Re: Dennis Dodd's take on the Bama Nation (He's right)
Dodd failed to mention that the main reason that this year was supposed to be a rebuilding year was due to the losses on the defensive side of the ball, where we lost seven starters. Pre-season speculation was that the offense returning starters would have to help the defense out. Thus far they haven't done that. Despite returning quite a few starters, the offense hasn't been able to perform consistently, while the defense continues to improve. I know all about scholarship losses but those should be spread over the team fairly evenly, but the offense struggles. In fact the OL has taken two players from the defense and yet the defense continues to outperform the offense.
Sure the loss of Prothro hurts, but unless he were taking direct snaps and running with the ball, Prothro wouldn't help the running game too much. The OL has been inconsistent at best for four years. We were returning starters on the OL, got one major upgrade on the OL. I wonder if Prothro could line up at Right Tackle.
I would submit to Dodd that conservative play calling cost us the Arkansas game which could have given the team much needed confidence and momentum. Same thing goes for the TN game. So fans are upset because, even though we are right where everyone predicted, we know we could be in a better position. Fans are also upset because there is little visible evidence that the offense is improving and no changes seem to be contemplated. Therefore, it looks like we will keep losing games that we have good opportunities to win.