What if? I mean, I'm thinking we take care of business in Athens at least. I'm optimistic about Tuscaloosa but think it could go either way.
But what if we lose both?
If that happens, I assume it will be mostly defensive woes that caused it. Should Johnson get another season to right the ship?
Is d recruiting where you think it should be?
I say it depends on the numbers. If we look like tamu/sc game type numbers on d for the remaining 2 games, Gus has to strongly consider making a change at end of season.
If we improve a good bit, give him another year.
IF we were to lose both
HOW we lose on the road might play into the answer.
IDK what the relationship between EJ and Gus would be at season's end but I seriously doubt we get rid of him.
Granted we opened up the defensive recruiting to get him the running, long reach defenders he wanted and certainly we can never have enough but it's obvious at least to me that he can't make his version of the 4-2-5 work without an uber talented rush end like Lawson on the field.
Does that let Whitey off the hook by my estimation?
FUCK NO!
He is a highly paid coordinator that has seen it all and we bought into all of the fanfare upon the hire even though it was apparent he was a journeyman that could wow initially in some cases when he was probably asked to leave in others. That seems to be the way regime change works and his experience and having worked with and against spread-type teams made him an attractive candidate. Am I being too critical?
I'M NOT WAVING A SHAKER. I WATCH FOOTBALL DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHERS.
Am I optimistic?
YES, MORESO THAN MOST HERE. I ACTUALLY THINK WE CAN OUTSCORE ANYBODY ON ANY GIVEN DAY.
*btw we didn't have Duke Williams last season and we managed to do pretty well.
In EJ's defense...having Carl Lawson on the field is worth 3-4 points in my estimation. Lawson also makes everyone around him better and their job easier. Someone else up front would save us another point by virtue of Lawson's presence on the field tying up two men or drawing a blocker away from a given area where needed. IMO having Lawson has a trickle down effect. Sure our coverage is the suxxors. But it's tick, tick, tick for a QB when we have a force coming from the edge. And he doesn't have to average but maybe 1.5 sacks per game because the threat alone demands attention and makes a QB uncomfortable if not antsy or more apt to make a mistake.
EJ stays. Seems like a nice man and who wants to go through another transitional phase with somebody that wants to ditch the 4-2-5?
Like TCU, give us a few stops, force a couple of turnovers and fly to the ball.
So there, WDE!