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How do you only score 38 on Hawai'i?  And that A on their helmets is as if they accidentally left their real logos on the mainland and had to run out to buy stickers last-minute.

I made both points to my wife.  She understood neither, and cared even less

How do you only score 38 on Hawai'i?  And that A on their helmets is as if they accidentally left their real logos on the mainland and had to run out to buy stickers last-minute.

   

Kevin Sumlin as an HFC--minus Johnny Effing Football--is not too impressive.

@OrangeAfroMan, this guy is voicing exactly my sentiment when it comes to the Gator’s (and Franks’) sloppiness Vs the Canes: 


https://twitter.com/DerekJTyson/status/1165605607036133376

The Gators are in good hands; the schedule is the bigger worry, IMO.

As a fan of a team that has had tackling issues for several years now, I think that that issue is not easily, quickly fixed.  Poor tackling reflects a team culture that does not emphasize sound tackling and limits live tackling in practice.  It's tough to change a team's defensive culture on the fly once the season starts.

agreed....

someone once said "being in position is about scheme; making the play/tackle is about skill"... And with any skill, muscle memory reigns supreme.  we were told in training over and over- and in peacetime- "you'll fight like you train, if you aren't intense, you won't be there either".  we blew the trainers off and loafed when not being observed.  turns out that was never a truer statement.

it 'can' be recovered, but it takes repetition and repetition of repetition to make it 'stick'.... now, if it is a position thing? that is scheme... scheme can be 'quickly' recovered... it wasn't scheme in my teams woes over the last few years.. it was culture... and a weak strength and conditioning program.

agreed....

someone once said "being in position is about scheme; making the play/tackle is about skill"... And with any skill, muscle memory reigns supreme.  we were told in training over and over- and in peacetime- "you'll fight like you train, if you aren't intense, you won't be there either".  we blew the trainers off and loafed when not being observed.  turns out that was never a truer statement.

it 'can' be recovered, but it takes repetition and repetition of repetition to make it 'stick'.... now, if it is a position thing? that is scheme... scheme can be 'quickly' recovered... it wasn't scheme in my teams woes over the last few years.. it was culture... and a weak strength and conditioning program.

Yep.  Train the way you're going to fight, because you'll fight the way you train--at best.  Nobody ups their game in their first combat.

Don't get me going on how Army Aviation trained when I was flying.  But the highest priority was NOT how to kill the enemy and survive on/above a hostile battlefield.

Anyway, game prep now has priority.  Fundamentals like tackling are now harder to address than they would have been last spring.

As a fan of a team that has had tackling issues for several years now, I think that that issue is not easily, quickly fixed.  Poor tackling reflects a team culture that does not emphasize sound tackling and limits live tackling in practice.  It's tough to change a team's defensive culture on the fly once the season starts.

Team culture and what about, to a lesser extent, a conference culture? Was reading through my Lindy’s annual this weekend noted on the Oklahoma preview the statistical disparity between both sides of the ball: 1st in scoring O, 101st nationally in Total D.

The other notable thing was Big 12 recruiting. For each conference preview Lindy’s ranks the top 20 recruits coming into the conference and whereas most of the conferences are have their of top 20 across the conference (Big 10: Lots of OSU & Michigan followed by Penn St, MSU, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin landing a few) but in the Big 12 ALL incoming Top 20 recruits were split between only Texas and Oklahoma. 

It’s like the Big 12 has Texas & Oklahoma at the top and absolutely no second tier before skipping down to a third tier.

Insofar as florida and Miami are concerned, and the slop fest they participated in the other night:  its the first game of the season.  Theyre a pretty good ways from gelling it appears. 

Other than a few gross mistakes, I saw a UF D that is going to be nasty.  I saw an O that needs more game speed reps.  Theyre weak on QB. 

Miami is going to have a solid D too, after a few games, but unless they find some sort of identity (much like UF) theyre gonna be hurting in offensive production.

Its easier to react than initiate, which is why games look sloppy.  reaction is mostly instinctual... Initiating at the level those teams want to initiate takes a while to gel. 

Apparently Hawaii and Arizona missed that memo, though.  Then again, their respective D's are just plain lower level than headliners.