Normally I would agree with you about the kicking game, but last night's conditions were not very kicker friendly. And Yaz hasn't been same kicker he was in 2013 all year. If Ohio is that far into opponent territory, they need to be going for it. Play to win.

I'm trying to figure out how getting 6pts from two FGs would have given us a win in a game we lost by 7pts.

Casper, I'll tell you what the "it" is, and it's youth. The cure is another year of maturity and more practice. I think you'll find next year's team will be very good. While I was very disappointed in the outcome last night, and had a fit over that last fumble, I can't help but acknowledge that overall this team has improved as the year has progressed. Do you really think #45 would have gained all those yards if we had played NIU in week three? The OL wouldn't have been able to open up any holes for him at all. As it was he sometimes practically made holes for himself. Other times, though, the OL did a very good job of blocking and making openings for him to get passed that first level.

In terms of the FG attempts, Frank said in his post-game interview that in retrospect he made a bad call and we probably should have gone for it on both of those 4th downs. Note, he didn't blame players, he did blame an OC, he blamed himself. That's one thing I've always liked about Frank, he doesn't point fingers. He also said last night that this team was very down after the loss but that they would bounce back and be ready for Oxford Tech. He was very complimentary about the team's attitude and its willingness to learn and get better. That's the attitude that champions are made of and I dare say before the freshman on this team graduate they will be MAC champions. Go OHIO!

Here are my two problems with last night:

1. NIU's two QBs are obviously way behind the 8-ball compared to the last several QBs they have had. Yet time and time again they made the plays that kept the drives moving. I'm sorry, but Hare is not a guy that I can see being a next great MAC QB. He may have some yards on the ground this year, but he really didn't seem all that quick. Yet he still gets first downs when NIU needs them. Those are the times where the LBs need to be stepping up their game. He doesn't have that great of an arm, so you have to look for him to run it, right?

2. Just boneheaded plays over and over and over again by Ohio, which at this point in the season are almost uncalled for:

- Lucas Powell's snap to Derrius Vick when Vick wasn't looking.

- O-line missing key blocks in the running game. Like obvious ones that would have sprung A.J. for more yards.

- Vick throwing awful, awful passes into coverage.

- Vick just throwing deep balls up for grabs when he is pressured. Ohio got lucky last night to get mostly P.I. calls on NIU I think.

- Brown's targeting penalty, which turned out to be not that bad because NIU got a personal foul the next play.

- Questionable calls on 4th down by the coaching staff. The one on the last drive that worked was fantastic. But I'm one of those guys if you have the ball inside the opponents 40 and it's 4th down and short yardage, go for it. It's obvious Yaz has struggled this year in the kicking game a bit. And the wind/cold were obviously affecting his leg last night. You've got a shot to beat NIU at home, stop kicking FGs, man up and get 1st downs and score TDs. Especially with the night A.J. was having.

I did love the effort the guys gave last night though. Last year's team would have gotten blown out I think.

OCF-what was it last year? And the year before? And since that ill-fated Miami game? Please note, even an experienced HC in FS said he made mistakes and obviously wasn't on his A-game. I could see trying the first FG, but the second from the same spot and going in the same direction? The problems of the last 30+ games are more than youth. Their seems to be a complete lack of focus from the top down to the last man. That wasn't the case when this staff and their teams were playing really good football.

I'mma throw something out there....and maybe it's completely off base and maybe it's not......but didn't we give Frank and the coordinators their big extensions between 2011 and 2012? Before that, the contracts would have expired in 2013...with the extensions, they have jobs until 2017, which was basically when Frank had in mind to retire anyway.

Job security MIGHT cause a bit of complacency....and 2012 is the year things seemed to change.

NIU was 6/13 on 3rd down, Ohio was 7/14.
NIU had 19 1st downs, Ohio had 24.
NIU had 3 3-and-outs, Ohio had 0.
NIU's QBs were 16/24(66.7%) for 184yds, Vick was 19/28(67.9%) for 141yds.
NIU's QBs ran 17 times for 69yds, Vick ran 12 times for 80yds.
NIU had 3 drives longer than 32yds, Ohio had 6 drives longer than 32yds.

But the narrative is NIU's QBs "kept making big plays time and time again to keep drives moving" while Vick was just "throwing awful, awful passes into coverage".

NIU was 6/13 on 3rd down, Ohio was 7/14.
NIU had 19 1st downs, Ohio had 24.
NIU had 3 3-and-outs, Ohio had 0.
NIU's QBs were 16/24(66.7%) for 184yds, Vick was 19/28(67.9%) for 141yds.
NIU's QBs ran 17 times for 69yds, Vick ran 12 times for 80yds.
NIU had 3 drives longer than 32yds, Ohio had 6 drives longer than 32yds.

But the narrative is NIU's QBs "kept making big plays time and time again to keep drives moving" while Vick was just "throwing awful, awful passes into coverage".

NIU was 6/13 on 3rd down, Ohio was 7/14.
NIU had 19 1st downs, Ohio had 24.
NIU had 3 3-and-outs, Ohio had 0.
NIU's QBs were 16/24(66.7%) for 184yds, Vick was 19/28(67.9%) for 141yds.
NIU's QBs ran 17 times for 69yds, Vick ran 12 times for 80yds.
NIU had 3 drives longer than 32yds, Ohio had 6 drives longer than 32yds.

But the narrative is NIU's QBs "kept making big plays time and time again to keep drives moving" while Vick was just "throwing awful, awful passes into coverage".