But it hurts my head. Putting aside the "anonymous war of words" that follows in the comments and whether the stats Garbin supplies are more telling than actual wins and losses, I am forced to recognize that Mike Bobo is at least a more effective offensive coordinator than his boss. In the same breath I also recognize that he's a great quarterbacks coach and exceptional recruiter, therefore a value to Richt's staff.But stepping away from the stats and the overall win-loss records of the two subsets that Garbin dichotomizes, I always come back to one thought that I know I've mentioned before, mostly here and here. And that's the feeling that Richt didn't do Bobo any favors by promoting him so soon. That and I think one flaw that Richt has continuously rubs off on his offensive coordinator.
Deep down Mark Richt believes that every offensive play that is called should work. If everyone does their job and follows through with their assignment each play will at least gain yards if not score points. You hear it all the time on his call in shows when he mentions that if a block is made downfield a certain play will not only gains yards but could spring a big gain.
That's is a fine philosophy...for a team from Tallahassee in the 1990's. However in Athens GA regardless of the era, it ain't gonna always hold water. What else could possibly explain running a ball carrier a smidgen smaller than my neighbor's 6th grader between Ben Jones and Chris Burnette?
And therein lies the problem. Despite all of Bobo's success, can he ever escape his boss' shadow? Can he wear pants that are big enough for the fans and for championships?
6 comments:
First of all, I'm not a coach and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But it SEEMS to me that CMR used to run some plays just to set up other plays (see: sprint draw). I saw less of that during the Bobo era, until the last couple of years. Thomas up the middle just screams, "See? We're very serious about running the ball so all you LB's gotta pay attention". Even though not much can be gained from that.
"What else could possibly explain running a ball carrier a smidgen smaller than my neighbor's 6th grader between Ben Jones and Chris Burnette"THIS!
Bernie, he certainly hasn't given us any indication that he can wear those pants you mentioned. However, I think he is a little closer to being able to do that than Kirby Smart is on the defensive side of the ball at Alabama. Smart has the coordinators title, but Saban runs the defense. Period. I don't think Bobo's situation is quite that bad, although Kirby has more rings than Mike (he can even wear them when Nick says he can!).
If people think Smart can do it and he is probably in less control than Bobo then Why not Bobo.
On the season, Thomas averaged 4.9 yds/carry. Crowell averaged 4.6. Thomas ran over auburn and a lot of runs we're between the tackles. His longest run in the SEC championship was like 12 yds and that came between the tackles. He was the only dependable option at RB that night. We can't toss a sweep every time. You have to be careful not to jump on the "I hate bobo because he calls to many cthomas up the middle runs that get stuffed for no gain" bus because the statistics clearly show otherwise. Dont base your opinion of bono on a few scattered plays that stick out in your mind because they failed. He averaged more per Carry than the SeC FOT did. Senator Blutarsky had a couple of good posts about this on Monday and Tuesday. Your thoughts?
My criticism was directed more at Richt than at Bobo. Again, I think he has it in him and as the stats show he's done a better job running Richt's offense than Richt himself. My concern is that Bobo will not emerge from his boss' shadow enough to overcome the thinking that every play should work regardless. In the SEC it takes more than that.
I agree that I did fall victim once again to playing the "Carlton Thomas" card, for dramatic effect. But believe me that I recognize that Mighty Mite's inefficiency as an SEC running back does lay at Bobo's feet at all. Bobo had to use whoever he could at tailback last season which sometimes only amounted in a warm body. I expect greater effectiveness from our much deeper backfield this season.
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