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What the First Round of the College Playoffs Tells Us

LuCane

LuCane

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If some of you have been reading my concerns since Coach Golden arrived, it was one common theme: is he good enough to get us through the new version of College football? I don't really care about being "good" or 10-2 or consistently "in the hunt." The new environment dictates that you have to win mostly all (or all) of your games in the regular season. It then means you go on about a 3-game playoff: Conference championship, Semifinal Round and finally a Championship.

What today's games showed me, or at least provided further evidence to support, is that Jimmies and Joes may still be more important than Xs and Os, but good coaches will be more important than ever to win Championships going forward. You need strategists in addition to great talent. The Ohio State game is a serious message. In the absence of strategists, you need systems that are likely to create mismatches and grind out a particular style of victory. Think about the NFL playoffs. Defense and 3rd down conversions will consistently win meaningful games.

The College Football landscape is more difficult than ever. Coach Golden's history shows an inability to win meaningful games against equally talented or superior (in terms of talent) football teams. His record against teams that finish in the Top 25 has been talked about for a long time. We sometimes read arguments about how "we're making progress" or in the direction to have enough talent to compete in our conference. This isn't another Al Golden thread. This is a "what do we need to compete" thread.

Today was more evidence that we are headed in the wrong direction. The formula has changed.
 
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Getting a tall strong dual threat QB would help. The times have changed. It's 11 on 11 now not 10 on 11
 
LuCane said:
If some of you have been reading my concerns since Coach Golden arrived, it was one common theme: is he good enough to get us through the new version of College football? I don't really care about being "good" or 10-2 or consistently "in the hunt." The new environment dictates that you have to win mostly all (or all) of your games in the regular season. It then means you go on about a 3-game playoff: Conference championship, Semifinal Round and finally a Championship.

What today's games showed me, or at least provided further evidence to support, is that Jimmies and Joes may still be more important than Xs and Os, but good coaches will be more important than ever to win Championships going forward. You need strategists in addition to great talent. The Ohio State game is a serious message. In the absence of strategists, you need systems that are likely to create mismatches and grind out a particular style of victory. Think about the NFL playoffs. Defense and 3rd down conversions will consistently win meaningful games.

The College Football landscape is more difficult than ever. Coach Golden's history shows an inability to win meaningful games against equally talented or superior (in terms of talent) football teams. His record against teams that finish in the Top 25 has been talked about for a long time. We sometimes read arguments about how "we're making progress" or in the direction to have enough talent to compete in our conference. This isn't another Al Golden thread. This is a "what do we need to compete" thread.

Today was more evidence that we are headed in the wrong direction. The formula has changed.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And as long as there's guys like Harbaugh, Meyer, and Saban out there, we won't be winning ****.

We need to find the next great coach as we've done multiple times before. Or just hire Butch back.

There's a group of coaches who has absolutely dominated college football for the past few years and we have nobody who is even close to that group.
 
Here's what I see. On offense and defense you gotta do a few things, but you gotta do them well. Don't get over complicated. Keep it simple and execute what you do do to perfection.
 
What I see is teams need to have a killer leading the team. The head coach has to have a huge pair of nuts, be able to adjust, use his players strengths, and be willing to make the tough decisions. All things our current coach is lacking.
 
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Good post Lu....but with all due respect I didn't need the first round of the playoffs to tell me how much of an abortion Golden is.
 
Well if the wind is against us we are completely ****ed anyway aparently
 
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I've always said I'd take great coaching over great talent. It isn't every day you have the talent of our '01 or even '02 team.
 
The last two days of football have made it crystal clear how wide the gap is between where we are and where the good teams are. I haven't seen a team since our game that we could be competitive with as we are now.
 
This point has been made before and as you said confirmed today, but interestingly, the first person I heard making this point was Warren Sapp, shortly after Golden was hired.
 
LuCane said:
If some of you have been reading my concerns since Coach Golden arrived, it was one common theme: is he good enough to get us through the new version of College football? I don't really care about being "good" or 10-2 or consistently "in the hunt." The new environment dictates that you have to win mostly all (or all) of your games in the regular season. It then means you go on about a 3-game playoff: Conference championship, Semifinal Round and finally a Championship.

What today's games showed me, or at least provided further evidence to support, is that Jimmies and Joes may still be more important than Xs and Os, but good coaches will be more important than ever to win Championships going forward. You need strategists in addition to great talent. The Ohio State game is a serious message. In the absence of strategists, you need systems that are likely to create mismatches and grind out a particular style of victory. Think about the NFL playoffs. Defense and 3rd down conversions will consistently win meaningful games.

The College Football landscape is more difficult than ever. Coach Golden's history shows an inability to win meaningful games against equally talented or superior (in terms of talent) football teams. His record against teams that finish in the Top 25 has been talked about for a long time. We sometimes read arguments about how "we're making progress" or in the direction to have enough talent to compete in our conference. This isn't another Al Golden thread. This is a "what do we need to compete" thread.

Today was more evidence that we are headed in the wrong direction. The formula has changed.
Click to expand...

Ok, Good point. (sarcasm)

Seriously, this must be a joke. Does anyone really take Golden seriously. Why would we even consider him on a par with the top coaches in CFB.

On a somewhat related note, the funniest thing I thought about the Rose Bowl was how many people thought FSU would win the 2nd half. Anyone who has watched CFB knows that Helfrich is the master of 2nd half adjustments. They were dominant in the 2nd half of games. I was at the Rose Bowl and was funny watching Oregon exploit FSU's LBs all game.
 
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sfcane2 said:
LuCane said:
If some of you have been reading my concerns since Coach Golden arrived, it was one common theme: is he good enough to get us through the new version of College football? I don't really care about being "good" or 10-2 or consistently "in the hunt." The new environment dictates that you have to win mostly all (or all) of your games in the regular season. It then means you go on about a 3-game playoff: Conference championship, Semifinal Round and finally a Championship.

What today's games showed me, or at least provided further evidence to support, is that Jimmies and Joes may still be more important than Xs and Os, but good coaches will be more important than ever to win Championships going forward. You need strategists in addition to great talent. The Ohio State game is a serious message. In the absence of strategists, you need systems that are likely to create mismatches and grind out a particular style of victory. Think about the NFL playoffs. Defense and 3rd down conversions will consistently win meaningful games.

The College Football landscape is more difficult than ever. Coach Golden's history shows an inability to win meaningful games against equally talented or superior (in terms of talent) football teams. His record against teams that finish in the Top 25 has been talked about for a long time. We sometimes read arguments about how "we're making progress" or in the direction to have enough talent to compete in our conference. This isn't another Al Golden thread. This is a "what do we need to compete" thread.

Today was more evidence that we are headed in the wrong direction. The formula has changed.
Click to expand...

Ok, Good point. (sarcasm)

Seriously, this must be a joke. Does anyone really take Golden seriously. Why would we even consider him on a par with the top coaches in CFB.

On a somewhat related note, the funniest thing I thought about the Rose Bowl was how many people thought FSU would win the 2nd half. Anyone who has watched CFB knows that Helfrich is the master of 2nd half adjustments. They were dominant in the 2nd half of games. I was at the Rose Bowl and was funny watching Oregon exploit FSU's LBs all game.
Click to expand...

In our defense, we are usually asleep by then.
 
I learned that Im very happy Urban left the state of Florida. Dude can straight coach. He stepped in at Columbus and won right away. Now he goes out and beats Bama with a 3rd string QB. So now the question is where do we go from here? Hypothetically speaking lets say Al gets fired, is Butch gonna be enough? What we know about him is that he will be able to evaluate, recruit and develop, as he proved at UNC that he didn't just get lucky during his tenure at Miami, but can he be sufficient enough on game day?

I remember Butch being somewhat of a mess on game day, but more often than not our talent won out. I still think that at the end of the day, superior talent will win now out and we can get that superior talent. I don't think there was a true elite team this year. Bama is not Bama from 09 or 11, they were a solid team but had tons of holes especially in the secondary, and from an offensive standpoint were bailed out by Cooper, who should have been a difference maker for us. Also to consider, I am one that believes that a lot of the SEC hype is warranted but its run from 06-12 where they were without question the best conference is over, as they were drastically overrated the last 2 years, especially this year. Even look at FSU, they were once again a **** good team, but they weren't as dominant as last year. Their LB cores were weak this year and decimated through attrition and injuries, and their offensive talent wasn't there either. What Im trying to say is that there isn't a 2001 and 2002 Miami, 2002 tOSU, 2004 USC, 08 Okie and 08 UF, and 09 and 11 Bama team his year in the playoff, and Miami with a competent HC can field a team of that caliber 2-3 times a decade.

Its all about difference makers, take 08 UF vs 08 OU. That OU team was stacked and one of the best coached offenses Ive ever seen, but when the chips were down Percy Harvin and Tebow took over that game and there wasn't a **** thing anybody could do about it. I agree that you strategists but if you get the special players, which we are knee deep in down SFLA, you will win titles.
 
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sfcane2 said:
LuCane said:
If some of you have been reading my concerns since Coach Golden arrived, it was one common theme: is he good enough to get us through the new version of College football? I don't really care about being "good" or 10-2 or consistently "in the hunt." The new environment dictates that you have to win mostly all (or all) of your games in the regular season. It then means you go on about a 3-game playoff: Conference championship, Semifinal Round and finally a Championship.

What today's games showed me, or at least provided further evidence to support, is that Jimmies and Joes may still be more important than Xs and Os, but good coaches will be more important than ever to win Championships going forward. You need strategists in addition to great talent. The Ohio State game is a serious message. In the absence of strategists, you need systems that are likely to create mismatches and grind out a particular style of victory. Think about the NFL playoffs. Defense and 3rd down conversions will consistently win meaningful games.

The College Football landscape is more difficult than ever. Coach Golden's history shows an inability to win meaningful games against equally talented or superior (in terms of talent) football teams. His record against teams that finish in the Top 25 has been talked about for a long time. We sometimes read arguments about how "we're making progress" or in the direction to have enough talent to compete in our conference. This isn't another Al Golden thread. This is a "what do we need to compete" thread.

Today was more evidence that we are headed in the wrong direction. The formula has changed.
Click to expand...

Ok, Good point. (sarcasm)

Seriously, this must be a joke. Does anyone really take Golden seriously. Why would we even consider him on a par with the top coaches in CFB.

On a somewhat related note, the funniest thing I thought about the Rose Bowl was how many people thought FSU would win the 2nd half. Anyone who has watched CFB knows that Helfrich is the master of 2nd half adjustments. They were dominant in the 2nd half of games. I was at the Rose Bowl and was funny watching Oregon exploit FSU's LBs all game.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure what this snarky response means. In an attempt to talk about college football and reduce Golden talk around here, my hope was to discuss how important a certain style of coach or style of play is important in the college football playoff landscape.
 
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bobbydigius said:
I learned that Im very happy Urban left the state of Florida. Dude can straight coach. He stepped in at Columbus and won right away. Now he goes out and beats Bama with a 3rd string QB. So now the question is where do we go from here? Hypothetically speaking lets say Al gets fired, is Butch gonna be enough? What we know about him is that he will be able to evaluate, recruit and develop, as he proved at UNC that he didn't just get lucky during his tenure at Miami, but can he sufficient enough on game?

I remember Butch being somewhat of a mess on game day, but more often than not our talent won out. I still think that at the end of the day, superior talent will win now out and we can get that superior talent. I don't think there was a true elite team this year. Bama is not Bama from 09 or 11, they were a solid team but had tons of holes especially in the secondary, and from an offensive standpoint were bailed out by Cooper, who should have been a difference maker for us. Also to consider, I am one that believes that a lot of the SEC hype is warranted but its run from 06-12 where they were without question the best conference is over, as they were drastically overrated the last 2 years, especially this year. Even look at FSU, they were once again a **** good team, but they weren't as dominant as last year. Their LB cores were weak this year and decimated through attrition and injuries, and their offensive talent wasn't there either. What Im trying to say is that there isn't a 2001 and 2002 Miami, 2002 tOSU, 2004 USC, 08 Okie and 08 UF, and 09 and 11 Bama team his year in the playoff, and Miami with a competent HC can field a team of that caliber 2-3 times a decade.

Its all about difference makers, take 08 UF vs 08 OU. That OU team was stacked and one of the best coached offenses Ive ever seen, but when the chips were down Percy Harvin and Tebow took over that game and there wasn't a **** thing anybody could do about it. I agree that you strategists but if you get the special players, which we are knee deep in down SFLA, you will win titles.
Click to expand...

Thank you. This was more of the discussion I hoped for. Anyway, the point about 08 UF vs 08 OU is about conversions. Meaningful games, at whatever level, increasingly become about conversions on both sides of the ball. That means that, yes, individual talent will seem extremely important in those plays. But, good strategy to get in the right down and distance will also be critical. To your point, Urban was all over that today. He managed the game like a cot**** artist. Bama had more talent and Meyer and his coaching staff were just on top of every aspect. The guy is a world-class f'head, but a detailed m'f'ing coach.
 
Great post. Al Golden is several levels below this brand of big boy college football. Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Jimbo Fisher, those are real professional football coaches. No bull**** with them. All results. Even the second tier on display recently, your Gary Pattersons, Mark Dantonios, Art Briles are master strategists, talent developers, and managers of top staffs around the country. Real pros.

Miami can't just continue to luck into these great coaches, like they had from Schnelly to Butch, where it was a coach and a team that had two middle fingers in the air despite administration constantly fighting with the athletic department. Everyone needs to be on the same page with a goal of creating the best brand of football possible. You don't see the level of bull**** that Miami has with these old money institutions. You've got the entire operation on the same page. Having an administration that cares about having a winning program is paramount. Allocating resources to maximize what little infrastructure the school does have, having the wherewithal to seek out the best and brightest up-and-coming coaches (because we can't compete with paying big boy coaching salaries) to use this as a stepping stone to more money or the pro game is vital, but that only comes with having an interest in having an elite program and that clearly comes from the suits.

As for the structure of the roster, there is nothing around the country that this school can't get within two counties. QB, OL, DL, doesn't matter, its all here and all local, and its enough to supply nearly every prominent school in the country with a few players and thrifty mid-tier and even bottom feeders with their best players and earliest contributors. You just need someone that understands this (our best coaches understood this before they even arrived) and we'll be fine from a talent perspective. Miami is as talent deficient today as we've been in going on 40 years and Miami is still producing first round picks and has a ton of NFL talent (Top 5 in total players) despite a decade of poo results). Anyone worth their salt should be able to develop these players into something remotely competitive in today's college football landscape.
 
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I learned today two things: 1)that speed is STILL the number one factor in college ball. 2) turnovers decide bowl games

Oregon defense was shredded in some ways, but their speed eliminated big plays and helped generate tons of turnovers. Obviously offensively they were freakish.

TCU has speed EVERYWHERE and absolutely demolished the number 1 defense in the SEC on offense, and their defensive speed stifled a mediocre QB.

OSU has a more team speed than Bama, particularly in their front.

The lesson is the same as the one Jimmy Johnson taught us 30 years ago. It's the same lesson Gary Patterson lives by: recruit the fastest best athletes who are used to touching the football, and find a home for them. Oregon does it, TCU does it. It works unbelievably well in Miami, and you don't have to fight over and pay the blue chip recruits.
 
This requires you to be in control of every aspect of an organization Lu
Al has clearly demonstrated he lacks the insight to get make changes. He challenges his team to see if they are good enough.
 
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