Mid Major Curse

[Rollo83]

The spread offense is an equalizer and helps less physically gifted teams compete with better teams. Unfortuately, no "equalizer" on the defensive side of the ball exists. Speeed, size and tackling rule on the defensive side of the ball. No gimmics here.

This is what seperates the BCS schools from the smaller schools. Whether it was Brian McClure, Erik White, Josh Harrris, Omar Jacobs or Tyler Sheehan, we have had the ability to throw the ball around and score points...even against the bigger teams. But until we can find a way to stop/slow down people from scoring, we'll never be champions.

[mmisbg]

The spread offense is an equalizer and helps less physically gifted teams compete with better teams.

If this is the case, why are so many BCS schools starting to run the spread. This was the case when nobody (including mid-major schools) was running the spread.

I think the mid-majors are struggling in bowl games as much as anybody else. But the reason why is because the BCS conferences are given WAY too many bowls. They are committed to so many bowls that they do not have enough eligible teams to send to them all. The result is the mid-major conferences sending teams that are not ready to play in those games.

This is how the bowl records of non-BCS conferences has gotten so bad. However, to put it in perspective, I doubt that the BCS schools who would have been sent to those games (had they won one or two more games) would be doing much better. Any way you look at it, the raw number of bowls results in teams getting sent who really didn't deserve a bowl game.

[MarkL]

I think you're a little off the mark here. TCU is a mid-major school and they have one of the best defenses annually. Same for Boise State. Same with Fresno State, a traditionally stout defense.

Clawson just won seven games with Brandon's recruits. Brandon recruited a very talented offense, and on defense he wanted speed, not size. This philosophy works, but there is little margin for error. In order to have a dominating defense with speed instead of size, you must have some excellent coordination and also time in the program. Look at 2008 - we had a veteran defense that was not big at all, and they shut down a lot of teams, including Pitt. So in other words, the Brandon philosophy works, but when the experience is not there, mistakes are more prone to happen, and they show up more when your linebackers and defensive linemen are undersized. They have less physical ability to match up against huge offensive lines and must rely on their instincts and speed to get around the big guys.

We'll have to see what kind of defensive players Clawson recruits. He may be more interested in recruiting size, not speed, in the front seven. If so, I feel his staff may be able to coordinate a defense that can work against the bigger teams even without having a team full of third year starters.

[BGGrad01]

I think the mid-majors are struggling in bowl games as much as anybody else. But the reason why is because the BCS conferences are given WAY too many bowls. They are committed to so many bowls that they do not have enough eligible teams to send to them all. The result is the mid-major conferences sending teams that are not ready to play in those games.

This is how the bowl records of non-BCS conferences has gotten so bad. However, to put it in perspective, I doubt that the BCS schools who would have been sent to those games (had they won one or two more games) would be doing much better. Any way you look at it, the raw number of bowls results in teams getting sent who really didn't deserve a bowl game.

I think we can replace "mid-majors" above with "MAC" because we are getting beat by other mid-majors in most of these bowls. In the current 13 game losing streak, MAC teams have lost to Marshall, Tulsa (twice), UConn, Rice, La Tech, Fla Atlantic, Purdue, Rutgers, Idaho, Southern Miss, UCLA, and Cincy. That's 4 games against BCS teams and an assortment of WAC, Conference USA, and Sun Belt schools. All of the mid-major conferences (WAC, MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt) are getting a bunch of bids because of the number of bowls. We are the only conference with such a poor record over the last 4 years. I would understand if we were getting beat by the Big Ten and a top CUSA team, but we're losing to teams that are beatable or should be beaten.

To Rollo's original point about the mid-major defenses, I tend to agree when it comes to MAC schools. The MAC schools have not had the talent in recent years to win games against BCS teams or even against fellow mid-majors. Hopefully Coach Clawson and staff can put together a stout defense in the coming years because the conference could be dominated with a good group. I know that if I was a defensive recruit sitting at home yesterday that I would certainly consider BGSU. That was pretty much swiss cheese and we're losing a bunch of seniors all over the field. Playing time could certainly be there very early.