Hats off to Brandon

[orangeandbrown]

But it was NOT a road game.

[windycityfalcon]

Congrats on a great performance by the offense.. and a solid one by the defense.
While not perfect, our D really did the job it had to do against a solid Memphis Offense.
Once again proud to be a Falcon and can't wait until next year

[kdog27]

But it was NOT a road game.

yes but it seemed like it to me. Losing to miami was not technically a home loss but we all know was. Semantics in my mind. But you are correct it is not a road win, but I will take it.

[Warthog]

The Onsides Kick. Great in a shootout. With our defense you figure they were gonna score anyway. May as well say screw field position and try to get the ball Probably saw something on film that the players were bailing early too. Good call.

I loved the onside kick as well. I look at bowl games (unless your talking about the national champioship game) as more of a gift. Gifts are fun so go out and have some fun. Take chances you wouldn't normally take because their is no real down side. I mean just playing in a bowl is great for us. So "pulling out all the stops" is the perfect thing to do in a bowl game.

The biggest thing that was another, WTH!?, moment is the Cole punting. I'm sorry, but that is just STUPID. There is no reason for that whatsoever. Bring your punter out there and punt. If you're going to go for it, bring the offense out. You don't think that the opponent is thinking fake when you have a WR punting? I just don't get that call.

I was a little confused by this as well. If Cole was healthy and we did this all year as a trick to always keep the defense on guard for a fake, well, then that is ok. But Cole hasn't done that all year so what was the point of experimenting with it now?

I'm not a big fan of having Omar roll to his opposite side so much either. You're putting him in a position to make the most difficult throw a QB can make. Yes, he's usually quite good at it, but you're asking too much. You could just see that pick coming a mile away.

I agree with you 100%! I can't remember any plays where Omar rolled to the right, it was always left. Setting yourself up for more INTs. He lofted one back to right that I thought was an invitation to the defense to pick it off. And we never had someone picking up the defenders blitzing in from the right so they were coming in with a full head of steam ready to deck Omar. I kept holding my breath that he wouldn't get hurt.

I am thrilled with how the defense played in the second half, but maybe not as thrilled as others. If Williams doesn't get hurt, the game is completely different. Our def was able to take advantage of Memphis without Williams. Which is what you want your def to do when the star goes out (not like what happened at NIU ) But I have my doubts they would have done that with Williams in there. :shrug:

[orangeandbrown]

Williams leaving was a factor, no doubt. But there were about 2 minutes left in the third when he left, and we were up two TD's by then and hadn't given up any points yet.

[hammb]

Williams leaving was a factor, no doubt. But there were about 2 minutes left in the third when he left, and we were up two TD's by then and hadn't given up any points yet.

When he left, and when he was hurt bad enough to no longer be effective are very different things. There were a number of plays where he almost fell on his own trying to make a cut. He stayed in for a couple drives longer than he was still effective.

[Schadenfreude]

The biggest thing that was another, WTH!?, moment is the Cole punting. I'm sorry, but that is just STUPID. There is no reason for that whatsoever. Bring your punter out there and punt. If you're going to go for it, bring the offense out. You don't think that the opponent is thinking fake when you have a WR punting? I just don't get that call.

I ran into Nate Fry's dad near the end of the game and asked him about that. Basically, they thought they might have had an opportunity to fake at that point, but Memphis covered it. At least I think that was the situation. I had consumed quite a few adult beverages by that point.

[1987alum]

The biggest thing that was another, WTH!?, moment is the Cole punting. I'm sorry, but that is just STUPID. There is no reason for that whatsoever. Bring your punter out there and punt. If you're going to go for it, bring the offense out. You don't think that the opponent is thinking fake when you have a WR punting? I just don't get that call.

I ran into Nate Fry's dad near the end of the game and asked him about that. Basically, they thought they might have had an opportunity to fake at that point, but Memphis covered it. At least I think that was the situation. I had consumed quite a few adult beverages by that point.

Really?

Hey, from the stands, I have to say it looked like our staff did an outstanding job. Not perfect, but outstanding.

Sanders and Sharon really made some huge individual plays and Brandon showed good timing on being aggressive and pouding them with the Popemobile.

Hats off to the staff!

[Schadenfreude]

I had consumed quite a few adult beverages by that point.

Really?

I don't think I was actually slurring, though, although perhaps you would have been a better judge of that than I at that point, '87.

[Falconfreak90]

Yep, we're all entitled our opinion.

As for Tressel and the Boys...ugh. I don't know what he's doing down there with that program. I thought at the very least they'd be clean under Tressel. Boy did he have the wool pulled over our collective eyes...

9-3 with a bowl win actaully surpassed my expectations this year, but I didn't know that Omar was going to be better than Harris right off the bat. Had you told me Omar would set the record for TD:INT ratio, I would find 9-3 fairly disappointing, and do.

I'll give them their props for last night. That was probably the best coached game we've had in Brandon's 2 years here. Hopefully that continues.

I'll give them their props when they start winning those tough road games. As it is they are excelling at the most important part of coaching, and that is recruiting. If they continue to bring in these sorts of recruits then I think we can continue to win 8+ games a year. My problem is that I see a whole lotta John Cooper in the way these past couple years have gone. I'll be convinced of this staff when we start winning those tough road games. I'll give 'em props for holding home field, which we do, and bringing in top tier recruits by MAC standards, which we do. But I'm greedy

Over the past 2 years look at the games that I would consider legit opponents. Purdue, OSU, NIU, Miami x 2, UT, NW. This year we had OU, NIU, UT, Memphis, Marshall. The rest of the wins are nice, but the way we're recruiting you could have a monkey coach us to victory against the rest of our competition. Credit to them for recruiting so well, but recruiting doesn't make you a great game-day coach or motivator.

In those games 6-6. Only 1 of those wins was on the road. That puts us at 1-5 on the road against good competition. I realize road games are tough, but that record isn't very good. I think the reason it really sticks in my craw is taht I generally think we are more talented than the teams we're losing to (OSU & Miami the exceptions). The problem is that in some big games we either come out totally flat in one of the 2 halves, or we change our scheme drastically for some reason.

I don't know why I let it get to me, but I guess I just crave perfection

I understand that hammb...and I want perfection as well. But that is a very difficult thing to achieve in our league. You make some very valid points about the tough road games....we haven't won those yet...and I agree to take the next step, we need to win those games. And I also agree about coming out flat after a half. Look at the UT game in 2002, both Miami games in 2003 and NIU & UT this year. Every one of those games was winnable after one half...especially the UT games. For one reason or another, we didn't get it done and that bothers the heck outta me as well.
But ALL coaches face that dilema at times. we're dealing with 18-22 yr old kids for the most part.

I think we can agree that 2005 is a very big opportunity and one that we MUST take advantage. Anything less than a MAC title will be disappointing.
We will definitely be one of the faves to win it all...and we have the talent to do it.

GO FALCONS!!!

[OptionQB]

9-3 @ Wisconsin
bye
9-17 @ Boise State
9-24 v. Central Michigan (Real date TBA)
10-1 v. Temple
Conference Games TBA, but something like . . .
10-8 @ Western Michigan
bye
10-22 v. Eastern Michigan (HC?)
10-29 @ East (Buffalo?)
11-5 v. Northern Illinois
11-12 @ Akron/ Kent/ Ohio ???
11-19 @ Ball State
11-25 v. Toledo
12-? MAC Championship

With a schedule that features as many as four (or five) and likely three top 25 programs and somewhere between 2-5 nationally covered games, this schedule sets up very similarly to Utah's of this past year.

We take care of business and we're probably not worrying about GMAC, Motor City or Silicon Valley bowls put probably something as big as $14 Million dollars

[Warthog]

I understand that was just a stab at a schedule for next year, but I do see a problem with the East/West thing. If we stay in the West, then we need three East crossover games. You only had two. Of course, if we aren't moving to the East, then I would expect it to be Ball State. And since you had them on the schedule already, tha would be the third East game and I guess my point is irrelevant.

On the other hand, if we move to the East, then the whole thing goes up in smoke except for the OOC games and UT at the end. 8)

[TG1996]

9-3 @ Wisconsin
bye
9-17 @ Boise State
9-24 v. Central Michigan (Real date TBA)
10-1 v. Temple
Conference Games TBA, but something like . . .
10-8 @ Western Michigan
bye
10-22 v. Eastern Michigan (HC?)
10-29 @ East (Buffalo?)
11-5 v. Northern Illinois
11-12 @ Akron/ Kent/ Ohio ???
11-19 @ Ball State
11-25 v. Toledo
12-? MAC Championship

Has Temple been set as the 10-1 game for sure? or might that date be switched with the CMU game? Homecoming is already scheduled for 10/1 (http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/sa/getinvolved/events.html), and I would think that they'd look for a MAC opponent to fill that slot, rather than someone from OOC (though if this year's any indication, Temple might provide just the kind of victory to keep donor alums happy!! )

(Whoa. I just found out that if you hold down shift while moving your cursor backwards, it highlights everything you back over. Cool.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out. We already know that 10/1 and 10/22 are home dates, due to Homecoming and "Falcon Family Weekend", and alot more comes down to the MAC's decision on realignment. If we move to the East, I don't think we'll see Toledo at the end of the year anymore, mostly because A) they wouldn't want to risk teams playing one another in back to back weeks, and B) right now Toledo/NIU and BG/Miami (OH) would make for nice Thanksgiving week matchups, potentially providing a "Final Four" for the MAC title. (Even though this year saw Miami(OH) and Marshall play much earlier in the season... I guess it worked out with Akron kicking the Herd, huh? )

and BTW, when's the Michigan game? *ducks*

EDIT: I see on nationalchamps.net that Temple is the 10/1 game, and Miami gets them in mid-November? Huh? Then again, that site still has us at Michigan and Wyoming next year. Do Wisky fans still "jump around" if they're down two scores to an "inferior" MAC school?

[kdog27]

I wonder the last time that page was actually updated

[OptionQB]

Actually is next season a 12 game schedule season? With three OOC games confirmed, it very well may be. Also, according to the less than reliable www.nationalchamps.net 10/1 is slated for Temple as of now.

Here's confirmation from the Temple website and it does look to be an 11 game schedule at least from their perspective:

http://www.owlsports.com/sports/football/schedules/

9-17 is also confirmed via www.IDBSU.edu, Boise's school website:

http://www.broncosports.com/fb_schedule ... =2005-2006

One of the "west" opponents that I have listed will likely be moved to East or it will be us to even things out with 6 and 6.

Personally I would love to see some combination of Army, Navy and Temple join the MAC to continue to build exposure and guard against falling below 12 and losing the championship game level.