End of the season review

[Rightupinthere]

First off, congrats to the Vandals that East Germanic Tribe from Idaho. They wanted it more and it was a gutsy call and execution of the 2pt conversion.

It was a disappointing end but I feel really good about the program's present state.

I'm VERY pleased with this season. It started rough, but finished strong. The seniors had a decent and respectable year. Miami and UT were defeated. I FINALLY saw some adjustments at the half and some special second half performances. How long has it been for that?

The foundation is coming together with good assistants and the building of a culture which has served Clawson well as a head coach. Offense will be the question mark with the defense being more seasoned in the coming year.

107 days until spring game and 240 days until the first game [assuming it's a Saturday game!] ROLL ALONG!

[falconmondo]

While a disappointing (heartbreaking, actually) result, at least we showcased our team (especially Freddie) well. And it was a helluva lot better than 63-7 (I was there, and it still hurts!). All-in-all, I'm satisfied with our season (esp what it looked like after the loss to OU). Roll Along!!

[Rollo83]

I too am optimistic about what I saw this year. But I think the next couple of years will tell me more about Coach Clawson. He came into a pretty good situation with a senior laden team with many of them at the skill positions. Now, he was smart enough to come in and not make wholesale changes to the offense and keep some continuity to things. His teams played hard and with discipline…that was a big difference for me over the previous years. Looking forward to seeing Clawson put his stamp on the program from top to bottom over the next couple of years. I would expect a .500 season next year with all the new skill position players to be coming in as starters. Anything more will be a bonus for me.

[FalconTurf]

Very good finish to the regular season. I thought the discipline and public image of the program was very positive. The interviews after the game demonstrated that the players have bought into the system. As an alum & fan I was very proud, as usual, of our program this year.

The offense is a huge question mark for next year. The difficult replacements in addition to the top reciever & quarterback are the 4 O-lineman that graduate. You win with linemen. The defense will really need to step up while the offense matures. Coach Clawson will have his hands full again this coming year.

[Flipper]

The Bowl game really summed up our season on a lot of levels...we'll call it the almost year. Almost won a bowl, almost beat Marshall and Mizzou, almost beat Ohio...almost won the east after that...almost scored about a jillion more TD's...almost...almost...almost...

Normally an almost year like that leaves a bad taste in your mouth...but I'm feeling pretty good about it. The team showed some growth and more importantly, so did the staff. I think we're going to be OK down the road.

Next year could be a real bear though. We lose a ton of talent at some key positions. We're going to be hard pressed to duplicate our record much less surpass it. It seems like Clawon knows how to recruit. He has a strong focus on Ohio and SE Michigan but he's not afraid to reach out to Chicago and PA as well to find some athletes.

We might have to take some lumps in 2010....but look out in 2011...