So far, he's lost two games to top-5 ranked schools by a total of 14 points. With all the players Marshall got through the transfer portal, we have no idea if they're actually a good team, maybe another 2022 Cincinnati or close to that. How do you think Texas A&M feels today losing to another Sun Belt team and only scoring 14 points? You gonna tell me Jimbo Fisher doesn't know what he's doing?
I say this not to excuse the Marshall game. Not at all. There are glaring offensive weaknesses that were exposed in spades. But our coaching staff has some good football experience that we should have faith that they can figure it out. Gerad Parker coordinated West Virginia's offense the last two years. No, that offense wasn't great but they put up plenty of points several times against decent competition. Maybe he can become more involved. Al Golden has been a head coach and certainly he would have some ideas on how to run an offense.
The main problem is the O-line, as we all know. Don't know what or how Hiestand is teaching these kids but it's obviously not working. As I speculated before, perhaps his methods are not suited to the college game or even the modern game. Are Rees' schemes the problem?
I have faith the coaches know what's going on and how to fix this. But let's assume it's Hiestand. Does Freeman have the guts to tell him to change his ways? Would he change his ways? Or let's say it's all Rees and his play design, blocking schemes and/or play calls. Suppose Parker has multiple suggestions that would best be implemented. Does Rees accept this? Does Freeman push this?
I think Freeman's biggest task is to not care about his assistants' resumes or egos and does what needs to be done. This isn't a done deal yet that the rest of the season or, for that matter, his entire tenure, doesn't bear fruit. He just might figure it out.