Heres a few comments on last night and the season as a whole - and yes, I might hurt some feelings today with this one so be ready. Before anyone starts calling me a fair-weather fan, Ive been a Rebel for a long time, through the good, bad and ugly. From my first steps in the Grove and my first game, I was hooked. Nothing is going to change my support both as an Alumni and Athletics Association member. Those of you whove been on the page a while know Im not going to sit here and paint a rosy picture when it doesnt exist nor will I slander anyone or start screaming bench Bo, fire Freeze which Ive already seen on other boards. Shame on the ones saying that! Both have done more to bring life back into this program than anyone else and I will continue to stand firm behind them until one of them gives me a damn good reason to waiver. Ok, last night hurt - a lot. It was by far the worst performance of the season against one of the weakest teams in the SEC. Ive tried to find the light in all of the darkness but the truth is, we absolutely sucked last night. Had it not been for our defense, the game wouldve been gift wrapped and handed to State as a shutout. State did not win last night because they were better. They won because we drowned in our own mistakes and missed opportunities. Theres no need to point fingers and cast blame because there arent enough fingers on your hands to hit everyone at fault. Everything seemed to fall apart everywhere.... When we win, we all win. When we lose, we all lose. Last night we all lost... What else can be said? Looking back at the season, Im not sure what went wrong or where it started going wrong but this was not really a pretty season. Too many of us had unrealistic expectations before the season started. Theres nothing wrong with being optimistic, just be realistic in the process. The high expectations only intensified the disappointment when the Ls started to show up... On August 29th we started out sloppy against Vanderbilt but managed to squeak by them. An easy game followed and then a huge win over Texas which, at the time, made it appear we were on track. It was only an appearance, though. A shut out to Alabama followed by a poor showing against Auburn saw us slip from the top 25. The re-run of 2012 against A&M with another 3-point loss to a team we shouldve beaten was devastating. A year ago I wouldve called a 3 point loss to A&M a good loss and actually did but I cant say that this time when it was caused by poor clock management and a bad play decision. Then came LSU, our finest hour of the season. Once again I thought This is it, weve got it down and were on track. Three more wins followed to nothing teams but our performance was sloppy and honestly, it looked like our guys were just going through the motions at times and werent really there to play. Had those teams been any good, we would be looking at a losing season right now. After being slapped around by Missouri, a team who a year ago was a bottom feeder, a win on Thanksgiving Day was a must..... No need to dwell on that anymore because its in the history books now.. So here we are at 7-5 for the season - one win better than last year and in my opinion, 1, possibly 2 wins shy of where we should be. We still have a bowl ahead of us but which one is up for grabs. Our standing within the SEC will likely change this week. We were projected at #6 overall in the SEC at the start of the week which wouldve left us in line for the Gator Bowl. Im not seeing that as a possibility any longer. We really wont know the final numbers until Sunday morning but with Vanderbilt and GA currently sitting with 7 wins and one more game to play to lesser teams, the odds of us remaining 6th in the SEC are slim. Regardless of which bowl we get, something has to change on the field before then. If we see more of what weve seen in the past few games, our chances of leaving the bowl with a win are slim... Im just telling it like it is, folks... I seriously hope we dont see recruits start jumping ship too but they can be easily swayed by trophies and titles.. Looking ahead beyond last night and our impending bowl into next season, the skys the limit if we can overcome ourselves.. Lets face it, it was our mistakes which cost us more than just last night.. Doing that may be the biggest challenge of the 2014 season, though.. We have the talent and we have more on the way. We just need to get the formula right to make it all work. Its clear theres a lot of work to be done in a lot of areas but my confidence is still with Coach Freeze to make it happen. My biggest fear in all of this lies in our past history with head coaches. Will Freeze be given the time it takes to build the team we need or will the impatience of those longing for that illusive perfect season pressure him out ? Lets hope for the former and the latter.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 23:57:37 +0000
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