vs. South Alabama

[jpfalcon09]

What a devastating loss. Kids deserved a better outcome.

[BillyLP]

Terrible clock management, but also that fumble is what lost the game there. Gotta hold on to that ball and have better awareness there.

Gutting, but oddly it feels good talking about a game that slipped away against solid competition rather than talking about it being over at halftime.

[Bgsu2016]

What a devastating loss. Kids deserved a better outcome.

Then they should’ve earned it. Players made some critical mistakes today. McDonald taking the sack to knock them out of FG position, that horrible pass by the WR, and that fumble at the end were on the players

[gspointer]

Good progress! Great effort!

[bgdodgeball4]

This is the kind of game that sets back all of the clear and evident progress they’ve made on the field. What a terribly coached game all the way down to the very end where you save a timeout to ice the kicker in college football where the clock stops on first downs.

That trick play was high school level stupid and flat out cost them the game. If a pro coach tried that in that situation, I guarantee you they would be fired tomorrow. There was absolutely no reason to put the ball in the hands of your freshman tight end on the opponent 31 yard line like that when the offense finally had some momentum and was driving the field. At bare minimum, you put points on the board there because you were in field goal territory - points that ultimately lost you the game! It’s just flat out indefensible to put your young team (who, mind you, had straight battled for 6 straight quarters to start the season and whom you had coached correctly for the most part up until that point) in that position. Just stupidity.

This is Jinks-level frustrating. Be better than that! You dominated this game and cost the kids a chance at a victory they deserved.

[mbenecke]

This is the closest loss since Homecoming 2018, when Jinks was fired following a 42-35 loss to Western Michigan.

We led that game at halftime, 21-7.

[mbenecke]

Jude Adjei-Barimah, a Falcon who spent the early 2010s on campus before going on to play in the NFL, tweeted today that he thinks this team is well coached and plays hard, they just don’t know how to win yet. Compared it to our 2011 team that lost 3 very close games and went 5-7. I just find it interesting. It seems like we’re pretty clearly improving, and alumni players are buying in on what they’re seeing.

I’m excited for homecoming next week - a chance to win that game for the first time since 2015.

Beat Murray State.

[roguewarrior]

Two delay of games coming out of timeouts. A regular theme. We are not good enough to run trick plays. That team was awful in the first half. We should have put them away in the first half, and failed. Game is on the coaches. Period.

[mcfalcons83]

Tough loss but much better than last year. Need to win next week. Go Falcons!

[factman]

I want to hear what the idioc thinking was with the clock management in the final minute. We call TO with 30+ seconds to go to stop the clock, and one play later we leave the clock run down so we have NO CHANCE for a return if he makes the FG and everyone in the stadium was pretty sure he was going to make it.
Another VERY poor CIACHES decision!

[jpfalcon09]

Two delay of games coming out of timeouts. A regular theme. We are not good enough to run trick plays. That team was awful in the first half. We should have put them away in the first half, and failed. Game is on the coaches. Period.

Yeah, gotta learn to walk before you run. 1st half was atrocious. Reminded me of last year. Defense really did all they could to hold the team in the game.

FWIW, Loeffler took the blame in the post game. I just really don't understand the decision making.

[MarkL]

This game was lost on playcalling. The trick play when the offense was moving, and not playing to win when tied. And add to that the use of timeouts when the offense was discombobulated.

[BG71]

I rarely criticize anyone. Some of the stupidest play calling I have seen. How can you blame the players when they should have beat a team that was 14-21 point favorites? I listened to the post game interview and Loeffler took the blame for the loss. The double pass play was mentioned several times. However: he mentioned on several occasions of running the ball on third down and kicking the field goal. Did he forget it was first down? The play was inexcusable. Of course there were lengthy discussions about player errors and immaturity. Too much as far as I was concerned. Did he also forget they were 14-21 point underdogs and lost because of his decisions. I hate blaming the players.

[Schadenfreude]

This is the kind of game that sets back all of the clear and evident progress they’ve made on the field.

No.

Without good coaching, the Jaguars would have destroyed us today. The Falcons had 14 yards rushing all day. They are completely out manned on the offensive line. But the progress the Falcon football team has made is obvious.

FWIW, Loeffler took the blame in the post game.

This overstates it. Loeffler said in any game this close, there is a lot of blame to go around and he repeatedly accepted some blame for a couple of his play calls. Which, frankly, was a nice thing for him to do to take some of pressure off the young men on that team and build a culture where everyone is willing to think about how they can do better. (I'm certain Loeffler is stewing about this one.) But we all saw McDonald miss open passes in the first half on good play calls, that fumble near the end, and the way our offensive line was getting manhandled most of the day.

I'm very encouraged by what we saw today. It sucks to lose, but this team is significantly better than it was a year ago. They battled all day. They will keep getting better. The process has earned my trust.

[guest44]

Good coaching? You have to be kidding.