Interesting. Question then becomes and Coach Solich leaves himself and his staff somewhat exposed here. Is the lack of consistent execution a function of the team's youth and lack of experience or is it because of coaching?

I say this as a Solich fan and as someone who knows he's not going anywhere and doesn't want him to go anywhere until he's good and ready, but c'mon OCF!

This is not a very convincing argument. What do you expect him to say? Is he going to slam his own players, staff and self by announcing that he has recruited poorly and is surrounded by inferior players?

The results on the field speak for themselves. Against all but the dregs of 1A, we have looked inferior across the board -- coaching, recruiting and overall talent.

I sincerely doubt he actually believes what he said.

Guys, the proof is in the pudding or in sports in the results. Recruiting or not, talent or not, coaching or not, execution or not, preparation or not, whatever or whatever not. This program has not got it done the last 30 or so games like it did the 30 before. That is what has people in a tizzy.

Or, when you are the less experienced and younger team. This year's blowout losses may be next year's wins. Anybody who has watched college football for just a few seasons knows that last year's awful looking team can be next year's cinderella story. Happens all the time. Now, the real elite programs usually just reloaded (this year's exception is Michigan State in Ann Arbor ). And, the real dregs often stay the dregs for years on end, but the rest of college football has peaks and valleys. The kind of year we are suffering through now is not all that unusual in D1 world. And, please don't get caught up in that dumb crap about the last 22 plus games. Last year is just not part of the normal equation. If don't believe this, look closely, again, at the Solich presser from a few weeks ago when he was asked about last year's team. It doesn't take a mental giant to read between the lines and figure out in a general way what happened.

Now, Recovering Journalist, I agree that Frank's statement could be just a load of self-serving crap. However, objective evidence -- as L.C. has pointed out many times far better than I could -- seems to strongly indicate that our recruiting (2010 excluded) has gotten better with time. Therefore, a reasonable person would conclude that Frank was not doing a CYA job in answering that question about talent but simply stating what he believes to be true. Again, when it comes to such observations I think Frank's track record both here and at Nebraska warrants giving him the benefit of the doubt. I know that some of you vehemently disagree, and that's OK. What any of us say here will have zero influence on decisions made by Jim, Frank or Rod. So flame away, if it makes you feel good. BA can be good therapy for football fans of all stripes, myself included.

OHIO Talent btw is what you see walking around campus....

All-conference awards are sometimes unfair but if a program isn't getting its share than talent on that team is trailing...it won't be long till they post the all-MAC teams.

OhioCatFan, what was the best year of all-MAC award winners under C.Solich and how will last and this years players rank comparatively? Recall too that this is not a robust year for the MAC in general and specifically the East so theoretically it should be a bit easier to walk away with an award.

+1

Last year...

Have you not read all that's been said about last year? Multiple posts explain what happened to team morale. Listen to the video of Frank's comments a few weeks ago when asked about last year. He said it was his worst experience in coaching college football. Read between the lines, and I think you'll get the general picture. Locker room issue year followed by rebuilding year = not good and horribly frustrating for fans, myself included. However, when we still our emotions for a minute and look at this rationally, we can understand why we are where we are at the moment. I, for one, remain optimistic -- as should you TO [grin] -- that we will show marked improvement in these last three games.

It should be objective and unbiased. I'm trying to think of potential flaws before I start, and here are a few I've come up with:
1. The relation is non-linear. A person with 10 offers is not five times as good as a person with 2 offers. I need to adjust for this. I think I will use 1 for a player with just an offer for the school he attends, 1.5 for a player with 2-3 offers, and 2 for players with 4 or more offers. I am debating whether I should count P5 offers for more than G5 offers, but I don't think I will.
2. I have no way of easily knowing who was a no-show (whether for academic reasons, or personal reasons) and who was not a no-show. Yes, I suppose I could analyze the roster for each team to determine that, but I don't have the time for that. As a result, I'm just going to treat it as if everyone on the recruiting list actually showed up, and presume that all schools have a few no-shows, and that while this assumption may lead to errors, it is a random error, not a biased error.
3. JUCO's, injuries, etc - Players who are recruited may never play, or they may only be on the team a couple years. I don't have a way of tracking this, short of analyzing each team's roster each year, which I don't have the time to do. Therefore, I'm just going to ignore this, and treat it as if all recruits are going to be around a few years. Again, this can lead to errors, but shouldn't bias the conclusions.

If anyone else has any suggestions as I work through the data, feel free to make them. It will take me awhile to work through all the data.

We are a fickle bunch, myself for sure included. There is some merit in what OCF says. Last year every single one of us thought PJ Fleck was an absolute goofball who would couldn't coach his way out of a box. We made fun of him and his program . The overwhelming consensus on this board last year was that WMU was a bad program.

Flash forward to this year. That very same WMU that we mocked last year has grown, matured and is within a missed extra point of being undefeated in the MAC. It is possible, as OCF says, that OUr losses this year turn into next year's wins. I'm not saying it will; I am saying its possible.

Monroe asked, what's the magic number? For me, how we do next year is pivotal. LC, whom we all greatly respect as a learned college football expert, says with our improved recruiting classes that Ohio should really be a major player in contending for a MACC next year and I agree. ASSUMING Ohio is healthy next year (a huge if), Ohio should be at least a 7-8 win team. If it's not, if being healthy and Ohio is only 6-6 or worse, then even I would have to think something is really amiss.

I disagree that everybody thought WMU was bad. Their recruiting proved otherwise. Anyone who didn't think they would be a real team in a year or two was not paying attention.

Another odd thread where the internet world takes a quote and then interprets what was really meant. So fine I'll play. Solich says it's not talent. Which he would never say. Not to deflect blame. But to not throw his players under the bus. By saying it is execution is to blame the coaching. We have talent but are not veering the most out of it. Is that what he really feels? Probably not. He knows we don't have the talent others do. And that too falls on the coaches. But to say that shifts it to players as well. A good classy coach never says its about player ability. Yes everyone can Assess the talent now. Welcome to Monday morning QB 101. The job isn"t after the fact but in recruiting. That has been discussed in other threads. Most have taken sides. But most also feel the quality coming in is better than the recent past. As possibly reflected in the number of underclassmen playing/starting. Will the new better talent be enough? We'll see. But we will find out with frank as coach.

Of course the usual suspects decry the offensive approach and overall coaching. Whatever. Leave your credentials at the door. Just remember you need the players with the proper skill set to run a particular system. For example a power game often requires a good blocking back. One hasn't stood out. Also requires a power blocking line. Just having "bigginz" doesn't qualify. Power blocking is as much about quickness as it is weight. It also requires technique... which falls to coaching. I'll defer to those that really know line play to evaluate our roster accordingly. of course this too falls back to recruiting and talent as you recruit to your approach/scheme. If you want to see if frank is changing the offense. Look at recruiting not Saturdays. Again. I ll defer to those more in the know on that subject.