My posting history acknowledges that almost exactly. I supported and defended Napier up to this year for those reasons stated. I do think there was more talent on defense than we were led to believe given the success of Hopper, diabate (now on an NFL roster), McMillan, APR, McLellan, Princely, etc etc all of whom transferred. That said, there really isn't any excuses or justification for the performances this year prior to the injuries. The argument I made still stands in my opinion. Napier has brought opened up the season with this team totally unprepared two years in a row now. Cignetti may get exposed but for now they are playing disciplined football at all levels and rank in the upper quarter in offense and defense. That's organization and discipline. Talent level will probably lower their ceiling against top teams but they go and handle their business in front of them each week.
This idea is a scourge on this board. We can objectively evaluate candidates without it having to be a criticism of or advocacy for Napier. Not everything written here has to be brought back to whether Napier sucks or not, yet some seem absolutely determined to do that in perpetuity. Hope they can find a cure to NDS.
We were a little thin at wide-out. Fortunately someone recognized the Kirk Kirkpatrick could be a devastating pass catcher at TE, and Ernie Mills started catching everything thrown his way.
Yeah, KK was a machine Barber and Mills were a nice duo, Harrison Houston and Tre Everett and a young Aubrey Hill too
And a QB room whose very modest production was getting upended by suspensions. Good thing Spurrier saw something in that skinny Mississippi fourth stringer.
I concur that the way we opened prior to the bye is inexcusable. However, I won’t look at that in a vacuum and ignore what was obvious on the fields in Knoxville and Jacksonville. We haven’t seen discipline in our play since Meyer, that much is obvious. I will say as a coach myself, that it is easy to look disciplined and rack up stats against weak competition. If one were to compare how we looked vs sub .500 competition to how Indiana has looked, they wouldn’t likely see a glaring difference. I will say we look more disciplined than under Mullen. While Mullen had some defensive talent, they never played well as a team. The players left behind on defense did no better under Grantham than they did after his departure. That to me screams a cultural issue with the roster. I would also point out that we haven’t seen the off the field issues under Napier that plagued UF under those before him. At a minimum, there has been a degree of discipline and character improvements at UF. All of this is a moot point as Napier has at least publicly the full support of his boss moving forward. I also do not think that statement was published without some hard conversations with Napier and the elite money that drives decision making. I would like to thank you for having the decorum to discuss the differences perceived with objectivity and on topic.
He took three different bottom feeder programs and made them instant contenders against their more talented, more established peers. That's just good coaching, regardless of the level. REALLY good coaching.
But can he compete with osu without the talent of osu. I doubt coaching can overcome that disparity in talent. It remains to be seen if he can acquire that type of talent and win against the best staffs in the world. Game planning against the coaches that he has faced is vastly different than game planning against the top coordinators in the world.
You have to take into consideration that it is much harder to acquire similar talent to OSU at a place like Indiana. Most programs struggle to do that. Their is only so much talent to go around and most of them are going to go to the traditional power teams.
Totally agree but tge playoffs seperates the men from the boys when it comes to coaching. Gameplan, adjustments, and playcalling is different when someone loke SOS is on the other sideline. You may be able to outsmart the coaches at lesser programs but the elite programs have a totally different level of football minds.
I think this is a point that people fail as casual fans to consider. Everyone gets focused on the talent level and forgets coaching. Not just the head coach, but coordinators and position coaches that could be coaching for NFL teams. Out coaching average coaches isn’t rocket science. First getting the Jesses and the Joes is needed. Along with that you have to match up against the best of the best. Stepping up into the elite tier is not as easy as cutting a check. We’re still in the assembling equal talent stage.
We'll have to wait and see. It's possible that IU will never attract the level of talent necessary to win it all, regardless of the coach. But it seems very evident he's making the most of the talent he currently has. And if Indiana will start investing in the program, who knows what kind of talent he might be able to bring in through NIL and the portal. I'd be very interested to see what he could do with actual top talent, rather than simply maximizing what he has. It would be something to see if great coaching was paired with great talent. I know I used to enjoy watching that here back in the day.
Isn’t that special. You fellas came up with a slightly borrowed acronym all on your own. Bless your hearts.
I still recall going up to Jax to watch the Spring game and everyone talking about the battle for the starting QB being between Morris and Fox. Then Shane threw 3 TD's and no interceptions in the scrimmage. I still think most folks were surprised that he beat out Morris to start the year that Fall.
Cant win without the talent. Saban outalented teams at first but had to get elite oc's to stay on top.
