Everything is Fine, We Only Need a Kicker

According to Dabo today that is....

How much time have you spent the last week rehashing the season?
 "That's all I did last Sunday and Monday. I'll continue to do that. I've spent a lot of time thinking about a lot of things. I'll evaluate everything we do, everybody and every process, every system we have in place. But the worst thing you can do is overanalyze. If you do that, you lose sight of all the good things you did. It's not fair to the young men who sit in these chairs to discount their accomplishments. If all you do is focus on the result, you'll never be happy. You'll all be miserable. The reality of it is, we have a lot of good things going on. These guys who have laid it on the line, they have competed their tails off. To not recognize that is a shame. We're not where we want to be from a results standpoint. Coming into this year I felt like we had the right strategy to give ourselves a chance to win. I still feel that way. You have to take what you've got. I knew we wouldn't be as explosive as we were last year. We will be again, but I knew we wouldn't be that this year.

Oh great, so what else do you think you get evaluated on? Do you think you'll get to keep the job if the result is 6-6 next year?

"Probably the number one thing that hurt us, we needed to make some kicks. It's as simple as that. We needed to make some kicks. We didn't. It was a coin toss. That's part of the game. That's the number one reason, the number one disappointment for me, for our season. We missed nine kicks. Of those nine, six of them were from the 20 in. That's a lot of drives where you come away with nothing. That's deflating, that's disappointing. How would you like to be an offensive lineman? They had the best year they've had in a long time, but they don't have the record to show it. We didn't have to be great. We just needed to be average. At 75-percent on kicks, we are 9-3 and beat Auburn, Florida State and Boston College. We still have the issues we have to fix, but we'd be in that championship game. You can't be the type of team we were and not hit field goals. For every person that's disappointed out there, take it and multiply it times a million and that's how I feel. That's how our players feel. We're all disappointed but I'm encouraged with all the ingredients we have here. We have developed a toughness, they have learned how to compete. We have a lot of good things going on. I've been implementing a plan for two years now and I have to stick to the plan. It's easy to fold up the tent. You have to stand tall in the good times and the bad times. Being a player, being a coach, it's not for the weak. There are tough times and good times. You have to be able to work through both."

Number one thing? I guess he didn't see that his offense is in the bottom of Division 1-A and his own meddling in the playcalling is the primary culprit. Then again, he didn't see Ellington was the better runner for weeks while he was healthy, and doesnt see that Xavier Dye is a complete waste of a scholarship.

Its great that we know how to compete now, so instead of either getting our ass kicked or dominating our opponent like we did under Bowden, we can look equally shitty all the time and because our defensive staff can... you know... actually teach...we're "competitive".

Where do things stand with Kyle Parker?
Dabo. "He's doing good and is getting ready to get back to practice and is excited about playing. He's doing well in school and getting ready to finish up like the rest of these seniors are."

Question. He will be your starter?
Dabo. "Yes. It's about the guy who gives you the best chance to win today. That's KP. He's excited about playing. Tajh will play. I'm excited about having another spring practice to get Tajh more work. I'm excited about some of the things I've seen from him and excited about him being our future. Some people have said well you need to get ready for next year. Well the best way to get ready for next year is to win this game. We're going to try to win the ballgame. I'm not going to sit DeAndre McDaniel or Jarvis Jenkins. We're going to do everything we can to win."

I can't argue that Parker probably gives us the best chance to win with what I've seen thus far with Tajh Boyd, but based on his reaction and what we've heard from the team, I can't justify starting Parker either.

But its OK! We're going undefeated from here on out, right?