What's fixable in the short-term? What's a longer-term problem?

[AuricGoldfinger]

Clark Lea said something earlier this week that caught my attention, and I thought it was worth discussing here.

He said that the problems we saw in the secondary on Saturday night are "fixable" and were more a result of technical mistakes. It got me thinking about which problems we saw in the Hawaii game are potentially fixable in the short-term, and which will require longer term help (such as an infusion of talent, or more coaching than what is available during the season).

I'm not CCL and obviously don't have his experience and experience. But I am much less optimistic about fixing the problems in the secondary. It feels like what we saw Saturday was deja vu from last season, and the personnel involved in those mistakes are the same personnel we saw struggle last year. (Fun fact: did you know that BJ Anderson played on the 2018 bowl team?) I also think VU will continue struggling to run the ball until later in the season, as the RBs not named Patrick Smith gain more experience (something BrentVU alluded to in preseason comments).

I'm less worried about the struggles of the OL, especially pass protection. This is an experienced unit and they made some glaring mistakes Saturday night. The one thing that worries me is whether opponents will blitz constantly out of a lack of respect for the running game.

I also feel good about fixing some of the penalties that we saw Saturday night.

The jury is still out for me on whether we see dramatic improvement in AJ Swann's performance as a QB later this season or whether we'll have to wait until next. He's still a young QB whose experience last year was relatively limited.

What do you think?

[BrentVU]

Yeah, great post. I wonder too whether some things Lea points to as fixable really are, especially the secondary. The definition of "fixable" probably means "capable of improvement", but that doesn't mean the problems are "solved". For instance, I think Vandy can run the ball better between the tackles than it did last week... but I don't think that is ever going to be the strength of this team.

On the other hand, avoiding penalties, pass protection, post-snap reads by Swann... these things can improve, and probably will.

Coaching is largely about coaching around your team's weaknesses. The gap is closing, but this team unquestionably still has some.

Don't know if you heard the coach's show this week, but it was great. Lea really got into the weeds on things that went wrong, and what can be done to "fix" them.

[VU1970]

Let's hope enough stuff is "fixable" that we can look like an SEC team against Alabama A&M.

[charlestonalum]

The pass defense has been a problem for years and at least 2 different coaching regimes: that makes me think talent not execution. It goes deeper (no pun intended) thank where we line up, but also involves defensive line rush. Our pass defense improves when we have better players on defense, but I still hope to see some better play as year progresses.

[vandy05]

I wonder if he means fixable from a schematic perspective. Often times you have to assess your talent and find ways to scheme around areas where you are not as strong. Now in fairness to our DBs, that position has been getting cooked in most programs for a while. Offenses today make it incredibly difficult on defensive backfields. Personally I think its too early to tell either way, but it will be interesting to see.

[dore74]

Seeing the result of last night’s Stanford, Hawaii tilt I feel a bit better about some of our secondary/D line issues being fixable.

The Cardinal had much greater success running, however. Is it our backs not finding the right crease or our line?

My biggest question mark is at QB, however. I’m hopeful but after last week more uncertain.