that guy's face because, you know, scoreboard. But part of me was happy to see someone with some fire and emotion. And talent. That young man has some talent.
From what I can tell, Williams technique is pretty good, need to improve pass protection. Perk is a guard playing tackle. Vahe will be really good once he gets the technique and gets used to the speed of the college game. They looked somewhat better in the run game which was apparently working, but Watson went away from. It's the pass protection and technique that stinks right now. Depends on how fast these guys catch on, which I hope is very FAST!
Good assessment of the OL situation. The current O demands a fair amount of passing so the OL MUST get their assignments, techniques and footwork down solid - FAST.
That's a whole lot of assumption. I'd have been throwing my hands up saying "is one of you guys going to block someone?" or "how do you turn that guy loose down the sideline like that?" Could be any number of things that are frustrating them, and should be frustrating them. Frankly, the micro-analyzing player comments in press conferences is just ridiculous. They're not supposed to be out there venting. Don't they always hear "the loss is over, put it behind you and move forward"? I feel like some of you are more angry about the fact that you're frustrated and want to dwell on the loss and are irritated that the guys are trying to move on to next week. Just because they don't say what you want them to say, that doesn't mean they're not ticked about the loss or that they don't care.
We can only pray they have short memories and are not just shell-shocked from multiple embarrassments against any team that presents danger. Personally, I feel it would go a long way if they handed Heard the start and showed these guys that they're going for broke to win. A blind man could see the offense had a little more moxie with Heard bouncing around in there. His on the field presence is night and day from Swoopes. Even Charlie admitted that defenses have more to fear when Heard steps in. Attitude, confidence, and will coming from the top spot energizes a huddle and inspires extra effort. Coming back to the huddle and seeing Swoopes' unsure persona can't be good.
Unfortunately the OL didn't turn #7 loose on two pass plays; or totally vacate the middle of the field so the ND could run up the middle untouched for a TD. No it was a team totally unprepared to play the team they faced. The concern is they had 8 months to get ready.
Agree - I said in another thread, the "oh no, it's happening again" nagging feeling in one's mind can be a pretty difficult thing to shake.
