Is Will Muschamp Overrated? - Poll!
by RMHorn on Oct 5, 2010 11:52 AM CDT
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Maybe I had unrealistic expectations of the season and Will Muschamp's ability, but this season's biggest disappointment to me has been how the Longhorn defense has not been the shut down strength most of us hoped for. Sure, the offense and special teams have put them in tough situations more times than we would care to remember, but a shut down defense finds a way to...shut down offenses.
Last season the Alabama offense was truly pathetic until the final few weeks of the season when they started coming together, but their defense kept them in every game and shut down every opponent enough to win it all, no matter how many tough situations their offense and special teams put them in. After three years of Will Muschamp, Coach "Boom M* F*" I certainly expected better schemes, more aggressive, passionate play, not an ounce of quit in them regardless of what situation they faced.
You can blame the offense for letting them down against UCLA and being tired from being on the field most of the first half, but they were rested enough coming out of halftime to not have allowed UCLA an opening drive straight down their gut for a score. And being tired from being on the field all game certainly couldn't be the culprit for surrendering a similar opening TD drive to OU to start the game in Dallas.
I'm not suggesting Muschamp sucks. He clearly doesn't, he's a top tier DC in the NCAA. But IMHO he's not the extraordinary, must-have DC or Head Coach-in-Waiting messiah I and many of us gave him credit for being to start the season. He's good, but not great - otherwise we'd have seen a much different squad this year, a squad that shut down opponents. Whady'all think? All y'all that is!
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I'd be interested in seeing this same poll after the Nebraska game. NT
"Only angry people win football games." --DKR
hopefully other schools...
….see him as overrated and they don’t want him as their HC. I want him as long as possible.
How about a few more options...
1) No, his players have just failed to execute at key times and commit ridiculously untimely fouls/errors
2) Maybe, but how can the defense as a unit practice to stop the run against our offensive personnel?
3) Forget about the defense, why is nobody heaping scourn on our special teams by the pound at this point?
Survey Says...
the vast majority of BON readers disagree with me about Muschamp. I still think he’s not been all he can be this season as a DC. Has anyone seen him as livid and intense on the sideline after the humiliating number of mistakes his players have made as he was when he got the nickname “BMF”?
Maybe that’s where he’s letting us/me down. He had a well-earned reputation for being a bad-ass in-your-face coach before coming to UT, even in prior seasons. But is it just me or since he became C-I-W hasn’t he backed off from public displays of intensity? Perhaps he’s trying to transition into the more dispassionate public persona that MB carries in anticipation of being HC. If that’s the case it’s wrong-headed and goes counter to the very strength he was brought to UT as DC to be. I guaran-damn-tee ya that if he had the BMF intensity we all love his squad would not have given up those two opening game/opening half TD drives that they did. Inexcusable for a BMF-led team from my perspective. But I can see I’m in a small minority with that opinion. Time will tell.
What do you want him to do?
The offense stinks and puts his defense on the field the majority of the game in bad situations (short fields). He can’t even make adjustments most of the time because the offense goes three and out or turns the ball over.
Agreed
Almost every time our defense breaks down it can be traced back to problems in the offense or special teams (see Bama and UCLA).
Although against OU it was legitimately the defense’s fault, because they kept getting penalized in key situations. I still think that stuff falls to Muschamp.
I knd of agree on the penalties but..
every high school kid in the country knows not to hit the QB 3 seconds after they throw the ball. What is Muschamp suppose to do besides take JJ out?
Consider this
This defense was built for aggression and especially rushing the passer.
To be as aggressive as possible, the Horns must have a lead. At least be even and in a favorable game situation.
If your team is behind, as a general rule, the defense becomes more bend-not-break, or it starts gambling at some point trying to make a big play but risking a big play by the opponent.
Defenses are not a steady-state function, they are reactive.
What portion of defense would you expect this defense to be at its poorest?
That’s right, straight running game or the option. Particularly if you have freshmen at key positions. There’s plenty they haven’t seen at this level thus their recognition is minimal and position is critical due to the speed of the game.
I have no explanation for lining up off sides or other stupid penalties…that’s on those players and the coaches.
agree 100%
The Texas D specializes on rushing the QB and when the other team gets a lead..they run all the time (UCLA).
The defense
Is on the field the whole game and the depth at DT isn’t good to begin with so running teams can have their way with us.
The fact that the defense may be tiring late in the games...
does not explain OU’s first two opening drives nor UCLA’s first second-half drive, nor does it explain costly personal fouls or lining up in the neutral zone. If you want to blame Greg Davis for everything the offense does wrong, like dropped balls and missed blocks, you have to blame Muschamp for everything the defense does wrong. It is absurd and unfair to blame Greg Davis even for the defensive lapses. Muschamp is a great coach but he is human, and we do him no favors making him into a bigger than life icon who is beyond criticism.
"Only angry people win football games." --DKR
I think a lot of that has to do with how people watch football
Whenever the average fan watches football, they are more likely to shift their focus to how the offense is doing. It is quite easy to recognise what a single player on offense is doing(blocking, setting a screen, running a route) but it is way harder to pay attention to the defensive side of the ball and see what coverage the linebackers are in or what they are supposed to do.
For example, people watch Marquis Goodwin and see he can not block very well, but those same people can not see that the LB rushed into the wrong gap or took a bad angle.
It seems that there are way more people who feel like they know what different calls and formations do on offense but have absolutely no clue about those same subtleties on D.
You have to realize coaching these athletes is no easy task.
Yea I get it they get paid tons of money to do it..but it is still a difficult to manage each players ego while ultimately getting the best result out of these guys.
A typical passionate fan’s (like myself) immediate knee-jerk reaction after a bad, bone-headed play may range from benching to bitch-slapping the player in the public. However, understand the coaches cannot actually do that and expect these players to perform well under pressure or get recruits to come to Texas year in and out.
Most people in BON believe that muschamp is a great DC from the things he has shown in past 3 yrs. He had a couple of games this year that probably didnt play out to his standards. But do we judge his coaching ability to recent trends?
COACH BOOM BABY!!
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