sleepwalking through a game it should easily win? My wife and I were in New Orleans before the LSU game, and spoke with some guys well connected with the team. When we spoke with them one day before the game about the chances of a win, they laughed. They said the team was anything but ready. We had seats on the second row behind the BYU sideline and could sense a great lack of energy even then. When Tanner went onto the field, his lack of confidence was so evident. We were outgunned, out manned from the coin toss. None of that had anything to do with Sitake reportedly being told to "put a muzzle" on his personality.

I attended most of the games last season. My take is that there were ridiculous rifts within the staff and team that were poorly managed. If Sitake should have "put a muzzle" on anything, it should have been his lack of self control when it came to openly blaming and criticizing his coaching staff (i.e. Detmer) for losses in post game interviews. If I managed to pick up on that as a fan, and it bothered me, I wonder how much it may have bothered some guys on the team? That's just one example. There are many other explanations for the lack of motivation by players at the ECU game. I would hope that Sitake can step to the plate now that he got all of the staffing changes he apparently wanted.