My point was that if you have a strictly offensive personality like Holgorsen or Briles, you shoot yourself in the foot an lose game you should win. Like both Oregon games and both Miami games where we out gained our opponents but special teams and turnovers killed us. Undoubtably you remember the punt Miami blocked at Relient.

Point is part of the reason Briles left was because Maggard kept shoving defense and special teams coaches down his thoat, and Briles wouldn’t have it. You can’t make a coach do something he doesn’t want to. Why wouldn’t Sumlin poach much of the staff he hand picked here to go with him somewhere bigger where there is more money (like Larry Jackson who got him this job who coached at OU and aTm with him, and Levine who has NFL experience at his position). This leaves Holgorsen to pick his guys, and from what I know of him, he only cares about yards and points. He has been under Leach for his entire career until now, and people say he is like Leach but not as book smart (aka no law degree like Leach). Leach has done well at Tech, but is always on the verge of losing his team because he is so out there.

Watch the next game when Holgorsen gets so pissed Sumlin has to keep him away from the players and go into the huddle himself. That’s your choice? Someone who gets so crazy players stop responding? Jason Phillips is about 2 years from being a OC, and maybe the best recruiter we have besides Sumlin himself. We’re better off with Sumlin/Phillips than Holgorsen/Phillips. Even if Phillips isnt ready, there are plenty of people running up tempo HUNH spread offenses the way Sumlin wants to. We aren’t the only team with an HUNH version of the spread

Both Holgorsen and Sumlin were non-play-calling OC’s at big XII schools. Trust me, there are reasons why one got to be promoted to an HC while the other just got more responsibilities at the same position he held. There are just some people meant to peak as a coordinator. Holgorsen is one, just like Charlie Weiss, Mike Stoops, Norv Turner, Briles will be in there once he fails at Baylor.

All college QBs are system QBs, like it or not. That’s why recruiting happens.

Unless someone wants to chime in and enlighten us as to why Tim Tebow isn’t the QB for Urban Meyer’s system…

I can see it now: “Oh no, tha’t's the SEC. Tebow can’t be a system QB!”

I was in a time warp and missed this ever happening, but now I can haz crack!

First, like I said Briles only recruited for offense. The only Sumlin players with significant playing time on offense are our tackles, Beall and Sims (because Ganaway defected and Kohn is hurt), and Cleveland. Everyone else including Carrier and Edwards (because they each redshirted a year under Briles) are Briles recruits. We were a top 10 offense under Briles. Holgorsen had plenty to work with when he got here (unlike Skladany). It’s not like he came in with the players Rice has currently. Not to mention the fact that Sumlin found Holgosen who had been the OC at Tech for years, but no one would hire him because everyone knows that’s Leach’s offense and Leach calls the plays and makes all the decisions. 3 years ago did you know the name Dana Holgorsen? So finally a publication recognized Holgorsen’s talent, 3 years after Sumlin did when he was sniffing Leach’s jock. Hooray for you for pointing that out.

As for the defense…. 2 OF OUR 3 BEST LINEBACKERS ARE FORMER WALKONS. 5 out of 8 D-lineman that play are true freshman. Compare that to the offensive talent. Briles left this team with SHIT on defense. So is the fact that with 1.5 recruiting classes Sumlin’s inability to field a defense is more because his predecessor refused to. Not to mention our defense has gotten worse due to injury. This is not the same D that played OSU. Sumlin has more of his recruits playing on the defensive side of the ball, and it takes more time to develop a D-lineman than any other position on the field. It takes time to build a defense, and it takes older players who are smarter. Offense is a lot easier to play based on talent alone.

All those teams I mentioned had to build a defense at some point. I doubt all those coaches walked in and had great defenses at the beginning of their tenure. My point is that we have to see how Sumlin develops the talent he has.

Sumlin took less money than UH offered him so that he could afford to hand pick the people he wanted under him. I highly doubt letting Sumlin go and letting Holgorsen continue with his offense as HC while letting everything else go to shit, would make this team better in the long run.

Actually we tried that strategy before. Jenkins had the #1 offense under Pardee at UH. Why don’t you compare the records of Jenkins and Pardee as head coaches at UH? How did that work out for us?

You can like one and simply discount the other? They are both parts of the SAME system!

UT, OU, USC, the NE Patriots

All of those teams play tremendous defense.

But if we had to lose one (Sumlin or Holgerson), you would chose to lose Holgerson then? Because when I think of it like that…I’m not so sure. I think if Sumlin left and Holgerson got promoted to HC then Holgerson could keep the offense where it is now, and ignore defense completely and it couldn’t get any worse (see Briles defenses…statistically better than Sumlin’s). Special Teams play is attributed to Levine…so let’s say hypothetically Holgerson convinces Levine to stay. Then the team basically stays the same I think…at least statistically. Maybe less disciplined…I don’t know. But if Holgerson goes…is Sumlin able to keep the Offense at the level it is at now? And will Sumlin actually be able to get the defense to improve? The defense the last 2 years has been worse than before he got here. Again…I understand the issues with the defense, and I want Sumlin and Holgerson both here…just tossing the thoughts around.

Sumlin is responsible for the entire team, and holding coaches accountable for the jobs they do. Therefore, Holgerson may have a lot of freedom with the offense which is great, except when he makes bullshit decisions like trying become a power running team (watch our successful running plays not in the redzone, they are misdirection plays) inside the 10 yardline (Tulsa) or just calling a crap game (UCF, which I fault him and Sumlin for Cleveland’s fumble, since he could hardly run on that ankle all game and fumbled the ball when he was twisted around on it AFTER being put back in the game. We have 18 receivers on on roster, put someone who isnt hurt, who can run in there.)

The defensive issues are due to youth on the D-line. Watch the film. These guys don’t have all the techniques down nor the strength (yet) to shed blockers because they are all true freshman and sophs. This is why we cannot stop the run, and also why we struggle to get to the passer. No secondary or linebackers can be great if the QB has all day to throw the ball. The longer you leave them in coverage, someone will break open. Check out our stat rankings in sacks and TFLs

Also this lack of experience on the D-Line causes us to call alot of base defenses and Skladany plays zone on almost every play. McGraw had 2 sacks when we blitzed him, but if we have to send extra players to create pressure, eventually that leaves even bigger holes in our zone D behind it.

Not to mention we don’t have 1 safety on our team due to a combination of disciplinary issues and injuries. Our D has also taken a dive with some other key injuries like Nicholson et al.

You have to remember that Briles only cared about offense, and made sure all the most talented athletes on the team played on the offensive side of the ball. This puts us in the situation we are in now in year 2 of Sumlin, where his recruits are young, and getting lots of playing time, but that is bad when you want to be a big physical imposing Defense. In year 3 of Sumlin he will have his 1st recruiting class reaching their Jr. year (even though that was a patchwork job in 2 months I digress). Good teams usually are predominantly Jr’s and Sr’s, so next year’s team should reflect Sumlin’s vision much more.

Sumlin is having an impact on every aspect of this team except the D. I can’t imagine that the reason is he is a bad D coach, and his position hires were bad. We went from being bottom in the league in penalties and yardage to top (meaning least). We also field special teams units who can block well enough for someone to run back a KO or a punt, as well as we have 10 blocked kicks. None of this happened under Briles. However, just because of the improvements in ALL other areas of our team Sumlin is getting a pass from me this year only on defense. Next year, it better be on like Donkey Kong with all the players we have coming back bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter than this year.

I really want to know who is the brains…Sumlin or Holgerson? Sumlin gets all the credit…and I have to admit he is a cool guy and I can see why recruits would want to play for him…BUT is he the one responsible for the great recruits, the discipline, team chemistry, awesome focus, and winning attitude? Or is Holgerson? Holgerson recruits for the offense as well…is it him just being a genious offensive mind that is responsible for the great output of the team? Is Holgerson actually the one who is disciplined? Since the offense is really the unit that is on point? If Sumlin is really a great coach, how can he let us have the #1 Offense in the country and the last place defense? Does Sumlin struggle to recruit talent on defense, or is Holgerson the one making good recruiting decisions on the O? Sumlin is the one in position to receive praise and the fault, but if Holgerson was head coach would he let the defense fall to #116? I wonder? There are a ton of examples, but look at Tulsa since Malzahn left. Todd Graham has fallen apart.

All of that said, I’m a major CKS fan…those are just some thoughts bouncing around in my head.