Disagree. I'll give Gus credit for one thing. He's doing everything he can to get the best players and coaches possible on the defensive side of the ball. Has been since he was hired. Don't dare stop recruiting 4* and 5* kids for your defense. Bama's not. Ole Mi$$ is in the arms race. So is Georgia and Florida and LSU. If a coach leaves...and they do all the time at every program. How many DC's did we go through in CTT's tenure? Find the best you possibly can to replace him. Gus is doing that. Whether or not Steele is the man to get it done, time will tell. But Gus just hired LSU's DC. He's doing everything he can.
I still hold that a lot of our problem (Not QB or play calling) comes from the wrong philosophy in the weight room. I watched several times last night when Bama D-Linemen threw their man to the ground like rag dolls. It was complete and utter domination because it was a bunch of full grown men facing boys. But under Gus, I'm afraid that's the part that's not going to change. Anyway, that's a debate for another day. I say don't take your foot off the gas. Never stop getting the best players and coaches you can and keep working to improve your defense.
We stood up physically against Alabama for three quarters and performed as well as we could (better than most) considering the lack of execution/play calling by the offense. Some of what goes into being deemed a four or five star recruit is work in the weight room over and beyond ones natural abilities. Alabama has a decided depth advantage over every team they play and have since Saban's second or third season.
The teams that have beaten them had front line talent to go toe to toe with them and score points against them while they were "managing" the ballgame. Kiffen was brought in to open things up somewhat while still maintaining that power run/play action identity.
Under Malzahn we expected to be sitting where Dabo Swinney has his program. Clemson has stayed true to form with the dual threat QB after failing with the baseball player Kyle Parker. Beyond that, they recruit a near top five class every season. They noted our formula from 2010 and they built on it while we went backwards in the many ways that THS described above which resulted in the firing of Chizik.
We stumbled out of the gate this season and only slightly recovered. The defense began to play better after the LSU beatdown.
Jovon Robinson appeared but there was the QB diliemma (either/or and both) on top of that goddamned point killer, the
wildcat. It's certainly Legatron's best friend.
The answer is to stay with what you know with the best Jimmy's and Joe's.
And we
all know that a dual threat QB capable of executing the zone/read is what this offense requires.
Varoom!