In defense of Beamer, Part II

18IsTheMan said:

It's a stretch to say that Utah was a power. They had 8 all-time bowl appearances before Meyer.

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18IsTheMan said:

It's a stretch to say that Utah was a power. They had 8 all-time bowl appearances before Meyer.

I suspect he's probably done with coaching, but maybe he's got a little itch. Big-time programs are not likely looking at a 62 year old retiree who hasn't coached in nearly a decade.

Don't get me wrong, I know this is the stuff of fairy tales, but if it actually happened, it would lead to unprecedented winning here.

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List of Utah Utes football seasons - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Deathstar said:

What else is there to do in Columbia in the fall, sit home and sweat or party at the football game and sweat? It’s just a social event, fans leave at the half and keep the party going. Nobody seems to care if we win or lose.

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Swifty said:

There are two glaring issues with this team:
-The defense just looks lost at times. Undisciplined lanes by the DL and the DBs have been mostly crap.
-Yes, the team shows heart and doesn't give up and that can be credited to Beamer's same demeanor. But my goodness, they just can't finish. It's night and day from the second half of '24. That's something that Beamer, himself, HAS to figure out and fix. NOW.
The defense made their stop to keep Kentucky from winning in regulation, then the second they scored and the defense looked lost, Beamer should have called timeout. That lets the team prepare for a 2 pt conversion play. Maybe they still go for it and still convert. Maybe Stein changes his mind and they kick the PAT. Maybe they miss it. Maybe they beat us on they next OT or the sixth OT. Maybe we hold them to a FG in the second OT and we get a TD. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But you canNOT sit there with your Karl Childers expression and watch that happen. Kentucky was more than likely already prepared that if they were in that position, they would go for two and already knew they play. That was just an inexcusable error to have that play unfold with a timeout in the back pocket. Unacceptable.

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uscjunkie said:

I will bet you $100 the place is packed again next year. Our fans consider it a badge of pride to say we packed the place even when there was no reason to! That mindset is not going to change! Not to mention, SC fans are always the eternal optimists!

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18IsTheMan said:

Maybe things aren't all as bad as they seem. We all know Beamer was not ready for a head coaching and that he's been learning on the job. I think last year was the first time he finally made some grown-up head coaching decisions in terms of staffing changes. He was 2 years too late on the OL change, but finally pulled the trigger. Then he went out and made several solid staff hires. Our Achille's heel last year, without question, was the OL and subsequently the offense. As frustrated as we have been with Seller's play, the offense has actually been fine and they are not in the least bit responsible for 2 of our 3 losses. The offense didn't put up 30 or more points in any SEC contest last year. This year, we've had 34 points in two SEC games and lost them both. That simply should not happen. Cannot happen.

The problem this year, quite unexpectedly, has been the defense, and primarily the secondary, though the DL has dropped of considerably as well. Nobody really saw this coming. Nobody was on here this offseason talking about the DL or the secondary, at least not in any in-depth way. Virtually all the focus was on the OL and the offense. Indeed, quite a few posters wrote of the reconstructed OL as a failure waiting to happen b/c there was no way you could get an entirely new OL to perform well as a unit.

But, the offense and OL have been fine. Better than fine, actually. We have scored 30+ points in 4 of our 5 games. Based on offensive performance, we should be 4-1, right now and a top 25 team.

The defense drop-off has been a surprise to most everyone. Even those who thought there might be some issues never could have predicted our porous secondary. DC simply has not been a point of concern around here for a while. In fact, there were some who were worried last offseason that White might be leaving us for a better job.

I say ALL of that to say, Beamer finally showed some glimmers of having coaching chops last offseason when he made the moves necessary to fix the offense, including gutting the entire OL. And the moves worked, though few around here really thought they would. The offense hasn't been perfect, but it's more than amply good enough for us to be 4-1. Since he finally showed he was able to identify and fix issues with staffing and personnel changes, I can see giving him a year to get the defense back in shape.

Again, nobody really predicted or expected these defensive problems. If the offense or OL were still a problem, I wouldn't be so forgiving. Given that the defensive problems are new and that he finally showed last year that he's capable of making necessary changes, I'd be willing to ride this out another year. Financially, we may not have any other choice anyway.

What's one more year going to cost us? If it doesn't work, it means we'll be firing Beamer's replacement in 6-7 years as opposed to 5-6 years.

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