aztecskin

The YT

I woke @Aldo early, had him do #socialMedia and we recorded it also. This is that recording. https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/235-running-out-of-time?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

yes, and no. I like to download a copy of the game -- makes it easy to clip it and scrub through the game. ESPN2 puts a DRM on the video which makes it harder to simply save it. I can always log in and watch it etc, but the playback tools on espn+ aren't as nice as the local video player on my laptop. So like I can't go frame-by-frame as easily.

yep and while the defense was to blame for a bulk of that, you absolutely cannot turn the ball over on special teams.

We talked about this on the podcast a bit. I'll look at it this week on a new Film Room post. My eyes told me we just were beat -- Shipley stunts (scheme) inside, and we are supposed to have a linebacker or safety there. 32 got caught up as 14 was cracked by a WR. I don't know our rules, but one thing you can do is crack-and-replace so like if 14 is getting cracked, the other guy is supposed to take his spot. Could have just missed their assignment or been late. Later, we avoided that crack back block, but still didn't set the edge. Again, we'll look at it this week. It was on ESPN2, which makes it a little harder to grab the video.

Processing upon my hitting "submit reply" https://youtu.be/UufsEVnFlso?si=VjbHwuQ6u5GFRsC2

I called up @Aldo to get his thoughts on a Sad Sunday https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/234-hoco-nogo?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The YT --but its just a logo so yeah

I called up Greg and discussed the hoops squad https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/233-hoops-preview-2024?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The QB thing was why I was super high on him coming into NT. I think finding Chandler post-Rogers was huge. Its such a big part of the job -- finding a QB -- that it almost -- almost! -- dwarfs everything else. Like, Frank Wilson at UTSA was fired because Frank Harris was hurt. Jeff Traylor's struggling without Harris (but McCown kid looks okay). So important.

Firing a coordinator is a temporary reprieve. They kept the co-oc. BV is in serious trouble. Offense has been bad his entire tenure.

Seth is by all accounts a good person. I don’t know that he has the personality to be a head coach with the brightest lights. It must be a kick in the teeth to get fired from your alma mater. I have no idea where he goes from here.

I do not think less of anyone not giving 10K (or any amount) to anything associated with the program. I would even understand that it is rational to NOT give any money or time. I also understand when the SEC teams say "it just means more" is not just marketing speak. Those crazies, when compared to we rational fans here on gmg dot com who ask for some return on investment, will put football first, second, and third on the list. (Even in Memphis while driving from my hotel near campus, I saw houses with MSST flags decorating doorways. I saw a Tennessee one. I saw a couple of Memphis ones as well. It's top-of-mind to talk about their football program) Myself, being a crazy person, wrote on this board forever ago something to the fact that "we need someone to make the first move" We need a FedEx, or a T.Boone Pickens. Or someone. I've been trying to get rich and I promise I will donate a very irrational amount of money to this silly program to try to get some footballing wins. It is hard as hell to change a culture. You need passionate crazies who do not care about the glory, because there likely will not be any in their lifetimes. It is all the stuff at every level that needs to be consistently solid to great. Fan experience, marketing, game day, Hiring, firing, coaching, playing, supporting. I cannot control about anywhere close to any number of things that make a great experience. But I can give $10 bucks a month. (oh and yes, last year I was going to start the MGN NIL and do it very transparent and was fully ready for it to simply be $400 bucks total in the bank but I saw they fired the LTTNIL CEO who was unfit for the gig and the other NIL started up so I sat back)

@BigWillie totally agree on that final point. I don't know how you solve that stuff. I don't know that Morris knows either. I think it is smarter to stay patient and let these guys develop one more year with the same scheme and then make a decision. It's risky, but so is firing a guy and then going through growing pains one more time. Tis why you have to do a great job of hiring right away. Tough gig, but then again Morris is getting paid well to deal with it.

Nothing wrong with it and we do it, but the 3-4/3-3-5 are en-vogue (even with Kirby Smart, Nick Saban before he retired, and others) because of the versatility in defending the modern offenses. Our scheme isn't so complicated. Video on our good and bad in both the 3-high and 3-4 here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4rSogymmZW6REsFe2OqnrAsOZLptYx0Y I also wrote about it in preseason: https://www.meangreennation.com/p/2024-season-preview-lets-talk-about?utm_source=publication-search We switched to the 3-4 because our linebackers were playing better, our safeties were hurt/being punished/ and the run game vs Tech looked like crap. Memphis runs a 3-high, and we sliced them up for 653 but they have a better line, and better linebackers. So watch them to get an idea of what our plan was.

Man if I ripped off two 75-yard TDs I would be insufferable. Asking for a little NIL isn't nearly close to egregious haha

I wrote about why I am "defending" Caponi so much in further detail in today's Morning After. Short version: We have such a young defense. Eight regular contributors are underclassmen. A look at PFF's grades show you that here are few AAC highly graded players that are underclassmen. Among safeties? Evan Jackson is one. Everything can be better but there's also a very good chance that staying patient could pay off tremendously. And without NIL $$ to drastically improve I don't know that we have much other choice than patience.

The other defense thread is a lot of me defending Caponi a bit. Here is this week's morning after where I get into a little more detail about why I am not asking for him to be fired today. https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/morning-after-post-memphis-pre-tulane?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The YT video. As of "submit reply" it is still processing

Yeah missed a lot of things. Offense was big plays only and missed some drive sustainers that could have helped the scoreboard … and the defense. Had 5 straight 3-and-outs forced and the offense had a chance to get/extend the lead! So close. Need the same effort from both sides vs Tulane

Have to wait for the whole season to compare season stats fully. But again, I’m not saying I love the dude but that J am trying to be sensible and not just fire off hot takes. Last year Cal and FIU were awful and we allowed 1000 yards against them. Everyone was better against us compared to their season averages. That’s bad. This year TTU, South, Memphis have all shown the capability of doing this kind of thing. Wyoming (terrible), Tulsa (bad) were held down. We didn’t make bad better. FAU was improved but I’m thinking that was a little bit of their QB having a bye and getting better. So yeah, I’m looking at the numbers. Sure. Numbers, though. Plural. Can’t just point to one and say “number go down = bad” and think I’m all done. Obviously everyone is free to enjoy the football program however you like. Some people like to hate watch their own squad. Cool, man. Some people also like sardines. That ain’t for me.

Yeah I am not a fan of the pay for Caponi or anything. I am not even saying we should be a 3-high team. I am just trying to understand their reasoning. All of MGN and all this is just about trying to be a smarter fan is all. So yeah. I can recognize as @TIgreen01 was saying, that we have been poor vs Tech and Memphis. For me, a smarter fan asks What is a reasonable amount of progress over last year for this defense, given the constraints put upon this program (money, prestige, etc). I said "mid-tier AAC". I think they are on schedule for something like that with three terrible offenses still on the schedule. The other side of it is considering what is good. Lots of people said "Memphis has a good defense, if we had that we would be good". Well, again, they got killed. They also hadn't played anyone of note outside of Navy and ourselves. So we could apply the same logic to Memphis --- "Only winning teams they played killed them!" -- means we have to anchor our argument a little differently. Maybe means we can't just fire Caponi so quickly. Because maybe we don't know what we are talking about. What should we fire a coach for? I would say if he can't recruit, can't adapt, and cant show improvement. So far Caponi has recruited talent, adapted, and shown slight improvement. So I have to be okay with it based on my own criteria even if I don't think he's amazing.

I called up @Aldo while he was shooing away some bears from his property. I asked him to talk about the Mean Green. He wore his finest sidleine apparel. https://open.substack.com/pub/meangreennation/p/232-losing-in-memphis?r=du4qo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

I said we forced 7 punts, got the stop we needed when we needed and held them to 38% on third down. There was plenty to *not* like and I tweeted and put in the MGN chat(s) all game -- we couldn't get home on the big pressures, we couldn't get to Seth H unless he held the ball for 6 seconds. We were always teetering -- one tackle away -- from allowing a big run. 49 got beat over the top on a huge TD. But I also think this defense has progressed from Absolute Garbage to Can Get A Stop. I think we are hyper focused on our defense and unwilling to see some progress. Consider that coming into this game plenty of people would have outright traded ours for theirs. Memphis' defense was talked about like they were championship worthy. From Silverfield, to Hennigan, to our own fanbase. Their 3-3-5 got sliced up for 653 yards, 32 first downs and 44 points. Oh and two 75-yard scores to start the game. In college football everyone gives up points. Even Georgia, who played so well last night, got killed by a 17-year old wideout. It happens. Can you get enough stops to give your offense a chance? Can you get the stop you need to have one last chance? Those are the most important things to me. They could have done much better, but I like that this defense is closer to an AAC title defense than it was last year.

They forced 7 punts, got the stop (FGA on a short field) to set up the offense for. a game-tying drive. Memphis was 38% on third down.