We are also one or two returning players away from winning 8, maybe 9.
Is Lebby about to repeat 2025?....
- Thread starter dawgstudent
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These feel at odds. We have not seen our team stumble WITH a generational QB. We have seen our team stumble when he is out. 6-6 is far better than we expected. Lebby has proven this year that his X's and O's are good. I think he can be legitimately criticized on roster management (assuming he has the bankroll that 77 asserts) and in game decisions. Pre-season looking at our schedule, few people would have balked at 6-6. I don't love it, but so far for me this season has at least proven to me that Lebby can coach football.
I actually tend to agree which of course then begs the question…. If not the portal, then what’s plan B. It sure as hell doesn’t appear to be HS recruiting and development
It's just common sense. Continuity is better. I am no fan of Lenny but at this point we are in the boat. I don't think a new coach is going to fundamentally make 2027 better, but it could make it much worse.
The key question is what are we building for and towards? Are we just going to ride the KT train and then decide to skip football season for a few years after he leaves. Is Lebby going to suddenly turn into Cignetti? He can’t recruit, our S&C is atrocious and he can’t develop, he’s terrible at in game decisions.
Without a reasonably healthy K1 and Fluff, I’d argue that it alone would be enough to make this a toss up. Due to K1 getting all the headlines, a lot of people are glossing over the fact that Arnett’s banged up defense is hot garbage. We are now last or next to last in multiple key defensive categories
True, but we don't have to continue to give him raises either. Year 1 to year 2 increased by $100K, more than a lot (maybe most) State fans make in a year. It's not nearly as much as successful coaches get, but he's not performing like other coaches either. Is it totally his fault? No. But the buck stops with him for the most part.
There's a lot to be said for continuity. Changing every 3 years won't cut it.
This should have been plan A. Develop and pay to retain as needed. From the portal, try and catch ascending players from the G6 and even lower, if necessary. Most all of our superstars generally come from those areas.
Lenny did it the opposite (majority, not all) ran everybody off and then replaced with the portal with bench-warming P4 guys. Double edged sword. I hate that we've gotten ourselves into that pattern but it is what it is, and it's likely too late to reverse. A new coach will have the latitude to do that, but not Lenny, he's 3 years in.
The most likely way Kamario leaves is following Lebby.
If all 3 of them come back - we're a top 15 team entering next year with the Heisman trophy favorite and a high flying offense ready to go.
Sign me up for that.
The team that played last weekend won’t beat Vandy.
Lebby is 7-18 without a healthy generational talent at QB. When he leaves for the NFL after next season, we will be right back where we were before this season. I'll change my mind about Lebby if he manages to beat even a mediocre SEC team like Oklahoma with Puckett, but I don't see it happening. I believe Lebby's pathetic portal evaluations are partly to blame for Kamario getting hurt, and now everyone can see Taylor was patch that was keeping this ship afloat.
You don't get turf toe from taking too many sacks. I mean turf toe derailed Deion Sanders career for a time and you know he wasn't known for lots of contact. I'm sure there are some things K1 could have done to prevent it, but to blame Lebby for turf toe is borderline hilarious. You can blame him for overusing Fluff. That is legitimate. But some of you are grasping for straws to hate the dude. At the end of this season he will likely have pulled us, albeit slowly, out of the absolute dumpster we were in post Leach's passing and into respectability. I think Cignetti has y'all convinced that's nothing.
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Everybody wants an LT. If you are needing an LT in the portal and you are not UGA, Bama, UTex, etc., you are going to have to get lucky, although rolling the dice on somebody with questionable eligibility when they don't want to fight for eligibility is probably a significant enough WTF to support the case for firing him if it is a close call. That pairs with losing Luke work or whatever the guy's name is at Mizzou. So definitely plenty of reasons to question him, but at the end of the day, we did improve, just not enough to handle injuries.
The pass rusher is probably a little easier to fill, but still a challenge.
I personally am not on the fire Lebby bandwagon. He's made his job a lot harder than it should have been, but he has done enough, barely. If KT and Fluff stay out and he makes it to five wins without either of them and is at least competitive in the other games, that will be a difficult call. If he get to six without either of them, I think he stays. if he gets both of them back healthy for the last four games and only gets to 6, that will be a bitter pill but still probably gets him another year.
This is exactly why I was on the fence when 77 posted his question after the Missouri game.
4-0 don't mean 17 when we’re MSU & having awful seasons with Lebby.
State’s football team & coaches still need to prove that they can close the deal.
‘Can they?’ is the $64 question
We have 4 wins already. If we beat Vandy and TT w/o KT, that will get us to 6 wins w/o KT. Going to go out on a limb and guess that he wasn't indicating we'd get 6 more wins without KT.
I've got no problem with him taking a chance on Rashada as 4th string QB. I have a really big problem with him recruiting a backup who "doesn't fit his system" that he won't play.
lot's of valid "what if" scenarios here, but I will go out on a limb that Lebby will unequivocally be back for the 2027 Season.
Kamario is one of the best passers in the league. He's not going to run until next season. But he might be able to play and win some games throwing the ball.
I'm just curious if those are the only two winnable games without KT. Feels like it right now. And my Bulldog fandom experience is telling me Kamario will likely be out or ineffective the rest of the season. I think Parker will get better as the season goes on but the defense seems to be regressing.
Without Taylor bailing us out, the mismatch between our offense and defense has never been more stark.
If he doesn't return, there's a real chance we don't win another game except TTech and may lose that one. Them dudes are 6-1 and there will be blood in the water that day.
Based on what we were seeing with a healthy K1, we’d be totally crazy to make any significant offensive changes going into 2027, inclusive of head coach. Even if we end up 5-7 again. It shouldn’t even be a question to consider.
8th in the country, 2nd in the SEC. Might better concede this one.
Yes, 4-4 most likely with the injuries. we may get to 5-3. Which would be a one game improvement over what most people predicted.
Many MSU v LSU matchups have resulted in State losing by 40+ points. Even the 98 team lost 41-6 and it was 41-0 until the last minute of that game.
I am hoping Billy finds some confidence and rhythm this week. The offense is able to put up 21. The defense holds OU to their average of 17.
Without many starters returning on offense and defense, state isn't winning at Texas.
Many MSU v LSU matchups have resulted in State losing by 40+ points. Even the 98 team lost 41-6 and it was 41-0 until the last minute of that game.
I am hoping Billy finds some confidence and rhythm this week. The offense is able to put up 21. The defense holds OU to their average of 17.
Without many starters returning on offense and defense, state isn't winning at Texas.
Sit in a great players’ shoes for a second. Before NIL, all you had to convince him is that you’re building a legacy program. That was already a tall task at State.
Now add in NIL. You will never convince me (without some sort of audited report) that we have the funds of most of the SEC.
How do you convince a superstar transfer or HS WB to come to state with a heisman candidate sophomore in front of him?
Our defense is a slumpbuster. We have to outscore our opponents. That will be a lot more than 17.
Lebby needs to figure out what works for Billy. That would be quick short to medium throws. One to make up for our oline defencies. Two because Billy doesn’t have the arm strength/accuracy on the deep ball.
I think Lebby knows what works best for Puckett. We saw it last Saturday. Lot of behind LOS passes & not much downfield.
Exactly. His first attempt down field was off by 20 yards and intercepted.
Should have had another pick on either the next drive or the next one, but DB bobbled the ball out of bounds. Did throw a decent intermediate pass later that the DB made a good play on to save a TD. Slightly underthrown, but not bad.
We already knew there was nothing wrong with the X’s and O’s, on offense, when we hired him. That isn’t news. But his system isn’t unique. It’s the same Briles / Heupel / etc. tree that everyone uses now. He’s replaceable there.
Key point - he’s the head coach. Not just the OC. His job is to win games, build the roster on both sides of the ball, hire capable assistants and delegate to them accordingly, make solid in-game decisions and adjustments, and be able to compete through adversity with injuries, bad calls, etc.
All of those are attributes of a good head coach, and all of them are far more important than just gaining yards and scoring points on offense. Thus far, he’s failed at all of them. And by the way, we have also been mediocre - at best - at scoring and gaining yards for his entire tenure except for perfect conditions when no one is hurt and we have weak or average opponent.
ARE his X's and O's good, though?
We were 4-0 primarily because we had a QB who throws an incredible deep ball, and at least three track stars who are very good at catching those deep balls.
Yes, you need a scheme that gets those players into a 1 on 1 rundown. And sometimes Lebby's scheme works well with that.
But sometimes it looks awful. Particularly when we are backed up inside our own 20...or inside the opponents 20 and trying to score.
A good scheme wouldn't stutter like that. And it certainly would not need talent like KT in order to be successful.
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