Re: Anyone thinks "bad coaching" got us beat tonight, please step away from the keybo
Even when plays are put into the players hands, you can't totally take coaching out of the equation. One of the biggest responsibilities of coaches, IMO, is to consistently put your players in situations they can suceed... and try to eliminate situations they are doomed to fail in. An example of that last year was why GMac rarely threw deep balls... his arm strength didn't lend itself well to those plays. Thus... if there was a game where the coaching staff continually called deep passings plays, that would've been an example of poor coaching... same on the flip side if they called intermediate passing plays.
Yesterday, several guys were put in questionable situations. Whether it's Foster or Shelley on the long FG's, a WR throwing against arguably the best secondary in the nation, Maze trotting out on the field as a PR, or continuing having your QB float passes into the deep flats... you can't simply say "players make plays."
My biggest critique of CJM, however, is the fact that on a drive when we really started gashing the Tigers with our power run game, we make a call that has very little upside and horrendous downside. Somehow or another, CJM has forgotten what we did versus USC two years ago when he put Mark Ingram in the wildcat formation and said "we are going to continue to jam it down your throat until you stop us." Yesterday, we did too much of stopping ourselves... and a lot of that came from the coaching staff.
BTW, I have experience coaching... and one of the critical ideas to making improvement in your team is to impartially review this responsibility. I have no doubt that all these things will be covered by a thorough coach like Nick Saban.
