First off, I apologize for hyping this product. It’s embarrassing. Instead of erasing the Peach Bowl memory, we told the world nothing has changed. We won’t be respected for a long time after this. And we shouldn’t be.
As hopeless as we all feel, there is an entire season to play. Many seasons that looked doomed after the first game turned out very well. What are the best (realistic) steps to get things moving in the right direction? No coach is getting fired mid-season, so I’ll leave that to the other threads.
My overarching thought is this: we let experience play over talent because we started with LSU. That didn’t work, and every inferior talent got exposed. Now is the time to trust and fast track the talent.
QB- This is an obvious one. Rosier is 47% over his last eight games. That is a sample size of more than half his starting career. You can’t win like that. He’s not even the most athletic QB on the team. If anything, he’s the least dynamic.
We will be the underdog against every good team we play as long as Malik is the starter. What kills me the most is the lack of urgency he plays with. He was lifeless.
Greentree is not effective for evaluating QBs. Rosier looked improved until the real games started. We have four light games coming up. Put all three young guys under the fire (with live tackling) and see who emerges. Mix in reps with the first team. Use this schedule and the new redshirt rule to find out who belongs under center.
OL- Richt has been privately telling people that this team will take the next step when Delone Scaife, Cleveland Reed and John Campbell are ready to play. Time to expedite that process. Our guards looked out of place last night. A team like Clemson will make them look worse.
We need to get our guys through growing pains early. I’m not saying to start all three, but give them meaningful reps starting immediately. Scaife at RT and Donaldson at G may ultimately be the move.
P/K- Same story as above. Open it up over the next four games. We need to find out who is ready to play in a live environment against FSU. We were playing with a handicap all night.
DB- Dean and Knowles looked like the same guys. They are older than the others but not any better mentally. Time to let the young bloods learn on the job.
LSU was the perfect first test for us because they are strong where we are weak. Physical, strong and able to neutralize our athletic advantages. We failed the test miserably. Now is the time to radically rethink our approach as we look towards FSU.
