Wow. I mean, think about it.
That sure is what it LOOKED like out there last year, but it's still kind of jarring to hear it confirmed in this way--and frankly, a (large) point against the head coach, his (now-former) OC, and what passed for "strategy", even with all the injuries and losses. Can't say it was much better the year before, at least on offense. What saved us then was an experienced defense that was still playing as a motivated unit, hadn't yet begun to lose confidence. By last season's Georgia Southern game though they gave up in the face of adversity, were ready not-to-care, and that's what troubled me the most. Part of it was no doubt a feeling of frustrated futility on the part of the defense, knowing they would get little from the rest of the team (EXCEPT maybe a decent punt--which sort of explains the attitude/gameplan referred to above, but it's one you can't win with). That's bad enough, but now we all can see: the whole team had to know it was more or less a foregone conclusion. "Play for a punt"???!!! How could a "give up"/"maybe we can keep it close and get lucky at the end"-mentality NOT eventually spread to the very soul of your team?
Those of us who spend our gamedays here at GE have been driven apoplectic last few seasons watching us repeatedly try to "shorten the game", clutch and hold on, keep it close and win at the end. That's been a constant since Muschamp got here, really, and it JUST DOESN'T WORK IN THE SEC, not if you wanna win championships. You gotta be able to strike quick sometimes, hit 'em upside the head on the scoreboard too--then strike when they're down, again and again if you can. Yeah, our D and special teams can and will supply some of that--but if you can't do it on offense, don't even try, well, you make the "easy" games hard and the hard ones all too often a 50/50 proposition at best.
And how many "bad OC's" does he get to hire? Can it all be blamed on them? They each came here with their basic philosophies intact. The overall approach, coaches' mindset and team attitude flows down and outward from the top. OK, it looks like we may have finally gotten it right this time, but we thought that the first two times. When all is considered dispassionately, I now think our Head Coach deserves the "hot seat" he finds himself on, the feeling that he must "get it done" this season, his team show us all (beginning and ending with themselves) a whole lot more out there, first game thru' last, for him to be given further time here. We can argue about what "get it done" comprises, how much that "more" should be (Final record? Results against rivals? For me it'll be as much a game-by-game, overall philosophy-of-approach and fight-as-a-team thing as those other, more obvious factors), what standard of success held, threshold passed in order to satisfy us, but there have been too many poor choices to go with all the bad luck to make excuses, dance around it anymore: By late season he'd pretty well lost the team, even his beloved defense. Never mind how or why...any sign of anything like that again has to be grounds for profound change, no matter the drastic, time-consuming consequences.
Going into 2014, I'm still a Muschamp-supporter, a fan. I believe he has all kinds of strong points, could still turn out to be the right man at the right time--but I could be wrong, and at this point there are too many warning signs. It's a tough schedule, and there are still some important unknowns, especially on offense. But this is essentially the team Muschamp has been building towards--in his own words at SEC Media Days, "The most talented and experienced team we've had since I came here". If last year's collapse looks to be anything but an anomaly (and one he has LEARNED from, especially with regards to turning things loose on offense), then even I'll have to side with those who say, "Time's up!".
