We always hear the things Mario lacks or doesn’t do well. Heres some examples.
1. No play calling experience or scheme
2. X / O guru
3. In game coaching
4. Qb development / offense issues
Yet we forget about the things he does bring here. When he got the job I mentioned all those negatives but I also mentioned the positives and those intrigued me. Here’s the examples.
1. We’ll be physical and much tougher
2. He’ll acquire talent and build a talented roster
3. Most importantly he’ll build up the trenches and will put a focus on the OL.
4. Build a culture
We tend to focus on all the negatives but having a coach is a lot like finding the perfect woman, it doesn’t exist. We’re already seeing his finger prints being put all over this team. Today we played a top 25 Sec team and looked like the more physical team. He’s completely rebuilt the OL in one year and stacked talent / depth that we haven’t had in years.
Football is and will always be dictated by the trenches and our coach specializes in the trenches. So the OC’s will come and go but the one consistent here will be quality OL play. That alone is just as big as say having a X / O guru like Sarkasian or Heupel.
Tonight was Mario’s biggest win and was a much needed sign to fans / recruits that things are changing and he does in fact have a plan. This is how you sell a program, not cute quotes , slogans or talk game. The proof is in substance.
As I‘ve been saying “ things just feel different with this team “ and i’m even more confident of that tonight. Teams in the past would’ve packed up camp after multiple power shots to the dome. But there was resolve , mental toughness and determination I haven’t seen in years.
Great win.