Still don't think so, will depend on the rest of the season, we essentially lost to GT last night, and the worst part is we never dared them to beat us in the air.
That's ridiculous. Nebraska has far more talent than Georgia Tech, which admittedly was holding defensive tryouts in practice last week after nearly being embarrassed by Georgia Southern. Do you think we are going to be a 7.5 point underdog at Georgia Tech?
Somehow there are too many members of the Canes fanbase who don't understand the value of running the football often and physically, and believe that any loss to that type of team shouldn't happen. I guess that's where all the Mike Leach threads come from, the same mindset.
Who cares if Nebraska took McNeese State for granted and nearly lost? Nobody could seriously believe that was the version we'd see. Nebraska has been waiting for us for more than a decade, just like Ohio State waited nearly a decade after receiving so much grief for the pass interference call in the Fiesta Bowl. Unfortunately we got both of those teams at home in the early stage of the home and home.
We lost as 4 point underdog at Louisville and 7.5 point underdog at Nebraska. Neither is a crime. Frankly the top guys at this site routinely underestimate the opponent, particularly away from home, and that theme transfers to the threads. This time we were told that Nebraska is mediocre. Last year there was sentiment we had a reasonable chance at Florida State, even though we were underdog by more than 3 touchdowns and with the corresponding astronomical money line. Louisville in the bowl game last year entered as one of the top handful of defensive teams in the country based on yards per play and had several high NFL picks. Apparently none of it matters. We're in South Florida with all the flashy high school kids so we're birthrighted to dominate. Meanwhile I'll continue to assert that preseason ratings are the truth and the light. Until we are rated very high by that measure we are irrelevant and/or fraudulent. The examples overwhelm the exceptions.
Bottom line our talent level is improving and we outman the majority of our remaining opponents. That should equate to victories, although not against Florida State. Many other results are subject to normal distribution. I don't see how Golden is threatened unless he starts to lose in bunches against teams he is supposed to beat, or loses the majority of the toss-up type games. At that point the distribution is not logical and not acceptable.
I despise the passive defense as much as anyone else. I don't see how it's fatal to Al Golden, not at this stage. The standard course of events is pressure to remove the coordinator. That's what the Dolphins faced last offseason with Mike Sherman. By some accounts, Joe Philbin nearly fell on his sword and refused. We'll see how Golden answers the same question.
Back to the Georgia Tech comparison. The 3-4 defense with the natural gaps doesn't fare well against zone read type offenses. Nebraska runs plenty of that, along with straight ahead power. Our defensive scheme matches up much better against a standard option team like Georgia Tech with the exchange points barely behind the line of scrimmage and the quarterback flowing laterally along the line of scrimmage.
