Overall, again, this was supposed to be the year a young D was to be helped by an experienced more diverse O...it hasn't happened and overall the D (with the exception of a horrid secondary) has been surprisingly good, and called on much like the last 10 years (it seems:bang
to be constantly on the field doing everything for poor offenses except taking the field and running the offense too. Let's be honest it seems like most games our D must hold'em, fold'em, cause turnovers, shorten the field (cause special teams ain't), get turnovers, cause turnovers, get the O the ball back and be on the field much to long of a time in some sort of weird reversal of the rules of time of posession.:bat: That being said, it is up to enMr.Shafer whom I rarely have a criticism for and beleive he is coaching above and beyond his teams talent and abilities,...he must get a stop or two verses THAT offense,...especially when your O showed up for a few plays to help you. We seem to have become the complete opposite of who we used to be with no seeming middle ground. Several years ago, if it was ground n pound play we could hang around a bit...but as soon as a spread team or its like came around we would get absolutely shredded. We NEED a FULL TIME special teams coach next season. Special teams needs to be permanently shored up and beyond that needs to be a weapon once more. People forget, there was a time when our special teams were the talk of the country, we were quick, tricky, aggressive, and teams had to literally game plan and account for our special teams and the scoring and havok they brought. This was long before everyone talked Va.Tech special teams and 'Beamer Ball'...they just copied what we were doing and somehow got more famous for it.
Again we must all step back from the ledge...the coaches and the players are as upset as we are and maybe even more so (hard to imagine cause there's a reason why we're called fans:crazy
. We just need to get to a bowl game. Right now it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel is a train but bowl eligibility is still within our grasp. Get that, and things will be alright as far as the overall direction of this program.
