oucs 1986 After nine years of Solich, I expect us to be better than we are. We seem to have plateaued (spelling?) and somewhat regressed. I'd think that we'd be able to do a better job of consistent recruiting.
Then, there's the lack of imagination, the lack of the mental aspect. Where's the hurry up, the two back sets, the TT runs, that sort of inside reverse that L.C. posted about. Where's the attacking defense or something different. We always do the same stuff, nothing different. Delayed blitz or safety blitz...
And, we are so even keel as to be emotionless. We seem to lack leadership. We certainly lack star players.
And, too much losing to, or too-close games against, teams that we should be beating (CMU this year, redhawk last year, etc).
L.C. -- I concede that the D. played well in the first half last night. Not so well at all in the second. The offense had nothing.
Tell me something we've done in the last three weeks that's different from what we did in the games earlier in the year.
Beau up the middle, anyone?
I agree that we should have pounded CMU, but we didn't.
I also believe that the 'cats folded in Buffalo. I don't know how it would have turned out, but if the phantom fumble turns into a score, all other things being equal, I think we take a 10-7 lead into the half.
Would that have changed anything?
I think it puts an entirely different mindset into the coordinators for both teams; and I think that it would have finished out as a much closer game.
But, as I said, the 'cats appeared to fold.
Frustration is a funny emotion; sometimes it manifests as rage, sometimes as pouting, sometimes as surrender. In any case, I think *all* of us would have felt frustration in that game, with those circumstances.
I know my sense of fair-play was violated, and I felt wronged, and I'm just watching it on television.
To someone directly involved in the outcome, it might have felt intentional and that there was nothing to be done about it.
In any case, whatever the reason, we lost, and likely lost our opportunity to play for a MAC championship.
But I'll say this: I think this team is among the best we've fielded. I'm too young to have seen the '68/'69 teams play and I've heard they were fabulous, so I'm willing to assume that this team isn't as good as those teams were.
I have no doubt in my mind though, that this team beats nearly all the teams since, perhaps with the exception of the 2011 team... and we have a LOT of the same players from that team on this team.
I loved watching Kalvin McRae, Austin Everson, Chad Brinker, Boo Jackson... the list goes on and on... I think every one of those teams loses to this team.
So, I guess this is a long winded way of saying I think that we have not plateaued. I think what you were noticing was the talent at each position was being upgraded, dramatically at times, and that the team was visibly better season to season.
We don't appear to be visibly better this season, but I think we are, largely because of DEPTH. Our current #2's would have started, and been stars, on earlier Bobcat teams.
I assure you that I will miss watching TT on Saturday afternoons, and I wish Beau could run up the gut for us for another five years... but that's not going to happen.
Is the play calling predictable? Seems so to me. However, I have no idea if it's the call or the execution.
I'm rambling now, so I'm going to stop typing.
I'm hoping for a warm weather bowl; I have vacation to burn, and need a reason to head south.
GO BOBCATS!
-john
Last Edited: 11/7/2013 10:58:05 PM by oucs 1986