What's acceptable for Brandon this year?

[Schadenfreude]

Interesting talk in another thread about how this is a big year for Brandon.

I agree. We will learn a lot about coach and about the true state of our program this season

What's acceptable?

Obviously, this is a tough question to fully answer. Brandon could go 10-2 but if he makes bonehead calls and ruins the season for a truly great team that could have done much better -- few will be happy.

That said, looking at the team and the schedule, what's the minimum Brandon can do and keep (or earn) your confidence when all is said and done?

[Rightupinthere]

Man, I answered too quickly. I said 8-4 would be "acceptable". .500 or 7-5 with this group of youngsters would be "acceptable".

8-4 with this team would be enough to sway me to be to lean more pro-GB.

[It's the Journey...]

I can't put a number on it. To me this will be a good year as long as we are competitive for 60 minutes of football, all 12 games or 13 this season. If we get beat and it is by a team who outplayed us I can accept that. I won't like it, but I can accept it. If we beat ourselves, then we have some problems.

[BGSUFootballFan]

I said 8-4. I think losses to UW, OSU, CMU, and UT is being plenty commendable. We are top tier MAC team. Therefore we should not lose to teams like UB or EMU. I think our 4 toughest MAC games will be Miami, UT, CMU, and Akron. I'm only asking him to go 2-2 in those games, while beating the teams we "should beat" whatever that means IMO Temple, UB, EMU, FIU, Ohio, Kent and losing to the teams we "should lose to" again whatever that means... in this case OSU and Wiscy IMO.

[Falconfreak90]

I chose 7-5. We have a difficult schedule this year and basically have 8 road games. This program has risen to be one of the best in the MAC. Other programs have gotten better and made the MAC more competitive.

I feel we can finish anywhere from 5-7 to 10-2. With so many young guys, it's hard, even for me, to think this team will win more than 9-10 games. It could happen but isn't likely. Just trying to be a realist for once...LOL!

So? Let's just get the season underway and see what happens!

GO FALCONS

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I can't put a number on it. To me this will be a good year as long as we are competitive for 60 minutes of football, all 12 games or 13 this season. If we get beat and it is by a team who outplayed us I can accept that. I won't like it, but I can accept it. If we beat ourselves, then we have some problems.

I completely agree.

This season is in no way about wins and losses for me. Of course I would like us to win some games. However, with the MAC East being what it is today, you can almost go .500 in conference just by rolling out of bed in the morning.


Specifically, here are some things I would like to see. These are mostly about GB, but they do to a lesser extent involve the rest of the staff.


I want to see a cohesive offensive, defensive, and ST gameplan. I want us to put this in place by utilizing our specific talent set, which is quite different from the last couple years. I also want to see better halftime adjustments in an effort to keep or seize momentum coming out of the locker room.

I want to see some of Brandon's recruits start to take over, which will be telling in his recruiting ability. I don't mean just in terms of pure talent, but rather his ability to recruit players to fit his schemes successfully.

I want to see some damn fundamentals -- tackling especially.

I want to see a team that looks like it cares and is fighting from start to finish.

I want to see some leadership on and off the field.

Did I mention tackling?



There are also some things I would prefer not to see this year. These may even be more important to me.


I do not want to hear our head coach disparage the importance of one phase of the game versus another.

I do not want to hear our head coach throw players by name under the bus in postgame interviews.

I do not want to see our coaching staff puss out in key situations against bitter rivals with the game on the line.

I do not want to see any more third quarter lambastings.

I do not want to hear our coach making excuses and passing the buck during a radio interview.

I do not want to see the whole season fall apart based on the loss of one or two players. We've already had one main cog go down. Well-coached and well-prepared teams can overcome.

I do not want to see Wisconsin run our front seven over while we stay in base for 3/4 of the game. If this happens again, I may not watch another game this season for fear of harming myself and others.



If I see marked improvement in the above areas, and we go 6-6, I'll be just fine. If we still look like crap in all these areas, but go 8-4, lose in the MACC, and play in a bowl game, I'll still be calling for GB's job.

[hammb]

J4H echoes my sentiments exactly. I don't even care about W/L this year as far as evaluating Coach Brandon, because quite frankly I have been disappointed in his coaching ability for his entire tenure here, in both successful seasons and our poor season last year.

Even when we have been winning the past few years we have all the signs of poorly coached, poor disciplined teams, and I cannot stand watching that brand of football. If we show the intensity and leadership required to build a successful program I could be quite happen with a 6-6 team. I know we're going to be making a lot of youthful mistakes, I can live with that. I cannot live wiith another year of pisspoor tackling, and foldinig whenever the heat gets turned up.

As for the stuff J4H doesn't want to see from Brandon I'm with him there as well. Quite frankly Brandon sounded like a whiny little bitch at times on the radio last year, and more of that would have me calling for his job. I fully believe attitude reflects leadership, and the past few years we have been clearly lacking in both of those attributes.

[Schadenfreude]

I said 8-4. I think losses to UW, OSU, CMU, and UT is being plenty commendable. We are top tier MAC team. Therefore we should not lose to teams like UB or EMU. I think our 4 toughest MAC games will be Miami, UT, CMU, and Akron. I'm only asking him to go 2-2 in those games, while beating the teams we "should beat" whatever that means IMO Temple, UB, EMU, FIU, Ohio, Kent and losing to the teams we "should lose to" again whatever that means... in this case OSU and Wiscy IMO.

This is kind of where my head is at.

As a fan, I want to be at the point where we can beat anyone on our schedule, including Ohio State and Wisconsin. This looks like a rebuilding year, and that's probably too optimistic.

I see six other potentially tough games: Miami, Toledo, Central Michigan, Akron, Ohio and Florida International (which is a real wild card; how much about them do any of us really know?).

I could see going 3-3 in this stretch -- dropping a couple of games we know we coulda won -- becuase our team is so young and inexperienced. And I could live with that, as long as I sense Brandon's decisions are keeping us in games and not taking us out of them.

I'm gonna put down 7-5 -- but obviously, I'm hoping for 8-4 or better.

And, for the record, Brandon still has my confidence. I have doubts now and again, but I certainly wouldn't have handled the situation any differently than Paul Krebs did.

[Zom]

Good thread, like the way the poll pans out.

8-4, 7-5 would float the boat in my dreamworld. Then again, how would you rate a season with wins against Wisc, OSU, Miami, and Toledo, and then abject losses to everyone else?

[Schadenfreude]

8-4, 7-5 would float the boat in my dreamworld. Then again, how would you rate a season with wins against Wisc, OSU, Miami, and Toledo, and then abject losses to everyone else?

That would put Akron in the Orange Bowl... or something.

[svillefalcon]

i really dont see how FIU has a chance against us. My roomate is from florida and he says that they are like a team like buffalo or kent. the only thing i see us having problems in that one is because it i a road game. other than that, chalk up a victory against them.

Cleveland Browns Stadium...HERE WE COME!

[MACMAN]

MY orange glasses say we are set...blagh blagh

MY mind says this is a good year for the D
and total rebuilding on O and that the season is more about demonstrating the D and showcasing that and showing us growth on the offense.

Its not about Brandon directly if we finish 6-6 or 4 and 8 it has nothing to do his leadership and coaching. we all know that in this league if you dont have all the part of the puzzel its not gona be good, the MAC is just to competiitve.

Now if we do go 9-3 or 8-4 Ill be amazed cause I dont see the talent on Offense to achive that. I just dont see it in AT to take the O there, I dont . I hope with my orange glasses I am wrong, but
I dont think hes who we should invest an entire year in developing, esp when next year our D will be the same or better than this year and we will have 12 returning on O.

[reyray82]

I see alot of people voted for 7-5, so basically you guys think we will fold in every big game we play. I think anything short of a MAC title game is a dissappointment. I dont know much about Akron and Miami, just that akron looks mediocre and Miami is always decent. The rest of our mac games we should win with talent alone (aside from ut)

Youth is not a bad thing. Penn State had youth last year, what was their record? The coaches have been together for 5 or 6 years now. I believe greg Brandon was a large part in designing the Offense for Harris and look at his numbers, the same for Omar and we know what he can do. Last years offense was omars offense, This year belongs to turner. I will not e surprised if our offense is one of the most productive in the mac. And the D will gel by the tie we play Ostate so thats not a concern for me.

[bgsufalcon24]

The first thing that we have to consider here is that our schedule is horrible with the exception of a few teams. Our nonconference schedule is decidedly hit or miss, with two really strong teams (OSU and Wisc) and two teams that absolutely suck (FIU and Temple). In conference, it should be the same old same old as far as which teams are contenders and which ones aren't, with the exceptions of maybe Central Michigan and Ball State, which I am not sure about really at all.

I divide the games of this season into four categories, easy games, medium games, hard games, and impossible games. Here goes.

Easy games - lock them up as W's right now
1.Buffalo - could be worst team in college football this year having lost 20 lettermen off of terrible team a year ago, plus the game is at home
2.Kent State - winless team in the MAC a year ago isn't going anywhere fast, plus game is at home
3.Florida International - This team isn't much better than Buffalo the only reason they went 5-6 last year was because they are in the Sunbelt Conf.
4.Temple - 70-7 last year. That pretty much says it all. You're not going to reverse a 63 point deficit in one year.
5.Eastern Michigan - This team actually showed some improvement in spots last year, but don't expect them to challenge us, not on homecoming.

Medium games - most likely will be W's but could be L's
1.Ohio - This team is an enigma, I can't tell if they will show the improvement some expect. They play really well at home though.
2.Miami - We embarrassed them bad last year and they lost tons of players. They might have get-you-back motivation for us this year.
3.Akron - Their fairytale season of a year ago won't last into this year without Biggs, but they will still be good. Road game here might actually benefit us because our fans will likely outdraw their fans at the Rubber Bowl.

Hard games - most likely will be L's but could be W's
1.Wisconsin - Still strong on defense and have much bigger guys in the trenches than we do, a big minus. Even though their skill positions are depleted, it will take a great 60 minutes for us to win.
2.Central Michigan - These guys will be better than last year since they are one of the few teams in the MAC not decimated by players leaving. Road game too, which will make this one tough. I know we were 4-0 on road in MAC last year, but I don't see that happening this time.
3.Toledo - Although Bruce is gone, their offense remains more intact than ours, and their defense was already better than ours, although that may not pan out this year. Game is at Glass Bowl, which benefits the Rockets.

Impossible games - games we will not win
1.Ohio State - As much as I would love for this to happen, I don't think it will. OSU is just too powerful in all dimensions of the game.

Record prediction - 8-4, (6-2 MAC, MAC East Champions)

We will win the MAC East with a perfect 5-0 record against the East Division, our two conference losses coming against CMU and Toledo. Our opponent in the MAC Championship Game will be NIU, who I think will go undefeated in MAC play, and honestly, they will probably kick our ass in the title game as they are loaded.

[1987alum]

The first thing that we have to consider here is that our schedule is horrible with the exception of a few teams. Our nonconference schedule is decidedly hit or miss, with two really strong teams (OSU and Wisc) and two teams that absolutely suck (FIU and Temple). In conference, it should be the same old same old as far as which teams are contenders and which ones aren't, with the exceptions of maybe Central Michigan and Ball State, which I am not sure about really at all.

I divide the games of this season into four categories, easy games, medium games, hard games, and impossible games. Here goes.

Easy games - lock them up as W's right now
1.Buffalo - could be worst team in college football this year having lost 20 lettermen off of terrible team a year ago, plus the game is at home
2.Kent State - winless team in the MAC a year ago isn't going anywhere fast, plus game is at home
3.Florida International - This team isn't much better than Buffalo the only reason they went 5-6 last year was because they are in the Sunbelt Conf.
4.Temple - 70-7 last year. That pretty much says it all. You're not going to reverse a 63 point deficit in one year.
5.Eastern Michigan - This team actually showed some improvement in spots last year, but don't expect them to challenge us, not on homecoming.

Medium games - most likely will be W's but could be L's
1.Ohio - This team is an enigma, I can't tell if they will show the improvement some expect. They play really well at home though.
2.Miami - We embarrassed them bad last year and they lost tons of players. They might have get-you-back motivation for us this year.
3.Akron - Their fairytale season of a year ago won't last into this year without Biggs, but they will still be good. Road game here might actually benefit us because our fans will likely outdraw their fans at the Rubber Bowl.

Hard games - most likely will be L's but could be W's
1.Wisconsin - Still strong on defense and have much bigger guys in the trenches than we do, a big minus. Even though their skill positions are depleted, it will take a great 60 minutes for us to win.
2.Central Michigan - These guys will be better than last year since they are one of the few teams in the MAC not decimated by players leaving. Road game too, which will make this one tough. I know we were 4-0 on road in MAC last year, but I don't see that happening this time.
3.Toledo - Although Bruce is gone, their offense remains more intact than ours, and their defense was already better than ours, although that may not pan out this year. Game is at Glass Bowl, which benefits the Rockets.

Impossible games - games we will not win
1.Ohio State - As much as I would love for this to happen, I don't think it will. OSU is just too powerful in all dimensions of the game.

Record prediction - 8-4, (6-2 MAC, MAC East Champions)

We will win the MAC East with a perfect 5-0 record against the East Division, our two conference losses coming against CMU and Toledo. Our opponent in the MAC Championship Game will be NIU, who I think will go undefeated in MAC play, and honestly, they will probably kick our ass in the title game as they are loaded.

Bartender, I'll have what he's drinking!