Had a great time in NOLA, met some students and OU fans, some great Troy folks and even a local guy on a streetcar who knew more about OU and MAC football than many loyal fans.  The game itself make me want to throw up-I didn't.  But overall a good experience.  After the game and after reading Solich's comments on the game, I'm thinking even more about how to take Ohio football to the next level.  He clearly reconizes that it is not where it should be.  There's been a lot of discussion led by a certain party about the importance of scheduling up, others point to a new conference affiliation, others new coaches, some want different kinds of recruits (yeah-5 star ones), etc.  And of course, we are fighting the growing number of fans are being more vocal about moving down and concentrating on BB.  The new IPF adds some new pluses, for sure.  Can you folks give me some quick thoughts about what you think is most important for moving forward?

In the game quotes on Ohio Bobcats and they're in the Times Picayune article listed on this site as well.

Like ColoBobCat, I had a great time in NOLA (except for the game).  Here are my highs and a few lows:

Leaving Cincy with my wife Friday, ran into Ben Russell (recruit) and his dad.  He will graduate from Oak Hills and be a Bobcat next fall.  My grandkids go to Oak Hills and I found the young man very classy.

The drive in from the Airport Friday night was crazy...lots of traffic and an accident but we made it to the Hilton!

NOLA is a great town for a Bowl!  Lots to do and see and my wife and I really enjoyed the day Saturday.  Even saw and talked to Boo's mom and some other relatives on a streetcar.  Again, very classy people!

Also, when we arrived at Will call our tickets were NOT there but the staff simply gave us a couple of tickets without any question or hassle.  Very nice of them, kudos.

As for the game, I've seen this before with Bowls were you have southern and western teams versus midwest and east coast teams.  I would say ours was the opposite of the NIU vs Fresno game.  I'm sure NIU was more accustomed to the weather than Fresno.  Obviously, they were prepared and focused.  On the other hand our players had been home for a while, just assembled and had LOUSY Ohio practice weather (thank God for the Walter donation).  And obviously NEITHER the coaching staff or players were prepared properly (poor game plan from the start and no visible adjustment until it was already out of hand) and totally lacked focus (poor blocking and tackling).  We just never seemed to have the right people on the field in the right alignment and confusion seemed to reign on our side all night.

All in all it was a great trip with the exception of the game.  I even saw Mr.m Schaus in the elevator sunday morning and had a brief chat.  Thanked him for the way the staff handled the tickets.  His only comment about the game: "we didn't play very well".  I certainly agreed with that assessment.

In closing kudos to Troy for being prepared and taking it to us and their band which (in a different than ours) was pretty good.

As I have repeatedly sai, we just need bigger, fast and stronger players to compete at a higher level.  I don't even care about Top 25 rankings but I would like to at least be in the Top 50-75.  We are definitely NOT there yet.

Next year the theme should be:  UNFINISHED BUSINESS!

Colo...be thankful you weren't driving.  The GPS we had sucked!  Getting to the Hotel was daunting at night (I guess I am showing I am over 60).  Funny thing is driving around town Sunday and getting back to the airport was like an enjoyable drive in the park!

Speed/quickness.

To get to the next level, you need to have highly-skilled players about two-deep at just about all positions.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to recruit enough highly-skilled players on both offense and defense to take us to the next level.  But it can be done with lesser-skilled players.  On offense, you need players (linemen as well as backs and receivers) who are versatile enough to run multiple sets with misdirection, jet sweeps and other plays that keep the defense guessing -- the "have fun" factor that Franshaw mentioned after the Akron game, but was missing from the five losses.  On defense, you need to have hungry players who wrap up hard and scrap for the ball on every down.  In '09, the D caused 20 INTs and 17 fumbles; this year, it was 17 and 8.  Just need to bring your A game all the time.

With the exception of Kent State, all of those teams were at a higher level. They've won league championships and bowl games and with extreme regularity. We're a long ways from that.