Again, coaching is so much more than play calling. All of this guys have at their disposal a huge book of plays. Even the Ted Cain/Karl Dorrells could implement 600 fascinating plays out of memory.
So some of it is about the x's and o's. Some of it is about watching film and having a great idea of when to call what. I think that in both of these regards, Mason and Ludwig did a wonderful job. I think we ran up the middle a bit too much and could have bootlged, optioned, wheel routed and jet swept a bit more. But who knows it is so easy to second guess and so hard to be the guy in the box calling it. PLUS they see things we don't and call based on what they see.
But the point I am making is coaching is more than anything about getting the right players and teaching them every little nuance of the game in practice. That is why it is called "Coaching"...Saying to the QB, "look for the TE to come open right when he hits the GL because the safety likes to cheat to the WR" or on the 2 point conversion teaching the TE to have an inch of his body on the GL so when he falls its 2 points (that was a god awful route). THIS is the stuff we don't see and this is what, at least IMO, makes great coaches like Saban. Not the gameday play calling.
We saw good gameday calling. I'm upbeat about that. We saw a pretty sloppy team though, and not just in penalties in turnovers, but in route running and a few assignments. I'm concerned about how we run the program, but no longer how we call gameday. (not to mention our recruiting is very troubling to me)
So some of it is about the x's and o's. Some of it is about watching film and having a great idea of when to call what. I think that in both of these regards, Mason and Ludwig did a wonderful job. I think we ran up the middle a bit too much and could have bootlged, optioned, wheel routed and jet swept a bit more. But who knows it is so easy to second guess and so hard to be the guy in the box calling it. PLUS they see things we don't and call based on what they see.
But the point I am making is coaching is more than anything about getting the right players and teaching them every little nuance of the game in practice. That is why it is called "Coaching"...Saying to the QB, "look for the TE to come open right when he hits the GL because the safety likes to cheat to the WR" or on the 2 point conversion teaching the TE to have an inch of his body on the GL so when he falls its 2 points (that was a god awful route). THIS is the stuff we don't see and this is what, at least IMO, makes great coaches like Saban. Not the gameday play calling.
We saw good gameday calling. I'm upbeat about that. We saw a pretty sloppy team though, and not just in penalties in turnovers, but in route running and a few assignments. I'm concerned about how we run the program, but no longer how we call gameday. (not to mention our recruiting is very troubling to me)
