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Here's a link to the press conference today for Coach Brandon. Its interesting. I think he's pretty forthright. I don't get where he thinks they didn't run on us until the last drive, because that is not what I recall.

He talks too much about the officials call on the touchback (IMO), although he says the league office sent an apology. We got embarassed, and one call (no matter how you try to rewrite history with ifs and buts) wasn't the problem.

He is basically saying we didn't execute, but nothing is structurally wrong with the defense, which has been debated here. Time will tell.

http://bgsufalcons.collegesports.com/sp ... 04aaa.html

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we all have a Merry Christmas.

First off, I *really* wish this Temple game would kick off so we can really put the NIU debacle behind us. I want to say "I'm done thinking about it", but with nothing else to think about, it keeps coming back up.

Without getting into the whole hindsight/shoulda,woulda,coulda aspect, I think the importance of the phantom touchdown gets snowed over by what happened the rest of the way. Say the officials get that call right, wouldn't it be the same "coulda shoulda woulda" game to say the offense wouldn't have done anything? To take 7 points off the board for your opponent and march 80 yards to even the score would have been HUGE, instead its a 14 point game, a backup just busted a 30+ yard score on the defense, and everything deflates and starts to snowball. The importance of that missed call can't be understated. Its my opinion that despite the troubles they had, if the defense forces a turnover and the next time they take the field its a new ballgame, things would be different.

The only part about Coach Brandon's response to the question I don't like is that it was posed as "how could you have helped them?" and he replied that we got hosed. If he was asked specifically about the call, then fine, otherwise, I think it should have been approached much differently.

As for the delay of game issues, I don't think I follow him. Wouldn't they reset the play clock as soon as a timeout was called? Or was he trying to say that the clock started early or something and it shouldn't have been a delay/timeout burned??? And regardless, we've had a game and a week off to fix any "clock problems" that were ridiculously obvious at Oklahoma, that should be a non-issue at this point.

Quoting Brandon:

GB: Yeah, and here is my take on that game. We lost that game late in the third quarter when we couldn't score a touchdown on the 1-yard line. At that time it was 17-7. We kicked a field goal, so it is 17-10. Then they turn around and score. That wasn't a touchdown, that was a touchback. So as a result it is now 24-10 and they're kicking off, and in all actuality it should have been 17-14, with our ball on the 20. So that is where that football game was lost.

I don't think he's whining. That makes a lot of sense to me.

That's a very interesting interview. I don't think he was spinning too much. He laid it out there pretty straight.

Schadenfreude wrote: I don't think he's whining. That makes a lot of sense to me.

That's a very interesting interview. I don't think he was spinning too much. He laid it out there pretty straight.

I agree with WHAT he said, just think it could have been brought up at a bit of a different time in the presser. Seemed like a bit of awkward timing is all.

I agree that its pretty straightforward, too, especially about expecting veterans to step up, but also that its his job to kick them in the ass on occasion. Unfortunately, its a lesson learned in a crucial game, hopefully its not a lesson forgotten the next time they've got their backs against the wall and need to reach down and come up with something.

Agreed. Momentum is an important intangeable.

I'm ready for Temple!

Schadenfreude wrote:Quoting Brandon:

GB: ...in all actuality it should have been 17-14, with our ball on the 20. So that is where that football game was lost.

Well, a bad call didn't cost us our score, we cost us OUR score, so I don't know what "in all actuality" means here. In all actuality, it was at best 17-7.

No one knows what would have happened, but the game that was actually played was lost when our defense failed to stop NIU for an entire half, and when they were wronged on only one play.

I thought his "country butt whipping" quote was more accurate.

To be fair, this is pulling one quote out. He did spend the conference talking about the errors the defense made and how the team didn't step up, so I don't think he minimized our role in it. I just don't think he should have brought the bad call up.

Q: Have you heard anything from the conference office?

GB: Yes. They sent us an apology.


talk about a kick in the pants.....

BGSUfanatUT wrote:Q: Have you heard anything from the conference office?

GB: Yes. They sent us an apology.


talk about a kick in the pants.....

Yeah, we got one of those from the MAC office after our Maryland game.

BTW - the second half shows at least 3 NIU drives of 75 yards or more. We were moving the ball pretty easily in that second half.

No Question...As Brandon says, We nor the refs brought their A Game. The Refs gave NIU 6 points and we cost ourselves six with 2 penalities on the 1. Stupid any way you slice it.

I don't understand for a minute how we walked into DeKalb.....again......"a little bit fat." Having confidence is one thing, but didn't we learn from the last time we went to NIU when we probably were "a little bit fat" being undefeated and ranked in the Top-25? Ahhh, hearing that burns me up, especially since we had two weeks to prepare. We went to NIU with a record of 1-1, the win was against a weak I-AA school. We had nothing to be flexing our muscles about. Our 11-3, Top-25 season in 2003 was in the past, and NIU reminded us of that on Friday.

I too just want to play and put that loss as far behind us as we can. Thank goodness we do not have another by this week again!

BGSU33 wrote:I don't understand for a minute how we walked into DeKalb.....again......"a little bit fat." Having confidence is one thing, but didn't we learn from the last time we went to NIU when we probably were "a little bit fat" being undefeated and ranked in the Top-25? Ahhh, hearing that burns me up, especially since we had two weeks to prepare. We went to NIU with a record of 1-1, the win was against a weak I-AA school. We had nothing to be flexing our muscles about. Our 11-3, Top-25 season in 2003 was in the past, and NIU reminded us of that on Friday.

I too just want to play and put that loss as far behind us as we can. Thank goodness we do not have another by this week again!

While I don't understand the ins and outs of football like all of you do, I do want to mention that I think a bye week is not usually a good thing. I think having the week off gets a team out of their rhythm and flow. Preparation becomes too repetitive while preparing for the same team for two weeks straight. That coupled with the loss of a team mate had to play a factor in why they didn't bring their "A" game. Oh well...as others have said, it's done, it's over, it's time to move on!

BEAT TEMPLE!!!

When we lost to NIU two years ago everyone talked about how big an advantage it was to have an off week before a big game.

orangeandbrown wrote:When we lost to NIU two years ago everyone talked about how big an advantage it was to have an off week before a big game.

I think there's a big difference between an off-week in early September after 2 games, one of which was against a I-AA team, and having it in late Oct./early Nov. when you can get a better feel of what your team needs to do, what the other team keys on in a greater sample of games (against similar opponents), and other things you can't really figure out after just 2 or 3 games.

Brandon didn't pull punches, I like that. I like that he seemed to understand all parties had a chunk of the game where they failed. He also doesn't let doubt creep in, by poking the chest of anybody individually.