Simply Brutal

There's a small, but vocal, group of the GT fanbase that doesn't like Chan Gailey. There's a number of reasons (bad playcalling, one flat game a year, can't recruit, etc, etc). Basically, once you cut through the crap, it comes down to one thing - he hasn't beaten Georgia. For the first 3 games of the year, we didn't hear anything from them. Suprisingly, Gailey wasn't a bad coach while winning at Auburn - but suddenly became a bad one when he couldn't win at Blacksburg.

Last night I tuned my T.V on to watch the UT@LSU game - and trust me, I don't want to hear anymore criticism of Gailey this week. Those were two enormously talented teams from programs with huge budgets, great fan support and everything you could want for your football team. However, the gameday coaching was simply brutal last night. I have no idea why Phil Fulmer ever thought Ainge should be his starting QB, and why on earth he managed to last through the first half. The only thing I can think is that he really wants to make sure Jimmy Clausen doesn't come to UT. And lets not even start on Les Miles, who coached like he had both hands around his neck. Clock management at the end of the first half? Who needs clock management? Bad turnovers, sloppy play, clock mismanagement, wierd playcalling - that game had it all.

So what's the lesson out of this? College football is a game played by kids not old enough to even buy a beer yet. They make mistakes, sometimes strings of mistakes. Some days they make their coaches look brilliant, some days they make them look ignorant. Head coaches are never as good as they look at their best, and they are never as bad as they look at their worst. Les Miles and Phil Fulmer are not bad football coaches, neither is Chan Gailey or Dick Vermeil (the Chiefs just got hammered last night as well, looking totally unprepared). Some days it just isn't your day, things refuse to go your way and the snowball effect is in full force.

We have a weeked off for everyone to get themselves together, for our team to get healthy - Eric Henderson we miss you - and to prepare for a national game at night on Thursday. If we win, GT will be 4-1 with 2 conference wins under our belt and well on our way to a solid season. This has a chance to be a very good year, but the bandwagon is sputtering along right now - lets give it a good shove and start enjoying what we have to look forward to, not crying over spilt milk.