Deception is a big part of it but only having 1 game breaker at receiver slows down the offense when X is taken out. Building 3 or 4 deep in the WR room like he did at Bama makes it unstoppable. Secondly who on his team is a jump ball catcher that can make a play when it's absolutely necessary? We needed that in all 4 losses when the offense stalled to help QE but nobody was there to step up. He's had some drops at a&m this year but Stewart's grab against Ole Miss would have been the best catch by a mile for us. As great as X is he's just not that guy unless it's in his chest.
Sark's game plans are built on being able to out athlete the other team like he did at Bama. While I am still not 100% sold on his tenure there has been progression on defense and the offensive line while trending up in the QB room and hopefully the WR room through the portal and 23 class. With whos coming in and how the schedule sets up next year 10-2 should be the standard and anything less than that is cause for dismissal imo (barring any major screw jobs or injuries)
Brian Kelly is 3 years older and generally seen as a hard ass coach that expects a lot. This team would be 11-1 or 10-2 next year with him at the helm. Great coaches like that who still have fire in the tank will win big quickly here or any other blue blood.
The Hill loss puts them at #23 and losing those other 4 would put them at #84 just behind the Rice Owls
Conversely Vasek and Hill would put us at #2 and adding Hicks would push us over 300 with a few spots left.
Think that had more to do with being a few wins from being the winningest coach in ND history. After that not much more he could do with how hard a title is to win there.
The committee seems more prone to rank for matchups and give teams the opportunity to prove themselves in the top 4 when they have a big game upcoming. That's why I think they put TCU 4 this week and let them prove themselves while giving the country a #~18 and #4 match-up. Let's win this and force them to keep us out of the 10th spot.
What's most embarrassing is their 3 wins are against the worst SHSU team in awhile, Miami who got blown out by MTSU, and Arkansas who just lost to Liberty. At least we had a good wins against Louisiana and KState last year to build on.
That moment was probably worse than this given the injury but I thought he was done after this in year 1. Plus he yells at the QBs every 3rd down missed so wouldn't be a shock to have Weigman leave this year too.