re: Please tell me reasons not to be worried...

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beatdown by MSU

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They knew our plays.. Not hard to defend our offense when they can keep us to three and outs and keep our defense on the field to wear them out.

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OT vs ULM

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Would have been an entirely different game if the long bomb to Coates would have counted, the fumble by Blakeley not happened, or ULM's DL been called for even one of the many holds they had the entire game.

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LSU next week

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No sugar coating this one. Its goin to hurt. And hurt bad.

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QB

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He's getting better. Just need to tailor the gameplan to him more to get him more confidence. He threw one pick this week, which is a 75% drop off from last week.

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DT

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Yeah, I got nothing here. Whitaker needs to step up, Blackson is inexperienced.

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MLB

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We either go with experience but no talent, or talent and no experience. Catch 22.

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attrition

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Attrition isn't too bad. We're able to get in some full recruiting classes. Just have to keep people on the team. Dealing with a lot of kids who think they're owed something is hard as a coach. You want their talent, but you can't let them take over the team.

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player development

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This concerns me greatly, although it is a night and day comparison from MSU to ULM.

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lack of toughness

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I think this i more attributed to mental toughness. The guys need to learn how to take a punch and keep moving forward.

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discipline

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This is such a catch all that it encompasses even off the field issues. THe kids need to get their priorities straight and realize the opportunities they have. This is partly a coaching issue and motivation, but its mostly coming from the kids and their desire to better themselves.

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off the field issues

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This ties in with discipline in my mind. The coaches are getting an idea who wants to play and be part of the team and who doesn't.

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strength and conditioning

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I'm not concerned here at all. Some of our guys are smaller, but those are the freshmen and some sophomores. If you look at Mason, Lemonier, Ford, you see how good Yox is at getting guys where they need to be if they want it enough.

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OC

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Loeffler is good, we just need better execution in the game. He did have some questionable calls during the MSU game, but his game plan for ULM was good for getting Kiehl where he needed to be.

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rest of schedule

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I'm not excited about the schedule we have, luckily we have most of our tough games at home. Hopefully we can shock the world on a few.

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effect on recruiting

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As Bryan Matthews or Justin Hokanson will tell you, the outcome of a game rarely changes a recruits mind about that school. A losing record is something entirely different though.

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losing ground vs rivals

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Chizik is building a good foundation, a very good foundation. We just need to make sure we recruit guys who want to work for the team, not for themselves. As Philip Marshall and a few other beat writers have said, transitioning from the Spread to a Multiple/Pro style offense is a very difficult transition. Look at Texas, they transitioned and went 5-7, then 8-5, this year they're doing alright.

I say Chizik has this year as mostly a pass, but we need to see a different team by the end of the year. If we are still getting blown out at the end of the year and Kiehl isn't progressing by the Georgia game, its time Chizik finds another job.