September 19, 2024 • 15 mins
Ira Schoffel of WarChant.com joined Preston and tried to unpack what has gone wrong and why with FSU football.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
All these are going to be fun. It's the third
hour of the Morning Show with Preston Sky. Good morning friends,
It's Monday, September sixteenth, and if you're a Florida State
football fan, you might be wearing black today. We are
joined by the managing editor of warchand dot com, Ladies
and gentlemen, the one the only Irish offel. Good morning sir.
(00:33):
How you doing, Preston, Well, that had to be fun
to cover.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, it's amazing that it seems to be getting worse,
not better, after scoring what twenty one points in the
first game than they scored thirteen. Now they scored twelve,
So maybe it's a countdown. I'm not sure exactly what's
going on on that offense.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
What stands out to you about the game? What stands
out to you in the subsequent days about what the
coach coaches have said?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Uh, you know, I think the biggest thing to me,
you know, at the game, was that there's no more
trying to figure out what's wrong. You know. I think
in the you know, Georgia Tech, you know, you start thinking, okay, man,
it's a week zero game, it's in Ireland. There's a
lot of variables here that you don't normally face first
game with DJU and they look, you know, obviously poor,
and you figure, okay, well maybe that's what happened. And
(01:23):
then they go and lose to Boston College at home,
and now you're thinking, Okay, there may be real problems here.
But then as I started thinking about it last week,
I'm like, okay, well, you know, you're coming back from
Ireland and you and you're maybe that game, maybe you
lost that game and it beat you twice. You know,
you came into the season thinking you're one of the
best teams in the country, You're gonna win the ACC,
you're gonna make the playoffs. You're zero to one. Maybe
(01:44):
they had a tough time recovering from that and that
beat them against Boss College. And now after about week
you're like, no, this is just a bad football team
and they do all the things that bad football teams do,
and that is much more concerning because that doesn't get
fixed quickly.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Coach Mike Norvell obviously is going to be very careful
about what he says publicly. Are you hearing anything behind
the scenes.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I mean, I think he's got to be considering everything,
But he's pretty he's he does not have a big
circle in terms of what he discusses inside the team,
you know, like if he's thinking about making changes to
his staff or or even you know, major personnel decisions.
I don't think everybody in the program is going to
know that, And so I haven't heard anything directly, but
(02:29):
I mean common sense tells you you know, he's a
bright guy. He's gotten to this point in his career.
This clearly isn't working. So during the season, I don't
know how much there's that he can do early in
the season in terms of a staff standpoint. Certainly as
the year goes on he could consider making some changes.
Or the problem is, I don't know that there's anything.
(02:49):
You know, sometimes if you have, say a defensive coordinator
who's not doing well midway through the season, but you've
got a sharp, young defensive assistant coach, you say, Okay,
let's see if this guy can call the plays that
The problem really has been the offense, especially this pass game,
and there's nobody Mike norvellen this staff he's going to
turn the offense over to. So I don't think anything
on the staff is going to change during the season,
(03:11):
unless late in the year. He just wants to make
a point that he's making a change, and then the
only really change he can make on offense is at quarterback,
and he has refused to address that. When he's asked
about it, he just talks about the offense as a whole,
not about dj ung Away. And you know, I gotta
believe he's got to at least strongly consider making a
(03:31):
move to Brockland, but there's been no indication that that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Irah, how much of the impatience, if we put it politely,
of the fan base ends up coming back to the
fact that we're not really dealing with collegiate athletics anymore.
These are paid professionals in the high profile positions.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think it's it's part of it. But listen, you know,
I mean, you know, we can we can tell ourselves
that we weren't like this as fans or media back
in the day, but you know, we've watched quarterbacks get
booed thirty forty years ago in college football. So but
it definitely ramps it up a notch. And what it
really does is, I think where the frustration really mounts
(04:15):
isn't about performance, but when it's effort. If you see
a defensive end not playing full speed, if you see
a receiver not blocking and you know those guys are
getting money, or a quarterback not putting his body on
the line and you know that they're getting a large
sums of money, then it becomes more frustrating because it's like, listen, man,
you took all that money. You have to perform. That's
(04:37):
where I think the most frustration is if it's just
a guy that makes mistakes. I think people can live
with that, even people get paid make mistakes, but you
can't have lack of effort.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Hira Chavelle with us for a couple more segments here
from war chand dot com and Ira, let me advance
another thought. You know, dj ujungal A is always been
a serviceable quarterback. Maybe not a highlight reel, but he
played well at Oregon State last year. Some would say that,
you know, the handwriting was on the wall though when
(05:13):
he got kind of lost his job at Clemson. But
still he's not even playing to his own standard, whatever
that might be. How much of this is just a
misfit of a quarterback to a system, and how much
of it is the guys around him not doing much
to help him.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I think it's a combination of both, you know, I
think that I think when you look back at last year,
the way Florida State's offensive line played, it did not
play very well, especially as the year went on. And
you know, they went out and got three new portal editions. Well,
none of them have had a huge impact to help
this offensive line, but I'm guessing Mike Norval thought they would,
(05:53):
and I think he thought he could change what they
do offensively, so more of a run oriented attack and
you know, kind of take shots with the passing game,
but not necessarily be a quarterback that has to throw
at thirty or forty times a game. And so but
the problem is Mike Garvel completely misevaluated what this offensive
line could be with this running game could be. And
then DJ doesn't seem very comfortable in terms of making
(06:15):
all the line checks and reads. So you brought in
a quarterback for one year, but you didn't really build
things to his talents, and I think you misevaluated what
you had around him. So it's just been a complete mess.
But you know, I don't know that it's DJ's fault.
I looked more at Mike Norvell that you know, you
thought you either thought this guy was gonna work better
in your system because your system was going to be better,
(06:37):
or you thought you were going to turn him into
a better quarterback knowing some of your deficiencies. Either way,
there's a misevaluation. And but no, he's not getting any help.
Even in this game. There were a couple there were
some nice catches later in the game, but there were
also some drop balls, and the offensive line's been terrible.
So it's a combination. But I think the biggest problem
was it was a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Everyone would agree my Norvel has proven himself to be
a very good coach and maybe a better person. Is
that a fair statement?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, for sure, I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Now, having said that, is there any chance that because
DJ came in as basically he's what a fifty year
senior and this is it for him? Is there a
sense of loyalty here that he's just he feels a
sense of owing it to DJ to let him stay
on the field, even though that is not what's best
for this team at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I think it's possible. I think that happens sometimes with
coaches and there's two shining examples. With Mike Norvell. You know, obviously,
you know, there was a lot of pressure on my
chach Norvel to make a change with after Jordan Travis
after the twenty twenty one season. A lot of people
wanted Norvel to go get a transfer quarterback. There was
not a lot of confidence in Jordan Travis, even though
he had done some things in the last couple of
(07:51):
years to help them out. People wanted a quote unquote
real quarterback and more accurate quarterback. And Norvell stuck with
Jordan Travis, believed in him and paid off handsibly for
everybody involved. Yep. And then you know, I think Ryan
Fitzgerald a place kicker. I mean, he was in a
complete mess three years ago and it looked like I mean,
he had the yips. I mean, he couldn't connect on
(08:13):
a thirty five yard till goal, let alone a fifty
yard field goal. He stuck with him and now he's
turned into maybe the best kicker in the country. So
there are examples of that. And I think as a
coach you always want that if you believe the kid
can do it. But to your point, you nailed it
at some point the offense is not moving, and you know,
we can blame everybody else, but the quarterback gets all
(08:35):
you know, they get all the glory when it's good.
They get most of the blame when it's bad. And
that's where I think he has to make a change,
just to let the team know he's willing to make
a change and see what it looks like with a
different quarterback.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Reading between the lines. What do you think the team
is thinking right now?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I think they're lost. I think it's a it's you know, listen,
the one thing I've learned through the years is if
I've learned one thing about players is they know results
more than anything else. And if a coaching staff is
helping them win and get ready for the NFL and
help them in their careers, they will love that coaching staff.
If you lose a lot of football games, they're going
(09:13):
to question just like everybody else, because they don't always
have all the answers. They just see the results also,
and they know it's going to affect them in the
long term. And it's certainly not any fun playing this
game right now, so I guarantee you they're going to
have challenges right now. Keeping these guys together, because it's
just human nature. If you work for a company that
was the worst in the industry in your profession, which
(09:36):
is what Florida State is right now, an offensive football,
you're going to question the management. And I'm sure that's happening.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Hi, Racha Pelle with us one more segment. We're going
to one more question about this weekend before we switch
to the other side of the ball. And maybe I'll
invert that a little bit when we come back. I
saw a meme going around that said FSU's petitioning for
a new one hundred and twelve team playoff. Ira Chafelle
back with me one more segment. All right, let's let's
(10:03):
do this. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. Yes,
the defense seemed to play better. I thought the defensive
tackles we were much more assertive. But boy, Ira, it
looks like a fire drill in the second and third
levels between the linebackers and the secondary.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, you know, look, I mean Mike Norvell, I mean,
excuse me, Adam Fuller, the defensive coordinator, when they've tried
to play some zone in the past that has not
gone well, and I think he's just pretty much determined
to play man, but with some sort of zone concepts
where they'll pass guys off to each other, so it's
not like I've got the X receiver and I'm gonna
stay with him no matter what. When they're in those
condensed formations and things like that, the dbs have to
(10:40):
communicate linebackers about okay, if you know, if the inside
guy is yours the outside guy's mind, and that's where
a lot of the breakdowns are. And then in the
wheel routes and tight ends with their releases, they just
don't see those. And to me, I have to assume
it's this defense is too complex for these guys. Now,
maybe it worked last year. They worked well last year,
(11:01):
but these particular guys aren't getting it. At some point,
you can't just be mad at them as a coach.
You have to figure some things out scheme wise. And
that's where I'm disappointed, because listen, the scariest thing is
I wrote it in a piece I'm posting today. You
haven't even faced the best athletes you're gonna face yet.
So a lot of these plays that are going for
fifteen or twenty yards, these passes to the backs or
tight ends, they're gonna go the distance because you're gonna
(11:23):
face better athletes as the season goes on.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, it's a little scary when you look at the schedule.
The possibility is there ira for for what one two wins?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I mean, I will not pick them to win a
football game again until they win a game. I mean,
like I could. There's no way I could pick them
to beat Cal this weekend. I mean, Kelly's are a
good football team, and so yeah, on the road at SMU,
how would you pick this team to go on the
road and beat really anybody? So yeah, everything's on the table.
There's no game I feel certain they will win other
(11:57):
than Charleston's Southern at home late in the year. And
I you know, man, Charleston Southern's going to have eleven
on the field on both sides of the ball, So
it's not a sure thing.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And they're likely going to be playing with some confidence
if we see unfold what we've seen so far, and
you know what happens when teams play with confidence.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, I mean there's nothing you could have other than
confidence going into this game and then into a game
against the Florida Stay team, because not only are they
they really good at anything, there's nothing they're great at.
I think they do have some talent on the defensive line,
but other than that, nothing really scares you. And then
on top of that, they make so many dumb mistakes.
I feel like you would think, well, we'll just wait
(12:35):
it out and they'll make the mistakes. And you saw
it in that game. They fumbled the second player of
the game, deep in their own territory. They muff a
punt at leads to another score. They just they line
up off sides on a on a punt. I mean,
you know, you just they do all the things that
bad teams do well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Back in the day, there would be one approach, and
that would be the coach would kill them, right, I mean,
the coach would just make them miserable in practice and
get their attention that way. That does doesn't work very
often anymore, and that certainly doesn't seem to be the
personality of Mike Norvel. So what's your sense, what do
you think happens this week in practice?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's a great question. You know, the approach so far
has been that we don't need to change everything, we
just need to do things better. Is there is that fair?
I'm sorry?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I mean, I understand the approach. I think you know, again,
as we talked about earlier, Mike Dorvel has a tendency
to want to believe in players and assume they're going
to get better. But I think it's it's foolhardy at
this point. To me, you need to be giving way
more guys opportunities than the guys that are playing right now.
And you know, and again that stinks. That probably means
you might lose more games, but it might give you
(13:47):
a better chance in the future, because listen, this is
a team with a lot of seniors. And I know
you don't want to give up on the season and
you don't want to say that this season is a
lost cause. But the reality is it's going to be
a lost cause if you keep doing what you're doing well.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And I've reminded a lot of folks Alabama's first on
deck next year, and you you have the potential makings
of a boat race if if you don't change some
things right now and get better. So with that said,
Ira who's walking out of the tunnel is the starting
quarterback this Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it's a fifty to fifty proposition. Honestly, I'd
like to tell you I'm sure it's going to be Brocklyn.
I think it should be Brocklan. But I also, as
you pointed out before, Mike Lurvel wants the best of
these guys, and he's got a loyalty, you know, he's
predisposed to be loyal, and I think there's there's a
decent chance he sticks with DJ with huncle A, but
I think that's unfair to DJ too. At this point.
(14:38):
I think DJ needs a break to let this offense
and maybe people realize, hey, it's not him if it
doesn't work with Brocklynn either. But you know, I would
make the move, but I could not guarantee you that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Well, the one thing, I'm not a football coach, but
I've watched enough of it to know that if your
quarterback's running an option dive and he's not willing to
take the ball and run, you don't have an option
dive play.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that is fair. I mean, just if there was
a threat that, if there was a threat that he
would keep the ball. And then sometimes he does keep
the ball, and that's and it seems like at the
worst times it's a mess. I thought he'd be able
to read those plays better. He is not, So it's
just everywhere you turn it's been a disaster.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, at least we'll be together, buddy. As my dad
would say, misery loves company. So uh, thanks so much
for the time this morning. We'll talk again next week.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Thanks pressing takinger.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Irischaffelle from war chant dot com. There's some great features
throughout the week. Check him out at war chant dot com.
All these are going to be fun. It's the third
hour of the Morning Show with Preston Sky. Good morning friends,
It's Monday, September sixteenth, and if you're a Florida State
football fan, you might be wearing black today. We are
joined by the managing editor of warchand dot com, Ladies
and gentlemen, the one the only Irish offel. Good morning sir.
(00:33):
How you doing, Preston, Well, that had to be fun
to cover.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, it's amazing that it seems to be getting worse,
not better, after scoring what twenty one points in the
first game than they scored thirteen. Now they scored twelve,
So maybe it's a countdown. I'm not sure exactly what's
going on on that offense.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
What stands out to you about the game? What stands
out to you in the subsequent days about what the
coach coaches have said?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Uh, you know, I think the biggest thing to me,
you know, at the game, was that there's no more
trying to figure out what's wrong. You know. I think
in the you know, Georgia Tech, you know, you start thinking, okay, man,
it's a week zero game, it's in Ireland. There's a
lot of variables here that you don't normally face first
game with DJU and they look, you know, obviously poor,
and you figure, okay, well maybe that's what happened. And
(01:23):
then they go and lose to Boston College at home,
and now you're thinking, Okay, there may be real problems here.
But then as I started thinking about it last week,
I'm like, okay, well, you know, you're coming back from
Ireland and you and you're maybe that game, maybe you
lost that game and it beat you twice. You know,
you came into the season thinking you're one of the
best teams in the country, You're gonna win the ACC,
you're gonna make the playoffs. You're zero to one. Maybe
(01:44):
they had a tough time recovering from that and that
beat them against Boss College. And now after about week
you're like, no, this is just a bad football team
and they do all the things that bad football teams do,
and that is much more concerning because that doesn't get
fixed quickly.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Coach Mike Norvell obviously is going to be very careful
about what he says publicly. Are you hearing anything behind
the scenes.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I mean, I think he's got to be considering everything,
But he's pretty he's he does not have a big
circle in terms of what he discusses inside the team,
you know, like if he's thinking about making changes to
his staff or or even you know, major personnel decisions.
I don't think everybody in the program is going to
know that, And so I haven't heard anything directly, but
(02:29):
I mean common sense tells you you know, he's a
bright guy. He's gotten to this point in his career.
This clearly isn't working. So during the season, I don't
know how much there's that he can do early in
the season in terms of a staff standpoint. Certainly as
the year goes on he could consider making some changes.
Or the problem is, I don't know that there's anything.
(02:49):
You know, sometimes if you have, say a defensive coordinator
who's not doing well midway through the season, but you've
got a sharp, young defensive assistant coach, you say, Okay,
let's see if this guy can call the plays that
The problem really has been the offense, especially this pass game,
and there's nobody Mike norvellen this staff he's going to
turn the offense over to. So I don't think anything
on the staff is going to change during the season,
(03:11):
unless late in the year. He just wants to make
a point that he's making a change, and then the
only really change he can make on offense is at quarterback,
and he has refused to address that. When he's asked
about it, he just talks about the offense as a whole,
not about dj ung Away. And you know, I gotta
believe he's got to at least strongly consider making a
(03:31):
move to Brockland, but there's been no indication that that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Irah, how much of the impatience, if we put it politely,
of the fan base ends up coming back to the
fact that we're not really dealing with collegiate athletics anymore.
These are paid professionals in the high profile positions.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think it's it's part of it. But listen, you know,
I mean, you know, we can we can tell ourselves
that we weren't like this as fans or media back
in the day, but you know, we've watched quarterbacks get
booed thirty forty years ago in college football. So but
it definitely ramps it up a notch. And what it
really does is, I think where the frustration really mounts
(04:15):
isn't about performance, but when it's effort. If you see
a defensive end not playing full speed, if you see
a receiver not blocking and you know those guys are
getting money, or a quarterback not putting his body on
the line and you know that they're getting a large
sums of money, then it becomes more frustrating because it's like, listen, man,
you took all that money. You have to perform. That's
(04:37):
where I think the most frustration is if it's just
a guy that makes mistakes. I think people can live
with that, even people get paid make mistakes, but you
can't have lack of effort.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Hira Chavelle with us for a couple more segments here
from war chand dot com and Ira, let me advance
another thought. You know, dj ujungal A is always been
a serviceable quarterback. Maybe not a highlight reel, but he
played well at Oregon State last year. Some would say that,
you know, the handwriting was on the wall though when
(05:13):
he got kind of lost his job at Clemson. But
still he's not even playing to his own standard, whatever
that might be. How much of this is just a
misfit of a quarterback to a system, and how much
of it is the guys around him not doing much
to help him.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I think it's a combination of both, you know, I
think that I think when you look back at last year,
the way Florida State's offensive line played, it did not
play very well, especially as the year went on. And
you know, they went out and got three new portal editions. Well,
none of them have had a huge impact to help
this offensive line, but I'm guessing Mike Norval thought they would,
(05:53):
and I think he thought he could change what they
do offensively, so more of a run oriented attack and
you know, kind of take shots with the passing game,
but not necessarily be a quarterback that has to throw
at thirty or forty times a game. And so but
the problem is Mike Garvel completely misevaluated what this offensive
line could be with this running game could be. And
then DJ doesn't seem very comfortable in terms of making
(06:15):
all the line checks and reads. So you brought in
a quarterback for one year, but you didn't really build
things to his talents, and I think you misevaluated what
you had around him. So it's just been a complete mess.
But you know, I don't know that it's DJ's fault.
I looked more at Mike Norvell that you know, you
thought you either thought this guy was gonna work better
in your system because your system was going to be better,
(06:37):
or you thought you were going to turn him into
a better quarterback knowing some of your deficiencies. Either way,
there's a misevaluation. And but no, he's not getting any help.
Even in this game. There were a couple there were
some nice catches later in the game, but there were
also some drop balls, and the offensive line's been terrible.
So it's a combination. But I think the biggest problem
was it was a bad fit.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Everyone would agree my Norvel has proven himself to be
a very good coach and maybe a better person. Is
that a fair statement?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, for sure, I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Now, having said that, is there any chance that because
DJ came in as basically he's what a fifty year
senior and this is it for him? Is there a
sense of loyalty here that he's just he feels a
sense of owing it to DJ to let him stay
on the field, even though that is not what's best
for this team at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I think it's possible. I think that happens sometimes with
coaches and there's two shining examples. With Mike Norvell. You know, obviously,
you know, there was a lot of pressure on my
chach Norvel to make a change with after Jordan Travis
after the twenty twenty one season. A lot of people
wanted Norvel to go get a transfer quarterback. There was
not a lot of confidence in Jordan Travis, even though
he had done some things in the last couple of
(07:51):
years to help them out. People wanted a quote unquote
real quarterback and more accurate quarterback. And Norvell stuck with
Jordan Travis, believed in him and paid off handsibly for
everybody involved. Yep. And then you know, I think Ryan
Fitzgerald a place kicker. I mean, he was in a
complete mess three years ago and it looked like I mean,
he had the yips. I mean, he couldn't connect on
(08:13):
a thirty five yard till goal, let alone a fifty
yard field goal. He stuck with him and now he's
turned into maybe the best kicker in the country. So
there are examples of that. And I think as a
coach you always want that if you believe the kid
can do it. But to your point, you nailed it
at some point the offense is not moving, and you know,
we can blame everybody else, but the quarterback gets all
(08:35):
you know, they get all the glory when it's good.
They get most of the blame when it's bad. And
that's where I think he has to make a change,
just to let the team know he's willing to make
a change and see what it looks like with a
different quarterback.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Reading between the lines. What do you think the team
is thinking right now?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I think they're lost. I think it's a it's you know, listen,
the one thing I've learned through the years is if
I've learned one thing about players is they know results
more than anything else. And if a coaching staff is
helping them win and get ready for the NFL and
help them in their careers, they will love that coaching staff.
If you lose a lot of football games, they're going
(09:13):
to question just like everybody else, because they don't always
have all the answers. They just see the results also,
and they know it's going to affect them in the
long term. And it's certainly not any fun playing this
game right now, so I guarantee you they're going to
have challenges right now. Keeping these guys together, because it's
just human nature. If you work for a company that
was the worst in the industry in your profession, which
(09:36):
is what Florida State is right now, an offensive football,
you're going to question the management. And I'm sure that's happening.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Hi, Racha Pelle with us one more segment. We're going
to one more question about this weekend before we switch
to the other side of the ball. And maybe I'll
invert that a little bit when we come back. I
saw a meme going around that said FSU's petitioning for
a new one hundred and twelve team playoff. Ira Chafelle
back with me one more segment. All right, let's let's
(10:03):
do this. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. Yes,
the defense seemed to play better. I thought the defensive
tackles we were much more assertive. But boy, Ira, it
looks like a fire drill in the second and third
levels between the linebackers and the secondary.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, you know, look, I mean Mike Norvell, I mean,
excuse me, Adam Fuller, the defensive coordinator, when they've tried
to play some zone in the past that has not
gone well, and I think he's just pretty much determined
to play man, but with some sort of zone concepts
where they'll pass guys off to each other, so it's
not like I've got the X receiver and I'm gonna
stay with him no matter what. When they're in those
condensed formations and things like that, the dbs have to
(10:40):
communicate linebackers about okay, if you know, if the inside
guy is yours the outside guy's mind, and that's where
a lot of the breakdowns are. And then in the
wheel routes and tight ends with their releases, they just
don't see those. And to me, I have to assume
it's this defense is too complex for these guys. Now,
maybe it worked last year. They worked well last year,
(11:01):
but these particular guys aren't getting it. At some point,
you can't just be mad at them as a coach.
You have to figure some things out scheme wise. And
that's where I'm disappointed, because listen, the scariest thing is
I wrote it in a piece I'm posting today. You
haven't even faced the best athletes you're gonna face yet.
So a lot of these plays that are going for
fifteen or twenty yards, these passes to the backs or
tight ends, they're gonna go the distance because you're gonna
(11:23):
face better athletes as the season goes on.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, it's a little scary when you look at the schedule.
The possibility is there ira for for what one two wins?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
I mean, I will not pick them to win a
football game again until they win a game. I mean,
like I could. There's no way I could pick them
to beat Cal this weekend. I mean, Kelly's are a
good football team, and so yeah, on the road at SMU,
how would you pick this team to go on the
road and beat really anybody? So yeah, everything's on the table.
There's no game I feel certain they will win other
(11:57):
than Charleston's Southern at home late in the year. And
I you know, man, Charleston Southern's going to have eleven
on the field on both sides of the ball, So
it's not a sure thing.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And they're likely going to be playing with some confidence
if we see unfold what we've seen so far, and
you know what happens when teams play with confidence.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, I mean there's nothing you could have other than
confidence going into this game and then into a game
against the Florida Stay team, because not only are they
they really good at anything, there's nothing they're great at.
I think they do have some talent on the defensive line,
but other than that, nothing really scares you. And then
on top of that, they make so many dumb mistakes.
I feel like you would think, well, we'll just wait
(12:35):
it out and they'll make the mistakes. And you saw
it in that game. They fumbled the second player of
the game, deep in their own territory. They muff a
punt at leads to another score. They just they line
up off sides on a on a punt. I mean,
you know, you just they do all the things that
bad teams do well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Back in the day, there would be one approach, and
that would be the coach would kill them, right, I mean,
the coach would just make them miserable in practice and
get their attention that way. That does doesn't work very
often anymore, and that certainly doesn't seem to be the
personality of Mike Norvel. So what's your sense, what do
you think happens this week in practice?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's a great question. You know, the approach so far
has been that we don't need to change everything, we
just need to do things better. Is there is that fair?
I'm sorry?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I mean, I understand the approach. I think you know, again,
as we talked about earlier, Mike Dorvel has a tendency
to want to believe in players and assume they're going
to get better. But I think it's it's foolhardy at
this point. To me, you need to be giving way
more guys opportunities than the guys that are playing right now.
And you know, and again that stinks. That probably means
you might lose more games, but it might give you
(13:47):
a better chance in the future, because listen, this is
a team with a lot of seniors. And I know
you don't want to give up on the season and
you don't want to say that this season is a
lost cause. But the reality is it's going to be
a lost cause if you keep doing what you're doing well.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And I've reminded a lot of folks Alabama's first on
deck next year, and you you have the potential makings
of a boat race if if you don't change some
things right now and get better. So with that said,
Ira who's walking out of the tunnel is the starting
quarterback this Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it's a fifty to fifty proposition. Honestly, I'd
like to tell you I'm sure it's going to be Brocklyn.
I think it should be Brocklan. But I also, as
you pointed out before, Mike Lurvel wants the best of
these guys, and he's got a loyalty, you know, he's
predisposed to be loyal, and I think there's there's a
decent chance he sticks with DJ with huncle A, but
I think that's unfair to DJ too. At this point.
(14:38):
I think DJ needs a break to let this offense
and maybe people realize, hey, it's not him if it
doesn't work with Brocklynn either. But you know, I would
make the move, but I could not guarantee you that's
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Well, the one thing, I'm not a football coach, but
I've watched enough of it to know that if your
quarterback's running an option dive and he's not willing to
take the ball and run, you don't have an option
dive play.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that is fair. I mean, just if there was
a threat that, if there was a threat that he
would keep the ball. And then sometimes he does keep
the ball, and that's and it seems like at the
worst times it's a mess. I thought he'd be able
to read those plays better. He is not, So it's
just everywhere you turn it's been a disaster.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well, at least we'll be together, buddy. As my dad
would say, misery loves company. So uh, thanks so much
for the time this morning. We'll talk again next week.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Thanks pressing takinger.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Irischaffelle from war chant dot com. There's some great features
throughout the week. Check him out at war chant dot com.
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