[msqueri]

Hey Matt -- as always, thank you so much for the quality analysis here.  Let me know where I can subscribe to your podcast...

I'm curious though.  Watching this game, I actually felt better about the team than at any point last year.  Is that because my bar has dropped so low?  Penalties and final score aside, we seem to be a much better coached team this year -- sounds like statistically we are not.  But last year felt so much like we were just running around hoping Daniels or Ayomanor could pull off some heroics.  This year we play more like a team and for some non trivial amount of the game seemed to belong on the same field as SMU.  Last year really felt like a hapless high school team struggling to compete.  Am I deluding myself?

Thanks! I don't have a podcast but have been a guest a few times on the Talking Trees podcast, including one last week to talk about coaching candidates. Think you can subscribe to that here: https://open.spotify.com/show/40OnCc6Z27UUapweabYTVE. 

I don't think you're deluding yourself, I just think we all want to discern evidence of improvement and are more likely to focus on the signs that exist than the (more substantial) signs we're still stalled. I think last year's Louisville and Syracuse games were far more substantial evidence we were capable of good football than anything we've seen this year. I don't disagree that we are "better coached" this year in the narrow sense that I think Reich is cultivating a more professional, stable, supportive culture and, at least so far, vibes aren't cursed like they became last year. But virtually all the coaching below Reich is Taylor guys, and many of those guys are unqualified and unaccomplished. I don't think we are particularly well coached generally and I am looking forward to having a new staff with hopefully higher compensated and more legitimate coaches than what Taylor brought in.

[msqueri]

Hey Matt -- as always, thank you so much for the quality analysis here.  Let me know where I can subscribe to your podcast...

I'm curious though.  Watching this game, I actually felt better about the team than at any point last year.  Is that because my bar has dropped so low?  Penalties and final score aside, we seem to be a much better coached team this year -- sounds like statistically we are not.  But last year felt so much like we were just running around hoping Daniels or Ayomanor could pull off some heroics.  This year we play more like a team and for some non trivial amount of the game seemed to belong on the same field as SMU.  Last year really felt like a hapless high school team struggling to compete.  Am I deluding myself?

Thanks! I don't have a podcast but have been a guest a few times on the Talking Trees podcast, including one last week to talk about coaching candidates. Think you can subscribe to that here: https://open.spotify.com/show/40OnCc6Z27UUapweabYTVE. 

I don't think you're deluding yourself, I just think we all want to discern evidence of improvement and are more likely to focus on the signs that exist than the (more substantial) signs we're still stalled. I think last year's Louisville and Syracuse games were far more substantial evidence we were capable of good football than anything we've seen this year. I don't disagree that we are "better coached" this year in the narrow sense that I think Reich is cultivating a more professional, stable, supportive culture and, at least so far, vibes aren't cursed like they became last year. But virtually all the coaching below Reich is Taylor guys, and many of those guys are unqualified and unaccomplished. I don't think we are particularly well coached generally and I am looking forward to having a new staff with hopefully higher compensated and more legitimate coaches than what Taylor brought in.