Generally you can see when it's going bad with a coach at a school. Jones, McElwain, Bielema, Odom, Sumlin (though that is going to drag out probably).

Not really getting that same vibe from Mason. We've beaten him every year since he came into the league, but the games have been close.

His teams don't give up, and despite last night don't get a ton of penalties.

The defense is just as athletic as when Franklin was there. They have some good athletes at the skill positions (well except for qb maybe).

They don't seem to be getting any traction though. They did pretty well on offense against us last night, but to me that has been their problem when they play other teams in the league.

This conference has the best defensive line situation in the country. Someone Washington State or Oregon would cream their pants over, well down here he is a blah 3 star recruit you whine about because Auburn signed a 5 star.

And he's trying to run a scheme on offense that requires dominant offensive linemen in that environment.

I think there is room for maybe up to 3 more "brainiac" schools like Stanford that use their academics as the big recruiting pitch. Vandy could be one (but you could say the same about Georgia Tech and a few other schools).

Their OC seemed pretty good to me, at least last night. But they would be better off running an Air Raid or a ball control style spread attack (that's what I'd like South Carolina to run, think that is our best approach if Georgia actually realizes their potential, and Florida will be back - sometime).

My two cents. What they are trying to do on offense is a catch-22 if you ask me. You need great offensive linemen to run it. But those guys can go anywhere and are maybe the most sought after guys after truly great qb prospects. Kind of need to get something going before you start signing them; even then it takes a few years to pay off.

Or maybe they could break the bank and pay an offensive line coach who is a supreme recruiter, as well as an excellent coach. But again, everyone wants guys like that. Unless Mason has personal ties to one, it probably doesn't happen.

Anyway they seem like the kind of team I'd like to see have some success (unlike that crowd in Athens). Hope it happens, but I dunno.

This post was edited on 10/29/17 at 11:19 am