1. Lots of doom and gloom on here today. Some of it deserved, some of it not so much. I don't think the season is a lost cause quite yet. That said, I would be prepared for a thunderous ass whipping at the Horseshoe on Saturday, and probably in Huntington in 2 weeks. Gonna have to take a few steps back before we move forward.

2. Plan on a few rants in the next few weeks about the jackals at the University Program Council. Just some foreshadowing where some of my ire lies these days.

3. If the MAC East is to be won by Ohio, it's going to have to happen on the arms and legs of Phil Bates. I saw it clear as day during the spring game and his pedigree in the Big 12 only cements it - he needs to be firmly in control of our offense. I know he was a no-go last night, but for the MAC slog - he better be under center for us to have a chance. Boo has some qualities I like, but only situationally. Bates is going to take us to the promised land just like I said Theo would last year.

4. Moving the ball on offense was just a ridiculous challenge for us last night. Toledo was simply NOT that good of a football team, and didn't play a particularly good football game. No reason we should lose that game with all the opportunities they gave us. I think we ran 53 plays for like 180+ yards. That's 3 yards per play - awful. It felt like a stale taffy pull in the stands. Just a bore. I thought our O-Line was just slow and soft. Couldn't move anyone off the ball to get us a few extra tough yards.

5. Cramps again become an issue (Brazill, and also mentioned by Keller that only a few on D cramped up)...Burke, a Sano rant maybe?

6. It seems like every year we start in reverse on special teams, then make big strides throughout the year. I expect nothing less this year b/c we can't get much worse than last night. Mrs. LOVE wanted to return kicks against our Kickoff Team, and I would have been happy to be the wedge buster. You can't give the opponent such a short field to work with on kickoffs. Surprisingly, that didn't even hurt us that bad - it was the awful INT's deep in our own territory that led to points.

6a. I thought our secondary was really good last night. Toledo didn't have much to work with in the passing game. The 9+ minute drive to end the 3rd and start the 4th was the backbreaker in my opinion. Just kept our D on the field FOR-EVER.

7. Safe to say the wide receiver taking the hand off from the quarterback has averaged about .7 yards during the Solich era at Ohio. But hey, keep trying it 3+ times a game. Maybe we'll break one.

8. That's why you don't continue to put garbage like Wofford, Eastern Illinois, New Mexico State, Louisiana Lafayette, etc on your schedule...they do nothing to build you up for the MAC season. Let's be honest, with how HORRIBLE the MAC is this year - we should be the cream of the crop. Yet, we've put ourselves on par with the aforementioned schools as peers...so why should we expect to dominate this pansy conference? This should be our Ball State/Nate Davis year...a nice 11-1 campaign...yet we want to do it against the likes of Marshall and La Lafayette and blah blah blah. Just sad.

9. Good student turnout last night. I was really impressed. Rain. OSU/MIami. Boring opponent. Really nice work by the students. Uptown was a lot of green too, even during the OSU game. All the more reason to bring Idaho to town to get everyone even more fired up. You have to unify the campus and this garbage conference and scheduling isn't going to get it done. 

If I came to school at OU having the OSU garbage burned into my head my entire life...I would take my post graduate donations, ticket purchases, and merchandise dollars right up to Columbus as well. I can't even blame these kids. Ohio is just not getting the job done when it comes to providing an all around great college experience (UPC, Athletics, Education) to get people rallied behind the University for years to come. Eastern Illinois, Jesus. We have a bunch of carpetbagger administrators, athletic officials, and professors who are all looking for the next best job...and frankly their performance shines through vividly.

Like I said, with MAC competition - this season is far from over. But the bigger issues at the University continue to be highlighted by this shameful state of affairs. Keep the money in Athens and you change the tide of the battle. Keep sending garbage in, and expect to get garbage out.

Here's hoping Bates is healthy for this week.

LOVE

Love, I'll bite.  What's up with UPC?

Some reactions:
-- Not sure our problems are fixable. The Oline, with spring/fall camp injuries and academic ineligible issues has left us with what appears to be a sparse cupboard. Not easy to fix and my take on football at any level is if you can't win the line of scrimmage you're screwed. Toledo essentially rushed 3 guys and dominated our line. With our running backs still being the reincarnation of the Smurfs we don't exactly have the type back that can create his own holes and punishes tacklers in the process. Not good.

-- IF we have to rely on Bates "legs" to win - Not good. I commented early in the Wofford game if our offense this year is going to rely on Bates making something out of nothing with his legs we better have a bevy of capable replacements because the inevitable is going to happen. Bates was injured (on a run) shortly thereafter. The bevy of capable replacements, as evidenced by possibly the worst QBing performance in both mechanics and decisions in Bobcat history, Not Good.

-- Don't understand your constant ragging on Marshall as an opponent. For a program that has risen from the actual ashes as probably the worst sports tragedy in history, they have built a football pedigree far superior to ours. I think they have a more legitimate bitch about having us on their schedule then we do them.

-- Concur with the student turn-out. Impressive and they really tried to hang in there last night. Staying for the entire game however, bordered on cruel and unusual punishment. Unlikely we'll get many of them back for awhile.

I always watch the game first from the LOS and progress upfield/downfield depending on what I see. I miss a few things in coverage, etc..., but I think it helps me gain a better understanding on what the teams are trying to do and stop.

Good points Joe - kind of like basketball - watching what happens off/away from the ball as well as under the boards.  There's more to the game than the run/pass or the dunk.

On an unrelated note - was behind David in the serving line at the volleyball game.  When he comes home next time, you need to work on his serve.

Can you please educate me on how a hurry up approach will benefit a poor Offensive Line?

Gotta try something different.  What we're doing ain't working.  At least for a play or two we might gain an advantage, might not allow the defense to adjust/might gain an advantage in what we run vs. what the defense is primed to defend.

Let me ask you, what would be the harm in trying it.  Oh, we might put up a mediocre performance vs. Wofford or lose to an el stinko Toledo.  Don't change anything.  Keep Boykin on the bench, too.  What we're doing is working so well.

Really, why do you post such crap.  Does your kind of rigid thinking lead to desired success  in your personal or professional lives?

I simply asked a question.  You go on and on about thinking and when someone ask a question you go nuts....  I was not aware that questions were not allowed to be asked. 

105:  Thanks for taking your time to give me your thoughts.

I'm done bringing up strength & conditioning. Our offensive and defensive lines were pushed around all night, our starting QB was injured early in the season for the 10th straight year, and we have constant cramps issues. But every time I bring up that we have strength & conditioning issues everyone yells and me and calls me an idiot without showing any actual evidence that I'm wrong.

So I'm not going to bother bringing it up anymore. 

one unit that is being over looked for poor play is the special teams units.  Outside of Weller the other teams were really poor in their performance Saturday night.

I have to echo Burke's thoughts.  In six years, we have not developed the necessary o and d-line size and strength to be a big time winner.  The skill positions have been upgraded but you win with the hogs up front and there are too many games where we get pushed around.  The warning signal was about 200+ yards rushing by wofford.  When teams have to (like ending the game last night) they just come right at us.

I have tickets for the OSU game and i am going but me thinks its gonna get ugly quick...maybe we were looking ahead!

Based on where that pic is, I'm sure some BA'ers can fill us in. Anyway, I've no idea of that situation, but it's becoming ever more apparent to me that the seating sections aren't marked very well. A number of times now, I've had to ask people to move so I can sit in my seats. Half of the time I'll just sit in open ones if they're available. But while sitting in front of the occupants of my seats last night, I heard after the first quarter "oh, I don't even think we're in the right section".. Yeah, and I really couldn't blame them. If you don't frequent Peden, it's not always simple to figure out what section is what. Musical chairs is annoying when it is happening during the game.

And you shouldn't have to put up with people behaving that way!  Well handled!