So, you think Coaches always tell it exactly the way it is? They close practice for a reason. They said neck and neck, but who the fuck knows. I know this for a fact, they put Trotter out there because for whatever their reasoning, they figured him to give us the best chance of winning. It's that simple.
The coach rhetoric in the papers is meaningless. I mean this "he has some gunslinger in him" bit caused someone to ask "then why'd they ever start Trotter" as if to insinuate they were never "neck and neck" and Mosley has all these wonderful traits they simply ignored, and Trotter had none. I have no idea who did what in practice, if they really believed it was neck and neck, if they were just saying that to push Trotter, or motivate Mosley.
Are you getting this?
You asked if all of the people in this thread thought that Moseley beat the shit out of Trotter in practice; I wasn't sure why, seeing as most people in this thread seem to be of the opinion that it was neck and neck. It was particularly confusing because your first reply was to Sani, who expressly stated that he thought they must have been neck and neck.
Sure, coaches don't kiss and tell about everything in the media; if Moseley had performed like a one-legged retard (see Chris Todd), I'm sure the coaches would have said that he put up a "good effort" and that it was a "close race," or whatever sugar-coated phrases they wanted to use.
But when you've got multiple coaches and players stating for the record that it was a close call,
in addition to the fact that the starting quarterback wasn't named until 16 days before the first game, then the information that we are given does tend to indicate that it was neck and neck.
Now, we can theorize all day about whether "coachspeak" was used, to what degree it was used, and how we should interpret it, but as you said, the practices were closed; this "coachspeak" and the actions of the coaches (e.g., not naming a starter until late August) are the only indicators we have. I don't see any reason to lambaste everyone by telling them how stupid they are for thinking that it was neck and neck when, in actuality, you don't know for sure either. The only thing we have to go off of are the coaches' statements and their actions, both of which seem to indicate that it was a close race.