Vandy, and Other CFB Oddities

Good reads.

Couple of things from this corner.

Coaching for 10/15 years or so and fail to recognize that the game has “changed”, refusing to “adapt”, nine times out of ten produces or should produce pink slips.

Here I go again . . . . there are reasons that certain coaches retain their jobs . . . . Georgia’s case, the group that comprise Mahogany Row. The flow of money never ceased until . . . . it became noticeable that there were a lack of “butts in the seats”.

Talent was never a “huge issue”, the problem was too many were “comfortable” for too long. I do not believe that is or will be the case with Head Coach Kirby Smart. If Kirby can copy or duplicate what Nick Saban has accomplished in Tuscaloosa . . . . for me it would be to bring some of the comfortable folks down and run our program as a “football program”. There is a reason that Saban makes millions and it is not coaching his program the way our program has been handled for YEARS. Saban speaks, others listen.

SouthernDawg mentions someone above him saying first time shame on me, second time shame on you, paraphrasing of course. I also buy into the 3 /4 year recruiting suggested above. There are folks outside of our program that are no longer saying . . . . “same old Bulldogs”. My cautious button takes me to where Wartdawg is, he along with a couple more on this board have been on board with offensive line failures for a long time. Say again, game starts with the snap of the ball.

Again, enjoy reading “football chatter” and it has been really good here recently.

More Vandy oddities:

Apparently Derek Mason is unhappy that Kirby isn't naming his starting QB for the Vandy game....

Derek Mason wrote:
“Listen, we can quit with the coaching dramatics,” Mason said Tuesday, making clear he believes Fromm will start a fifth straight game, even though Jacob Eason is healthy enough to at least return to action.

“Right now, I believe Fromm is the guy,” Mason said at his weekly news conference, which was posted on the school’s Twitter feed. “I believe Eason is an extremely talented quarterback. But that’s up to Kirby who he decides to go with. I mean he’s not fooling me, if that’s what we think we’re doing here. That young man, Fromm’s won ballgames. He just came off a [41-0] win.”

Mason has a lot to learn. Kirby's philosophy on how he goes about this sheds a lot more insight into the tactics and exactitudes in which he was groomed - give your opponent nothing. Absolutely nothing. If you see an advantage, take it. If you see a weakness - exploit it. In this particular situation, this is culture change on the part of the coaches, not the players. Kirby is playing chess here, and Mason is wanting to play checkers. The very fact that he's vocally annoyed that Kirby isn't naming Fromm the starter shows that the tactic is working, because a coach that truly wasn't concerned about what their opponent was doing would care less and not even comment on it in his press conference. The days of giving the medical report and availability of players is over.

It's a culmination of a few big things and a lot of little things that make championship teams, and the minor details you perfect pay dividends in the long run.

In the end, Fromm may indeed start. Mason will find out about it shortly before the fans do.

I'm really happy to see that Head Coach Kirby Smart handles himself and the team this way. A world away from the milk toast, kumbaya past we had to endure!

Coach Mason finds himself in a predicament of sorts. This group of young men (2017) are “his”. Same can be said to some extent about Coach Smart, this group of young men (Team 2017) are heavily flavored with many that he and his group recruited and now are enjoying playing time.

This little tidbit sticks in my mind. Kirby Smart is of course close to Nick Saban, also is a person/coach that Bill Belichick has spent quality time with, more than once, friends. Makes for an awesome resume. Previous time served by Smart was “Smart time” for sure. Kirby in my mind was also aided by Coach Pruitt spending a short time in Athens. While there are certainly differences in the way they coach, there are also many similarities. Seems the “stars are aligned” for the first time in a very long time in Athens.

More to the game than quarterbacks Coach Mason. Feel sure you “witnessed” that last Saturday. Head games are just that . . . . head games.

Buc, me thinks Coach Mason might be trying anything he can to come up with a Game plan outside the Game!

Chief, fully expect Vandy to play hard. Tough University to recruit top talent to consistently. That was the problem that I had with our previous coaches . . . . We always had superior talent, problem was coaching change did not come soon enough.

Looking forward to watching FSU/Miami game this weekend. A lot of talented high school players in Florida paying close attention to this game. Know I am off the subject, just telling the truth.