The offense had better be better in 2026

[18IsTheMan]

Final record aside, the main stink on Beamer's resume right now is not being able to field a good offense. With Briles, he has made what is widely regarded as his first good OC hire. Briles may not be the best OC in the game, but he's established and has a track of good offenses everywhere he's been, including another SEC school. If the offense stutters again next year, he's going to get that stigma of a head coach who can't keep his hands off the offense. So far we've been largely able to dump the offensive woes on bad OC hires, but that won't be the case with Briles. HOPEFFULLY, his decision to hire Briles signals a shift in his thinking and a realization that he needs to step back to CEO status and let the "experts" do their job. If things don't improve next year, consistently, he'll have the stigma of the coach who messed up a Briles offense.

 

[Piscis]

I think the offense has to get better regardless of who the OC is. I don't see how it could get much worse or even stay as bad as it is.

If it doesn't get better, or only gets marginally better, I will conclude that talent is the problem. I already think that was the biggest issue this season. Sellers is not a good QB and Harbor isn't really a college WR yet and I'm not sure he is going to become one. Later in the season, Sellers looked like all he wanted to do was play "catch" with his little brother, who is decent but not a game changer, or throw bombs to Harbor and hope he was wide open. The RBs are mediocre at best and the OL doesn't even need to be discussed.

I've said all along, I don't think the problem has been the OC.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I really don't think talent is the key issue. Good coaches can find ways to maximize talent. Look at what Cignetti is doing at IU with zero 5* and very few 4*. I can't blame talent on us only scoring in the teens offensively.

I agree there's really nowhere to go but up.

 

[Piscis]

Cignetti isn't playing an SEC schedule and he has a generational talent at QB. Rattler covered a lot of sins when he played QB.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Cignetti isn't playing an SEC schedule and he has a generational talent at QB. Rattler covered a lot of sins when he played QB.

They weren't playing an SEC schedule before he got there either and he didn't have a generational talent at QB last year either (this year either, really. Mendoza is good, but not generational talent good). And the QB doesn't have anything to do with their defense absolutely shutting down Oregon and OSU.

Simple fact is, Cignetti has built a great team without blue chip talent.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

A decent OL and effective running game will fix a lot of our offensive issues if Briles can make that happen.

 

[18IsTheMan]

A decent OL and effective running game will fix a lot of our offensive issues if Briles can make that happen.

we saw some OL improvement just with dumping Teasley. It would almost be impossible not to upgrade there.

 

[Piscis]

They weren't playing an SEC schedule before he got there either and he didn't have a generational talent at QB last year either (this year either, really. Mendoza is good, but not generational talent good). And the QB doesn't have anything to do with their defense absolutely shutting down Oregon and OSU.

Simple fact is, Cignetti has built a great team without blue chip talent.

I agree with you but, look at his schedule last year. He beat a bunch of nothing teams. This season, he really only faced two good teams. Granted, he beat them both. He brought a great DC with him and they focused on building the D, which is much easier than building an offense. The B1G is a three team conference this season, IU, OSU and Oregon. The rest of the conference is weak as water, maybe weaker than the ACC. IU is going to get either Bama or OU for their first playoff game. It will be interesting to see what happens.

He has done great there, like you said, without blue chip talent. If he can keep it up next season, he will prove to be a truly great coach.