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Two points:

First, I'm damned excited about this team.

No, Saturday did not turn out like we had hoped. But the way Barnes played and the way he was able to get yardage within that ridiculously limited game plan? If we open it up just a bit -- look out.

And our defense seems to be coming around. With all that speed, the kids seemed to be in the right place more often.

As far as Rojas? I gotta cut him some slack. As touted as he was, I think he'll come around -- and better protection might be all he needs.

Next and more importantly, I think Gregg Brandon has proven more in these past few weeks than he ever has.

Think about the way he's retooled our offense. Far too many coaches -- including some of the most talked about in the country, future hall-of-famers -- demand that kids fit within their system.

What we are witnessing is something far more impressive -- Brandon retooling his system to fit his kids. He sees our offensive line is our great strength, and he's trying to organize an offense that will work around that. That's real coaching right there. He's done it before -- more of a pass-oriented thing with Omar, more rushes with Harris. But we are *really* seeing it this year.

Not only that, this might reflect more maturity.

We stayed within a very disciplined offensive plan against Wisconsin, and it didn't work out, but we proved some things -- we can move the ball, and that we may be more effective at the ball control thing in the MAC.

In other words, I think he's moving our offense to a place where it may -- may -- have better success in the MAC than we've had in previous years. We've demolished good nonconference teams with previous offenses, we've ripped off huge leads. But we've struggled to hold leads at times -- to just grind it out and chew up clock. The ability to do that may have a huge impact this year.

Finally: You know what? Our defense is coming around. This may not be Brandon's greatest strength, but we went out and got this guy John Lovett who seems to know what he's doing. Kids seem to be flying to the ball, and staying in position.

I'm also digging the way we are ripping shirts of kids. Why not? They seem to be using common sense about it: We don't NEED a quarterback this year, so we are trying to conserve Sheehan and Glaud. But, if we've got a receiver or a corner or whatever who is the best at his position, why not play him? I'm with the coaches on that.

Now, look, everything I'm saying here could be blown up in a few days. If Turner stinks up the joint by getting picked four times... well, that would render a lot of my optimism moot.

But Brandon says Turner is doing very well in practice, and I take him at his word.

I'm excited.

Here's what I see: A team that probably isn't going to rack up flashy gaudy scores like some of the teams of the past -- but one that just might have the chops, if it keeps growing week by week, to win this division.

I saw a lot of heart on the field Saturday. I feel good.

I'd take Buffalo at +21. But I think we win convincingly, and I think we have a very good shot of heading to Columbus 4-1.

That's pretty much how I have felt since late Sunday night. It was disheartening as hell to get into CBS and see that we probably *could* have pulled one out against Wisconsin, but not quite have enough juice, but the time I spent reading recaps and talking to Grant and Maureen about it, the more I'm convinced that this team can win a division title, if not the whole f'ing thing.

I already feel better about the 2006 team after week one then I did about the 2005 team after week one. This team is not about individual stars and numbers. They have much better chemistry. Or so I hope.

Schadenfreude wrote: Think about the way he's retooled our offense. Far too many coaches -- including some of the most talked about in the country, future hall-of-famers -- demand that kids fit within their system.

What we are witnessing is something far more impressive -- Brandon retooling his system to fit his kids. He sees our offensive line is our great strength, and he's trying to organize an offense that will work around that. That's real coaching right there. He's done it before -- more of a pass-oriented thing with Omar, more rushes with Harris. But we are *really* seeing it this year.

Not only that, this might reflect more maturity.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this, Schad. I initially thought Barnes was QB until he loses the job. After reading azz.com, I now wonder what sort of offense is going to be revealed when Turner is back in the game.

D@mn, but I want to make a road trip!*





*Can't.

I also think we can win the East. Akron and Miami are nothin' special. It will basically be a 3-team round robin to get to the MACC.

Schadenfreude wrote:Two points:

First, I'm damned excited about this team.

No, Saturday did not turn out like we had hoped. But the way Barnes played and the way he was able to get yardage within that ridiculously limited game plan? If we open it up just a bit -- look out.

And our defense seems to be coming around. With all that speed, the kids seemed to be in the right place more often.

I agree 100% on the offense Schad. It is great to see a college coach changing his scheme to fit the players he has. It's something the best coaches do, and Brandon appears willing to make those changes when they're required. I'm anxious to see this offense with Turner at the helm.

Still, Saturday's game did nothing to dispel my fears that Brandon is just an OC playing head coach. As wonderful as they did with the offense, they still look putrid on STs & tackling. Simple fundamentals.

I don't blame the HC solely, it is not his job to teach a LB how to make a proper tackle, but it his job to make sure that the position coaches get the message across. Even though the defense was in position more often we still don't even attempt to wrap up, and that is what's most discouraging.

It was nice to see more intensity & leadership shown from our RS Freshman playing QB Saturday than anything we saw last year from all our upperclassmen. The team was definitely in a good state of mind emotionally.

I'm more optimistic about this year after Saturday's game than I was before, but still I'm not ready to predict a MAC Championship. The division is certainly wide open, so I wouldn't be shocked, and once you get in that game anything can happen I would just really like to see us start getting these guys to tackle on defense & block on STs.

I think, based on the first week, we really have to respect Central Michigan, Akron, Miami and Toledo. Miami didn't seem to show a whole lot against Northwestern, but we all know the history of this series.

I just checked the conference crossover schedule.


BG gets EMU, CMU, and Toledo.

Akron gets WMU, CMU, and Toledo.

Miami gets WMU, NIU, and BSU.


We have an advantage over Akron for sure since Western is better than Eastern. I see Miami as a push.

I didn't happen to look up Kents' schedule, even though the "experts" predicted them to take the East.

I think we "saw" enough out of Kent State with the score, the stats, the local press coverage to know that they are not going to sniff the division lead.
I do hope that they cause some trouble somewhere, like notch a win against Miami or Akron.

Speaking of local press coverage....A guy, who I think frequents this board and may head up one of the local Alumni chapters (Lorain cty?), mentioned at the game that not one word was mentioned in Saturday's PD about the Wisconsin game.
To which I echoed similar findings for the Akron beacon Journal. I guess you couldn't squeeze it in amongst detailed coverage of the Tribes continued fall from grace and how sweater-vests are making a comeback.

Conspiracy??????

JohnnySwoop '85 wrote:I think we "saw" enough out of Kent State with the score, the stats, the local press coverage to know that they are not going to sniff the division lead.
I do hope that they cause some trouble somewhere, like notch a win against Miami or Akron.

Speaking of local press coverage....A guy, who I think frequents this board and may head up one of the local Alumni chapters (Lorain cty?), mentioned at the game that not one word was mentioned in Saturday's PD about the Wisconsin game.
To which I echoed similar findings for the Akron beacon Journal. I guess you couldn't squeeze it in amongst detailed coverage of the Tribes continued fall from grace and how sweater-vests are making a comeback.

Conspiracy??????

Don't think that Kent couldn't steal one from Akron, that is a rivalry game after all, and Kent is home this year. Obviously Akron would have to play horribly, but in those rivalry matchups, sometimes the records don't matter.

I'm noticing that a lot of you on here are scared of the Miami Redhawks. Why? We went down to Yager last November and absolutely beat the snot out of them, now heading into this season they are in a similar situation as us when it comes to starters leaving, etc. Plus, their offense was godawful in the loss to Northwestern, only 3 points on the night. True, they did show some good things defensively, but let's face it, Wisconsin is a better team than Northwestern, and NW will probably only be 4-7 this season given all that they've been through this past offseason. Maybe its all those previous losses to the Redhawks that is getting to your heads a bit, and I guess that's understandable.

Back to Akron, they did some good things against a solid Penn State team. Arguably they made a good case for the conference this year, along with us, CMU, and Toledo. The jury is still out on NIU as they got weedwacked by the #1 team in the country last week.

We looked damn good on Saturday against Wisconsin, and after we crush Fuffalo on Saturday, it should be two more easy wins before we head to Athens on the 30th. I just don't know what to think of Ohio, I want to write them off based on their game against Tennessee-Martin, but I think more time will tell.

bgsufalcon24 wrote: I'm noticing that a lot of you on here are scared of the Miami Redhawks. Why? We went down to Yager last November and absolutely beat the snot out of them, now heading into this season they are in a similar situation as us when it comes to starters leaving, etc. Plus, their offense was godawful in the loss to Northwestern, only 3 points on the night. True, they did show some good things defensively, but let's face it, Wisconsin is a better team than Northwestern, and NW will probably only be 4-7 this season given all that they've been through this past offseason. Maybe its all those previous losses to the Redhawks that is getting to your heads a bit, and I guess that's understandable.

I agree with you that Miami doesn't look to be a real tough foe, but many of us are used to losing to Miami, and it makes it very difficult to write them off. They are the one MAC school to which we have a losing record historically, and there is a reason for that. Last year was the first time that I remember us beating Miami since I've been a fan, and that was a flukey game due to a punter having an awful night. Before that I distinctly remember watching our best team lose to them twice, having Big Ben beat us in the Doyt as a RS FR, and I remember Travis Prentice making us look stupid in front of about 400 fans in the drizzle on homecoming.

Historically, we cannot overlook Miami. They may not be a world beater this year, but I still fear them to some extent. Especially since it's a big weeknight game, they should be jacked.

bgsufalcon24 wrote:
We looked damn good on Saturday against Wisconsin, and after we crush Fuffalo on Saturday, it should be two more easy wins before we head to Athens on the 30th. I just don't know what to think of Ohio, I want to write them off based on their game against Tennessee-Martin, but I think more time will tell.

Saying we looked damn good against Wisconsin is pushing it a bit, don't you think? I mean, we competed and had some nice plays, and I certainly saw some cause for optimism. But damn good? I didn't see that.


And Ohio is terrible. Until I see Ohio not be terrible, I'm going to continue to assume that they're terrible, no matter which drunk is coaching them or how pretty their campus is.

Schadenfreude wrote:Two points:

First, I'm damned excited about this team.

No, Saturday did not turn out like we had hoped. But the way Barnes played and the way he was able to get yardage within that ridiculously limited game plan? If we open it up just a bit -- look out.

And our defense seems to be coming around. With all that speed, the kids seemed to be in the right place more often.

As far as Rojas? I gotta cut him some slack. As touted as he was, I think he'll come around -- and better protection might be all he needs.

Next and more importantly, I think Gregg Brandon has proven more in these past few weeks than he ever has.

Think about the way he's retooled our offense. Far too many coaches -- including some of the most talked about in the country, future hall-of-famers -- demand that kids fit within their system.

What we are witnessing is something far more impressive -- Brandon retooling his system to fit his kids. He sees our offensive line is our great strength, and he's trying to organize an offense that will work around that. That's real coaching right there. He's done it before -- more of a pass-oriented thing with Omar, more rushes with Harris. But we are *really* seeing it this year.

Not only that, this might reflect more maturity.

We stayed within a very disciplined offensive plan against Wisconsin, and it didn't work out, but we proved some things -- we can move the ball, and that we may be more effective at the ball control thing in the MAC.

In other words, I think he's moving our offense to a place where it may -- may -- have better success in the MAC than we've had in previous years. We've demolished good nonconference teams with previous offenses, we've ripped off huge leads. But we've struggled to hold leads at times -- to just grind it out and chew up clock. The ability to do that may have a huge impact this year.

Finally: You know what? Our defense is coming around. This may not be Brandon's greatest strength, but we went out and got this guy John Lovett who seems to know what he's doing. Kids seem to be flying to the ball, and staying in position.

I'm also digging the way we are ripping shirts of kids. Why not? They seem to be using common sense about it: We don't NEED a quarterback this year, so we are trying to conserve Sheehan and Glaud. But, if we've got a receiver or a corner or whatever who is the best at his position, why not play him? I'm with the coaches on that.

Now, look, everything I'm saying here could be blown up in a few days. If Turner stinks up the joint by getting picked four times... well, that would render a lot of my optimism moot.

But Brandon says Turner is doing very well in practice, and I take him at his word.

I'm excited.

Here's what I see: A team that probably isn't going to rack up flashy gaudy scores like some of the teams of the past -- but one that just might have the chops, if it keeps growing week by week, to win this division.

I saw a lot of heart on the field Saturday. I feel good.

I'd take Buffalo at +21. But I think we win convincingly, and I think we have a very good shot of heading to Columbus 4-1.

Great post SF...I agree with all points mentioned. For those out there that were giving Coach Brandon one more year to impress them, how do you view things at this time?

It will come down to BG and Akron in the East. The 2006 team is all about TEAM. They will win and lose as a TEAM. I like the excitement, enthusiasm and work ethic of this bunch. We'll get better every week. I am VERY pumped to see how the season plays out and think we take the East.

GO FALCONS!!!!

Freak,
You are already getting me stoked for Nov 4th....this one is right in our back yard!

I pm'd you...Wisconsin tape?

I am guardedly optimistic about Brandon's improvement. I saw a lot of things I liked from a HC standpoint on Saturday. The fundamentals and ST are still lacking, but that will be easier to judge later in the season against MAC competition.

After seeing some of the young talent in action, and seeing some other MAC teams play, I've raised my expectations slightly. I will now be disappointed if we aren't in contention for the East at the end of the season.