I blame him because the offense sucked ... other than Cedric. But all of the pieces are there. Losing Selvin was a major loss, but you may have the top runningback, best running quarterback who can also pass some, good receivers and a great line. What happens? After getting knocked-out of the gameplan by nothing more than the defense jumping around, the offense bogs down ... even though Cedric can run with 4 hogs on his back. Go figure.
You mean the Chris Simms that still hasn't taken the starting job from an ineffective Brad Johnson that didn't even make the playoffs last season. Or the Chris Simms who threw an interception into double coverage against the Texans weak second string secondary in pre-season managing an interception. Seeing what Brad Johnson did yesterday, the fact that he is still starting and not Simms tells me a lot about Simms development. The Mack Brown regime has had two quarterbacks at Texas. Simms and Applewhite. One exceeded expectations, one didn't. That doesn't say anything about Davis's coaching. I guess the offensive coordinator in Florida St. should be fired, they routinely get top notch talent that doesn't develop. The fact is you never know how these quarterbacks are going to develop, some do, some don't. Did anyone really have a problem with the way Chance Mock played last season? His development seems fine, he just got be out by a better talent. But his development was fine. Chris Simms never played well in a big game. Period. I'm sure Greg Davis wasn't coaching him to throw into double coverage against every defense he played against.
Major Applewhite's father was obssessed with football from the day Applewhite was born. Question, how did Major get his name? Applewhite went to every football camp since he was about 12 years old. He learned everything about football prior to coming to 40 acres. Simms natural abilities was always enough at the HS level and was never taught the nuances of the game. Phil Simms never pushed his son and let his coaches teach him the game. At Tampa Bay, Simms is being brought along slowly and is clearly their QB of the future. He is being taught what he didnt learn while at UT. Tell me how Vince Young, now in his 3rd year at 40 Acres throws sidearm and can't setup in the pocket to save his life. Look at Greg Davis' history: QB coach at A&M - the QB's sucked at A&M. OC at North Carolina - the team Mack Brown built into a winner but could never defeat its main rival- FSU, because the offense could rarely generate more than 7 points - sound familiar? OC at UT - great against the Baylors but non-existent against the OU's. Davis has done nothing at UT other than ride Ricky Williams coattails and failing miserably at developing a viable stratgey against good defenses. Who can forget the ridiculous Cotton Bowl game against Arkansas where the predictable slip screen and 5 yard outs to Ryan Nunez resulted in no offense. Who can forget his offensive debacle against WSU last year or his previous failures against OU Who can forget his ridiculous Denver Broncos zone blocking schemes - an abject failure, ultimately leading to firing Tim Nunez. When Arizona drafted Leonard Davis, they couldnt believe his lack of fundamental run blocking and pass protecting techniques. Good coaches make bad players mediocre, mediocre players good, good players great. There has not been 1 overachiver at UT since Greg Davis took over. There is a reason 1/2 the alumni hates Greg Davis and the staff gets constantly changed to whitewash his terrible coaching. Davis' biggest strength is his relationship with Mack Brown. His game prep and communication skills with players are non-existent.
So Applewhite received more coaching from his high school football coach father than Simms did from his Pro Football quarterback father. The fact is Simms looked great against mediocre to good competition and he looked terrible against very good competition. Mack Brown couldn't beat Florida St at North Carolina. So what?? It's Florida St. He also broke a record home game winning streak at Nebraska. For every negative you site, I can site a positive. You mention Leonard Davis. Well Mike Williams doesn't seem to have any problems in Buffalo. The fact is you never know how these players are going to develop. Vince Young isn't a polished quarterback yet, but this is still his first full season starting. Playing time makes a huge difference, and to sit here and already complain about his development is ridiculous. A&M QB's sucked. Has any A&M ever had a good quarterback? Who did he have to work with.
Applewhite lived and breathed football. Football was his life. Davis never augmented anything Applewhite couldnt have done on his own. Applewhite himself will one day be a better OC than Greg Davis can ever dream of becoming. Mack Brown couldnt beat FSU because NC's offense was non-existent. They could never put any points on the board. The NC defense was stout evidenced by several high draft choices - all on the defensive side. In the last 4 meetings against Bob Stoop's defense, how many points did the offense rack up? One year we actually managed to score because the defense contributed 1/2 the points - rememeber Rod Baber's interception for TD? As far as Mike Williams, Mike Williams is very mediocre in Buffalo while BIG is excelling at Arizona. Neither had anything to do with Greg Davis. They were drafted because of their natural physical gifts. An example of Greg Davis' stupidity was a few years back when he went to the Broncos to learn their offensive schemes. He decided to institute the Broncos zone blocking technique. The Broncos used quick offensive lineman to execute their plays. We had massive 300+ lb out of shape lineman. Davis completely ignored our personnel and decided to install a system that was unequivocally inappropriate. As a result, we had absolutely 0 running attack against OU for several years. OU relied only on their front 4 to stop the run. Without a legitimate ground game OU's LB played an intermediate zone that was virtually impossible to pass against. Ivan Williams struggled, Benson struggled, Applewhite struggled, Simms struggled. It is well documented that Davis has a lot of difficulty designing a gameplan capable of defeating good defenses. That is his job.
By the way, yes he should. The dude tries to fit everyone in that Charlie Ward/Chris Weinke fast break pass happy offense--and turth be told it doesn't work unless you have a Heisman Caliber passer. The FSU coordinator is up their with the UT coordinator as most capable of making a mediocre college football offense out of great, pro caliber, offensive players. However the FSU guy won't be fired because of loyalty over competence, same reason with Texas.
Funny you should mention that the FSU coordinator doesn't adapt to talent because I think that is something Greg Davis should be commended for this season. They have completely changed the offense since Vince Young become the clear number last season adapting it to his running skills. They run a completely different offense from the offense Simms and Applewhite ran and even completely different from the offense Chance Mock was running just last season. And that's a good thing.
