I think Solich probably cut back on contact too much in fall camp, and that was part of the problem against Louisville.

I don't know if it would have meant fewer injuries or more. I didn't think the Bobcats were aggressive enough, and that didn't help them stay in the game. From his post-game comments, I think Solich agreed, and the week between Louisvile and NTSU I know he scheduled extra hitting in practice.

It's always going to be a fine line - too much hitting and you have too much risk of injury, whereas too little hitting, and the players aren't aggressive enough, and not used to getting hit. There's no magic answer, and what's the right answer for one group of players isn't going to be the answer for the next group. That's where you have to rely on the Coach's intuition. He's the one that sees the players in practice, day in, and day out, so he's the one in the best position to guess just how much hitting they need or don't need. Every Coach will misjudge it a bit, from time to time, but a good Coach will realize quickly and fix the problem, whereas some other Coach might just keep up what he was doing and trying to apply the same answer for all players.

... which brings us back to the beginning. I think Solich tried an approach similar to Pinkel, with reduced contact, but went a little too far. As a result, I don't think the team was as sharp against Louisville as they might have been, not that they would have won anyway. Solich recognized the problem, adjusted, and fixed it, and the team came out and played well against what have turned out to be two very good teams, NTSU, and Marshall.