re: Mike Bobo to replace Monken at UGA

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This is not a splash hire, but the excuses Bama makes for their coordinator hires can be said about Bobo. He's never had as much talent as he's got now. And he is more proven than Rees and at least as successful as Steele in his better years.

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I think Bobo will be fine. He has the same concerns Rees/Steele have - when it's crunch time against an opponent who can somewhat match your normal stuff and you can't overwhelm them, will they be good enough to win the game with their play calling/execution. Who knows. But honestly that question can be asked about almost any coordinator when they show up somewhere new.

Bobo and Steele feel like almost identical hires, IMHO. Their resumes are extremely similar in terms of production level with and without talent, and their familiarity with the programs/coach they are working for is also identical.

I think it speaks to the fact that with so much distraction and constant change with transfer portal stuff that coaches are deciding that they'd prefer solid coaches they 100% trust to be their secondary voice to players than "smart" guys who have their own scheme and may not communicate/fit the program, even if they may schematically be more "advanced" (theoretically).

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Although Bobo did catch heat in 2013-2014 as the OC from the dawg fan base.

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Which has never made sense to me. In 2013, Georgia was literally playing games down their top 3 WRs and top 2 RBs. In 2014, Georgia set a school record for points per game that still stands.

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He doesn’t need to be a splash hire which is a credit to Smart and the talent he has on the roster right now. I don’t understand the need by uga folks to defend this the way they are. The same thing goes for defending Muschamp as DC, like why? After 2012 he was on a consistent downward trajectory, then at Georgia his defense is great. What changed? An extremely talented roster already coached by a great DC predecessor (and current co DC), an established successful system, and most important, Smart is there running the show. The same will be true with Bobo.

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I don't disagree with this. My point is Bobo (and Will too) have been considered in the high tier of coordinators when coaching top level talent.

We may take a step back on offense as I do think Monken was a better passing game coordinator and that's more important in today's college football. I do think Bobo is a better run game coordinator.

But people who say he was just run, run, pass? I don't really know what to say to that. At Georgia, that was not the case. Murray is the all time career leader in every passing stat. Will from MSU may break all of his records this year by playing four years just like Murray and will only do it because he was in an extremely high volume pass offense.

We'll still be running the same offense from what I've heard, but with a few more running plays called this time.

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I think Bobo will be fine. He has the same concerns Rees/Steele have - when it's crunch time against an opponent who can somewhat match your normal stuff and you can't overwhelm them, will they be good enough to win the game with their play calling/execution. Who knows. But honestly that question can be asked about almost any coordinator when they show up somewhere new.

Bobo and Steele feel like almost identical hires, IMHO. Their resumes are extremely similar in terms of production level with and without talent, and their familiarity with the programs/coach they are working for is also identical.

I think it speaks to the fact that with so much distraction and constant change with transfer portal stuff that coaches are deciding that they'd prefer solid coaches they 100% trust to be their secondary voice to players than "smart" guys who have their own scheme and may not communicate/fit the program, even if they may schematically be more "advanced" (theoretically).

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Agree on the first paragraph. It's hard for me not to see some things as bad luck though. The last play call in the SEC champ. game. 99 percent of the time the ball falls to the turf and we get one more shot.

The SC game in 2014 people bring up, the QB made a dumb mistake (one that he would make again later) of just assuming he could throw it in the dirt under pressure and it'd be an incomplete pass. He could have thrown the ball in the direction an eligible receiver right in front of him but was not heady enough to do it.

But Bobo's fault for not just handing it to Gurley there.

There are some similarities between Bobo and Steele. I do think Bobo's offenses were a little better than Steele's Auburn defenses with similar talent. Georgia had some good talent at skill positions during Bobo's first run, but when he really started putting out great offensive production with Murray and then Mason, there wasn't a lot of NFL type talent on those teams. Outside of David Andrews, none were really get on the Oline at the next level. Conley at WR has hung around in the NFL, but never was a huge factor in the League. We did have RBs consistently, but that's about it.

As far as offense, Saban and Kirby were gonna hire someone who ran a multiple offense like you see in the NFL. IYAM, the reason the Big 12 and teams like Tennessee never have good defenses is because they likely don't get a good look at offenses unlike what they run in practice. I still haven't seen a good defense yet paired with a strictly HUNH offense.

I just think there is a mantra that the best teams run the ball in the red zone.
And it plays out on the statsheets (even with what we consider passing offenses).
Conference champ rushing TDs
2009 Bama 31 (1st)
2010 Auburn 41 (1st)
2011 LSU 35 (1st)
2012 Bama 37 (2nd)
2013 Auburn 48 (1st)
2014 Bama 35 (2nd)
2015 Bama 33 (2nd)
2016 Bama 33 (T1st)
2017 UGA 42 (1st)
2018 Bama 33 (1st)
2019 LSU 32 (2nd)
2020 Bama 37 (1st)
2021 Bama 21 (9th)
2022 UGA 44 (1st)

There probably isn't a more consistent character trait in the SEC of a championship DNA.

Monken is known for designing passing plays. The run plays were diverse as well.

Of course it was hard for anyone to run on our defense, but Alabama's inability to do it in the NCG is why they lost.

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As far as offense, Saban and Kirby were gonna hire someone who ran a multiple offense like you see in the NFL. IYAM, the reason the Big 12 and teams like Tennessee never have good defenses is because they likely don't get a good look at offenses unlike what they run in practice. I still haven't seen a good defense yet paired with a strictly HUNH offense.

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Yep - Kirby made that executive decision when hired Monken and it was the right one. At this point I think the evidence is pretty clear that Alabama's offensive structure - specifically the fact that it's run plays are almost all RPO and rarely "called runs" - had both hampered it's physicality offensively and defensively. Those aren't the only reasons for our defensive slide, but it certainly contributed.

And a lot of that comes from not being able to run the ball when you need to run the ball and the defense knows you need to run the ball. And the flip side of that is that your defense doesn't seem an offense that can do that in practice, and so they don't work against it.

If you just looked at stats you'd think Alabama was a good run team last year. Tons of yards, big YPA, etc. But when you dig deeper you see that we were boom or bust, and when it was a situation that dictated running the ball (and everyone knew it), we were simply not able to do it.

He had arguably two of the best rb duos in Keith Marshall-Todd Gurley in one cycle and then right afterwards Sony Michel-Nick Chubb.

Those backs don't exist anymore in the 2020s. Kirby is banking on the soft schedule but nobody should trust Bobo in a playoff setting

I like Keith Marshall, but he never was much of a factor in a big game. When we played the big boys, Gurley got the carries.

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I don't disagree with this. My point is Bobo (and Will too) have been considered in the high tier of coordinators when coaching top level talent.

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Operative words are ‘have been’ which might be why some are concerned as their most recent non-UGA performances were questionable. In the case of Muschamp, he had highly ranked Ds early on, but when left to his own devices (except florida 2012) they were not good. And for Bobo, I think it’s a combo of dissatisfaction with Richt’s Georgia overall and Bobo’s time at Colorado state and Carolina that are hurting him.

But in both cases the cause for concern should be gone, Kirby is in charge so they are not left to their own devices and the talent is top notch. Kirby chose coordinators that he knows and will execute the system that exists. That makes sense for now since uga is in a maintain mode. When things change, it would then be the time to look for fresh people with new ideas, but that’s not right now.