quote:
Here’s the problem most of us have with Golding: it’s not that he was dealt a shitty hand to work with. I get that. It was a big handicap, no doubt, having the middle of the defense gutted and playing a bunch of guys that weren’t ready. But therein lies a major part of the problem. They weren’t ready in September which is understandable but they weren’t ready in November either and were making the same damn mistakes with the same damn deer in the headlights look they had in September. Twelve games into the season, your true freshmen who were thrown into the fire too early should have grown up a little and become better players through experience and coaching. But the same ones were making the same mistakes on the same plays 12 games in. Now that points to one of two things: either the coaching ain’t good or the player ain’t good. If it’s the former, you suck at your job, please leave Tuscaloosa. If it’s the latter, someone misevaluated the player or players and that’s also a concern.

I think that you are overlooking a big factor here.

Our schedule was so weak before the LSU game that our young players hadn't even really been seriously tested until that point. Mistakes were made later in the season because our toughest competition was later in the season. When you play bad to mediocre teams for the first 8 games, and then play one of the greatest offense ever, then your weaknesses are going to be exposed much more.

The AU offense was about on par with most of the rest of the season, but they certainly didn't dominate our defense. They had about 2 good drives against our defense. The others were really short drives on great field position that ended in long field goals.

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That’s nice, but giving up 33 in the first half to LSU and 31 in the first half to Auburn won’t cut it no matter how much better the second half looked.

33 points to LSU, with most of those points being put on a silver platter by our offense.
and our defense did not give up 31 points to AU in the first half.

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But they exposed the weaknesses in the decision making and play calling by making timely play after timely play in every crucial situation. Gus schooled Golding.

Gus has done that to Kirby, and Pruitt before. Why do they get a pass, and Golding doesn't?