So you believe pope and Wiggins were the best options? Jennings and McCloud were the best options? What did Carter do better than Bolden and hall. Bolden was having a crazy good start to the season and somehow Carter was being run out there as a starter...obviously you hope the coaches are always playing the best options to win but no I don't always think that happens. Especially when you see other guys look better when they do get an opportunity to play...if pope and Wiggins were the best options we had at WR then wow...
I am sick-and-******* tired of the pvssified "but X started over Y" complaints from know-nothing porsters who just look up starting line-up cards and form woefully-underinformed opinions.
First, it is ridiculous to think that coaches who are coaching for their very survival, coaches who can be fired at the end of any unsuccessful season, would intentionally play inferior players on a widespread and ongoing basis. This isn't "Tank for Tua", there is no advantage to be gained by losing college football games. Might coaches have opinions that are different from some porsters, such as valuing experience over raw/unrefined talent? Sure. But that doesn't mean that YOUR definition of "best options" is the same as what the coaches feel are their "best options".
Second, you are not there during the weekly practices, you have no idea what these players have been asked to do in the way of preparation, so you are completely blind to SOME of the criteria that the coaches use to assess who starts and who plays in the various games.
Nobody is saying that they have been completely happy with the starting lineup in every game, nobody is completely satisfied with the snapcounts of all the players for every game. You sit on your couch and presume to know everything because of your own personal opinions. And, hey, if you actually know so much, then go out and become a football coach. Clearly, there aren't enough of them in the world.
I'm sure that a bunch of mopes are going to try to mischaracterize what I'm saying here. I am NOT "defending" Manny or the other coaches. I am not "supporting" Manny or the other coaches. I am simply cognizant of the fact that the coaches have their observations and reasons for why they play who they play, and they are privy to more information and data points than we are.
More importantly, I have witnessed multiple games where our team has transformed from "giving up 3 consecutive TDs" to "stopping the next six drives without a score". This Jekyll/Hyde defense is evidence of COACHING issues, where we may have called the wrong formations and plays, rather than "6 of our 11 defenders are horrible human beings who should be run out of Division I-A football". I do feel like Diaz/Baker differences and Banda/Rumph differences have confused the crap out of our defense, to the point where some of these kids are not playing to their potential, or at least until someone steps in and simplifies/adjusts the defense mid-game.
Yes, I'm angry at Pope/Wiggins, but I was also mad at Harley until the light came on, and now most UM fans are happy to have Harley coming back for another year. I am not saying we should start Pope/Wiggins ever again, but if the light comes on for them in the next 8 months, they can still help our team. Vacating their scholarships (when we can't even replace them in 2021) does not help the team at all.
Many of our fans are a bunch of PlayStation All-Americans who think that fantasy football stats should rule everything. Meanwhile, the Hurricane teammates who care about and respect Pope/Wiggins will have greater respect for coaches who continue to try to reach those guys, rather than give up on those guys. The same is true for kids who play linebacker or defensive back. If Pope/Wiggins/Jennings/Carter were causing problems, that would be different.