I really HATE to say this because I think Barnett is a really good guy and will probably have as much success elsewhere as he did at Mich ST, but we need a new direction on Defense. A couple of points:
- Willie is never going to be a guy who loses his cool and chew out his players. And that’s not a bad thing. Bobby didn’t lose his cool very often. Neither does Dabo. From what I have seen, Willie is direct and honest with his guys, tries to treat them like men. He is far more willing to discipline his guys than Jimbo seemed to be, and the guys seem to be staying out of trouble and going to class. All good signs. But Willie is not going to rip at a player’s face mask or freak out on the sidelines. And I don’t see any of the other coaches doing that either. We need a bad cop somewhere on staff, and a Mickey Andrews or Brent Venables or Will Muschamp type could be the enforcer we need.
- Folks saying we don’t make adjustments aren’t watching the game. We’ve tried everything these last two games and going back to last year. But our guys aren’t getting it.
- The discipline is really poor on defense. Guys aren’t filling the right gaps. They aren’t taking on blocks. They aren’t playing with any real physicality. They don’t play man to man OR zone well. And they don’t tackle well. The 4th and 2 play with the score 21-0 in the 2nd quarter when one of our supposedly best defenders Asante Samuel is in PERFECT position to stop the running back in the flat, but fails to even try to wrap up, giving up the first down - that one play could have turned it into a rout. Instead ULM scores its first TD on the next play, giving them a shred of life going into halftime. Way too many plays like that, and someone needs to get pissed off about it.
