inTransit

He's making an impression up there- Green Bay — Players in the Green Bay Packers locker room rave aboutSam Barrington unprompted. The pop. The violence. His presence. But the second-year inside linebacker admits he wasn't always this way. "It just happens," Barrington said. "I guess it's survival of the fittest. Tackling guys like Eddie (Lacy), if you're going to tackle him you have to bring something with it." This element of Barrington's game is relatively new. He's still a work in progress. But the Packers have made it clear they're prepared to see this work in progress through. The last two home wins, Barrington replacedA.J. Hawk in Green Bay's nickel defense. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers realizes there's still seasoning ahead — but they're counting on Barrington's upside. "It's not like he has two, three seasons of playing there under his belt," Capers said. "He's going to be an ascending guy that hopefully you see him make certain plays this week that he didn't make last week." Inside the Packers locker room, Barrington's locker is right next to Hawk's. On Thursday, one spoke right after the other. This situation, Barrington said, only gets weird if you make it weird. They haven't. So as the 24-year-old takes snaps away from the 31-year-old, he realizes he needs to be more consistent. Sometimes, he admits he asks himself, "What's stopping me from doing good things all the time?" These last two games, he stuffed the likes of LeGarrette Blount andShane Vereen in their tracks. He also was a step behind Jacquizz Rodgers on a 14-yarder Monday night. The full operation can still go smoother. "The biggest challenge is situational stuff because you could have a call and it'll be something we never practiced and it pops up into the game," he said. "You have to be the one guy that can get a call out and get guys lined up." For example, the defense called may expect "nothing but run" in a goal-line situation, he said, and suddenly the offense spreads it out in an empty set. "What are you going to do about that?" Barrington said. "You have to make an adjustment....There are always going to be teaching moments. But I think I'm doing OK with the opportunities I've had so far." The reason he's on the field is he's triggering decisions into action with less and less hesitation. Green Bay noticed the change in practice and decided to make the move. Capers, for one, saw more confidence in Barrington's game. "We've always seen the quick-twitch and the explosiveness that he's had," Capers said. "But it's hard if you're not confident in your assignments to be able to just go out there and turn it loose. You're more controlled because you don't want to make a mistake and you're not quite sure at times in terms of movement and the gap fills. "Once you get that down and you're confident, then you're just playing, you're hitting it, and you're playing a lot more, that's when you see his aggressiveness come out." And with all of this, Barrington first credits...Jermichael Finley? Yes. In Barrington's first training camp, he battled the tight end regularly. "Practicing against him when I was a rookie, he was a guy who brought it every day," Barrington said. "So I knew I had to do that. It basically just became a part of my game, and I pride myself on being physical." Finley did plenty of talking on the practice field, so Barrington learned to talk back. They bashed into the occasional scrum, too. Neither backed down. Now, the Packers are counting on Barrington to help steer the defense into January. "He had an acquired state of mind where he knew what he was going to do and knew how he was going to do it," Barrington said. "So I can do nothing but appreciate a player like that because those are the type of players, you're going to get better playing against. "It's just something I grew into. But that was one of those moments that kept me saying I want to be one of those players because I could have easily let him put me on my back."

There are still more reasons why the big 12 would not expand rather than add teams. I think its been made pretty clear by now they do not want to grow with what's out there. If and when we move it will be because the B12 poached other P5 or gets poached.

We have now gone the route of established coaches at the coordinator position and failed. It's time to use this opportunity to hire unproven guys with fresh ideas that would redefine the offensive and defensive philosophies based on who we are, Taggart is out of time trying to make this the team he wants it to be. Do something# unconventional, hopefully catch some opponents off guard next year even if it's got some gimmicks to log some victories. Time to put it all on the table.

I think it comes from the top. I think Harlan and Taggart sat down and did coach evaluations. the man in charge "helped" him make these decisions. I think it's hilarious that people defend assistant coaches that were as much of the problem as the guy they constantly bash. Taggart is under contract. they aren't. He is coaching for his job next year that much is clear. our defense was awful this year. they played soft. seems to be Brees philosophy to try and play that way as that's how they played early on last year as well. I hope they hire an aggressive coach who doesn't want his players to play on their heels. it's college. they aren't playing peyton manning and tom brady every week. we made plenty of average college QBs look like heisman contenders this year. If the offense didn't get any better under Wuff then it's no surprise Taggart did take over. not sure what they do here but this offense is predicated on a very good offensive line and that takes time to build. A couple years ago we had a defense that didn't register a single turnover for much of the season. We scored 25 to 30 a game and opponents scored more than USF. Some of those defensive players are in the NFL. Be disappointed in what we got this season but recent history suggests it can get much worse.

O Leary retires after bowl game, 49ers blow it up and Leavitt leads UCF into the Big 12 next year WORST CASE SCENARIO just putting it out there

Far more likely to get the (not so) Hot Carl

Flowers has been ineffective however he may be thinking transfer if he can't play in front of these other two qbs we have. All the QB misdirection came from not wanting to tip his hand for Memphis defense. This post game stuff is to placate flowers imo

Because we play them. We played Maryland, Wisconsin, and ECU tough. Memphis is not better than Wisconsin and UCF is not better than any of them. If we come out with heart (I know, big if), we have a chance. The only reason we hung with Maryland and ecu and wisky for one half of football was because of the defense. We cannot score to keep up with the good teams unless white and this offense turn a corner, which is doubtful.

The team has demonstrated it can beat its inferior opponents. Good thing we hit the AAC because if this was still the Big East we'd be the bottom feeder. The problem is we have not been competitive with the teams we should be considering our peers and its taken a lot of nail biting to beat some pretty terrible teams. The record does not reflect that. I still think that given how poor the offense has been, the defense has done a decent job this year.

Your taunting is very lackluster

Are we ranked after this win?

Yes. I expected us to win this game. My thinking was, if we can beat Tulsa, we can beat SMU. It was sound logic before 8 pm EST. I applaud you for keeping the faith, being jaded expecting failure has gotten old.

Wait, did people here actually expect us to win this game? Everyone sounds shocked.

But guys, at worst we are already 50% improved from last year. The dysfunction runs deep.

We need more than just a QB, we are not even in these games in the 4th quarter. We are a below average squad in most facets of the game. Good teams find a way to win, bad teams like USF keep inventing ways to lose.

Wawawawawawawa

It's all fools gold. None of these qbs can sustain drives, it was the big play against western Carolina, the Tulsa comeback and now bench. You can't depend on that, and it ensures we suck indefinitely

Defense also gave White the ball at cincy 40 he moved it 12 yds for a fg. The defense is not what is wrong with this team.

I dont fault our defense if they give up a long TD drive here, not much else they can do. We are incapable of even running an offensive play.

Willie has no sack[/quote Hope Harlan has one

This has got to stop. Sack up Willie sit your boy

The DB caught that pretty easily, you have to put it out of his reach

The scowl isn't gonna cut it this time, jam some smelling salt up his nose

You have to sit White, totally unacceptable

Now now it's not the coaching I know you are joking but I think we have enough talent to win. These Offensive and defensive schemes get the players in terrible positions and makes them think too much quite honestly. No reaction speed, paralyzed by the schemes.