yes, the ball travels better in warmer air, but those were just weak kicks. several kickoffs were able to get close to or into the endzone still, and NIU's punter had no trouble booming the crap out of the ball, with two 50+ punts, and averaging 43 while still dropping 3 inside the 20. MB could only muster a 35 average on three kicks. Yazdani has put up fairly pedestrian numbers this year, and these kicks are a continuation of that trend. the foot-striking-ball aspects of the game Tuesday did not help us.

+1

Problem I see is a lack of appreciation of a really well contested game by two teams that fought hard for four quarters. I don't recall a single expression of congratulations toward NIU. All I recall was a crowd eager to get right to the blame game. After senior night some time might have been spent on those who just played their last game at home for Bobcats. I hope the team receives appreciation from some quarter though I their "fan" site might be the place.

If you can't see the difference between how they played against NIU and the games early in the year, there is nothing I can say.


For 2012? Again, if you can't see that when you lose 19 players for the year (basically an entire team), it's going to effect you, there is nothing I can say. Personally I think 9 wins with that many injuries is pretty amazing. Compare it to 1965.


Was there a better way it could have been handled? I don't know. They did manage
a winning season and a bowl despite the issues, so it wasn't a total disaster.


There were 2 new recruiting coordinators in 2 years. Sure, that's the coaches fault, and it was unfortunate. There would always have been a dip here for rebuilding, but it wouldn't have been a big deal had it not been for the other issues. As for adding 2011, it wasn't nearly as bad as 2010, but it did include a large number of players who have never played.


There was no way to get around the injury problems of 2012, which led indirectly to the problems of 2013, problems that were not "easy", and problems that I'm not sure were solvable. As for recruiting coordinator, is it easy to get the right one? Solich has a pretty good track record on hires, there, I think. His first recruiting coordinator ever (1997) was a guy named Lance Leipold who is now the head Coach at Wisconsin-Whitewater, and is the fastest coach ever to 100 wins (100-6, five national championships in Division III since 2007).

Yes there were some issues, but I think they have been fixed.


The thing is that there is a time lag. There was a problem in 2010, and a lesser one in 2011. By the time the fans see it, it is 2014, and it has been long since corrected.

To me the key is to try to look forward, not back:
1. Has the recruiting issue been fixed? How are the current recruits? Solich labelled the 2013 class his best ever, and then said that the 2014 class was even better. It was so that an incredible 9-10 of them played as true freshmen, and they looked darn good on the field. Guys like Walker, White, and Brunis looked explosive. Guys like Pruehs, Lowery, and McCray looked solid up front. When I look forward, not back, the future looks bright.
2. Has the "it" problem been fixed? Yes, it seems to have been. Unlike last year, this team seems to be very united. They play hard to the end. Looking forward, I also see steps put in place to try to prevent "it" from happening again.
3. Yes, the players were young this year, and didn't look great at the beginning of the year, but are they improving? As I said above, if you can't see that, there isn't much I can say, but I think the improvement is clear.

When you look backwards, you see some problems, some perhaps preventable, others not preventable. When you look forward you see that each of them has been addressed.

The NIU QBs ran the ball 6 times on 3rd down, successfully converting 4 times. One of those drives resulted in a score. Vick ran the ball 4 times on 3rd down, successfully converting it 1 time. QBs are also judged by their ability to throw the ball, on 3rd down passes NIU QBs were successful 1 of 3 times, Vick was successful 4 of 6 times and a TD.



The answer is Vick threw into coverage every time, 28 times to be exact. Of those 28 throws 19 were caught, 3 resulted in 15yd PI penalties, and 1 was picked off. Vick threw 5 incomplete passes all night.

If you go to the recruiting board and look at the pinned thread "Ohio 2015 Recruiting Commits", you asked me on 10/3 for an evaluation of recruiting classes, and I posted my evaluations back to 2006:

2010 was simply bad. 2011 was not that much different than 2006 or 2007, but not up to the standards of 2008 and 2009. Had it followed another decent class, it would have been fine, but since it was following a small, weak class, it needed to be extra good, and it wasn't. Note the pattern above, by the way. Under Germano, each year he got better. Similarly, each year Haines has improved.

FWIW, these numbers are just my person evaluations, and are not etched in stone, so they change as time passes. My current numbers are slightly different for 2011 and beyond since the players are still playing. It now goes 2.15, 2.55, 2.79, 3.00, 3.44.

The 2008-2009 classes carried Ohio to great success in 2011 and through the start of 2012 before injuries took a toll. I think that the classes of 2013-2014 will be better than those classes.

By the way, I don't deserve any points for being able to look back now at the 2010 class and see what a waste it was, and how it has hurt the team this year; anyone could do that. One thing that is a shame is that, with the ancient history of BA lost, we can't go back in time to February 2010 and find the true seers, the ones that said "this is not a good recruiting class, and we'll pay the price in a few years". If I had to take a guess, I'd say Casper or Paul would be the most likely ones to have said that.

Sorry. Apparently, none of the above holds any weight or truth.

I apologize for thinking this way.



Anyone know when the Ohio ticket office will start selling tickets to see Ohio in the MAC title game this year?

I also predicted the housing market would collapse...but that was also lost in the BA crash!