Rational OU Game Thoughts...

WhoDeyBG · Post by **WhoDeyBG** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:13 pm

I don't post often, but I do have a few thoughts...

1. I wasn't too upset with the Miami game. Sure, we lost big time, but it was a road game, and we had a lot going against us. Then we win last week, setting up well with the next two East games at home. WE CANNOT lose home games like this one. CANNOT. That is just so disapointing.

2. Our special teams killed us. Plain and simple. I have never seen the air taken out of a crowd then when I did after the muffed/fumbled punt late in the game.

3. Our D was surprising poor. I give them credit, because they rose to occasion at the end to give us a chance, but overall, disapointing.

4. I honestly thought the attendance was pretty good. I still haven't seen a number, but with things they way they were, I wasn't too unhappy with the crowd. Next Friday I have a feeling will be different. I'll guess 13,000 for tonight, and 7,000 for next Friday.

I guess the long and the short of it is the fact that you cannot lose home games in late October in a divisional race to what looks like an inferior opponent. I still have hopes for a bowl game, but we gotta win 3 out of 4 at least, and we need to play better if were going to do that. Who knows, maybe we can back into Detroit. It's he MAC, anything can happen.

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:20 pm

Attendance: 11,602.

FalconTurf · Post by **FalconTurf** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:52 pm

Based on Brandon's Post Game comments on Sheehan's shoulder being such a problem since Western Kentucky (I believe thats the game) I think the blame is being placed on the shoulder. I would agree with Brandon that the balls TS threw lacked the early season zip but honestly the recievers could have stepped up several times and made plays but didn't.

Special teams attempted to (and succeeded) in killing us and the offense did little to save us. Given the great field position we provided OU the defense did well enough to have a chance to win.

Just frustrating to see this one slip away. When we went onto the field after the game you could tell the players and Coach Brandon were just as frustrated.

The goal now must be to win each game one at a time. No looking ahead to see if 8-4 will get a bowl bid, no looking at a winning season and no looking for NW OH bragging rights. This team simply needs to put together one complete game at a time where the O, D and STs all play well. Time to simply be the best they can be.

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:05 pm

BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.

Great turnout-I was thrilled to see NIU's band, figuring they might have put us into 5 figures. Maybe. And what a game for folks to miss.

Falcon137 · Post by **Falcon137** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:29 am

h2oville rocket wrote:
BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.
Great turnout-I was thrilled to see NIU's band, figuring they might have put us into 5 figures. Maybe. And what a game for folks to miss.

It says Toledo had over 18,545, nice turnout. Next Friday I agree could end up being less than 9,000. What reason does the average fan have to come out? Akron is awful right now, we layed an egg at home to OU, high school football playoffs. I can't see more than 9k at the Doyt Friday night.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:43 am

BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.

Real people, or paid?

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:31 am

NWLB wrote:
BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.
Real people, or paid?

No clue. It's the number they reported with the final stats.

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:44 am

Falcon137 wrote:
h2oville rocket wrote:
BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.
Great turnout-I was thrilled to see NIU's band, figuring they might have put us into 5 figures. Maybe. And what a game for folks to miss.
It says Toledo had over 18,545, nice turnout. Next Friday I agree could end up being less than 9,000. What reason does the average fan have to come out? Akron is awful right now, we layed an egg at home to OU, high school football playoffs. I can't see more than 9k at the Doyt Friday night.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I was being facetious about your great turnout becaue if that was butts in seats you probably outdrew us by 1,000 or so. The rest of my post was about OUR turnout being probably under 10,000-hence the reference to NIU's band helping our numbers so much.

It was very disappointing and I'm glad we gave those who came something to cheer about. I understand a local charity bought up big numbers of tickets to get us to the 18,000+ number. Almost all those people came disguised as aluminum benches.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:24 am

NWLB wrote:
BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.
Real people, or paid?

It's always paid + students who show up.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:26 am

BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.

The good news is that we clearly don't inflate our numbers like some our our conference buddies do. The bad news is that these numbers are unacceptable under any circumstances, and people need to be held accountable. Two ideas:

1) Strealine the process and create the position of "Assistant Athletic Director for Game Attendence." There is arguably no more important job inside the department than generating fan support, yet no-one with direct responsibility or accountability for it. Having it under the umbrella of ticketing, marketing, promotions is too buerecratic and confusing.

2) Enlist the services of one of the top Sport Management programs in the nation to get people to the games, whether through marketing strategies or a simple door to door get-out-the-fans effort. While I beleive something similar to this is already in place, it needs to be redirected to focus purely and simply on game attendence.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:02 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:
Falcon137 wrote:
h2oville rocket wrote:
BGDrew wrote:Attendance: 11,602.
Great turnout-I was thrilled to see NIU's band, figuring they might have put us into 5 figures. Maybe. And what a game for folks to miss.
It says Toledo had over 18,545, nice turnout. Next Friday I agree could end up being less than 9,000. What reason does the average fan have to come out? Akron is awful right now, we layed an egg at home to OU, high school football playoffs. I can't see more than 9k at the Doyt Friday night.
I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I was being facetious about your great turnout becaue if that was butts in seats you probably outdrew us by 1,000 or so. The rest of my post was about OUR turnout being probably under 10,000-hence the reference to NIU's band helping our numbers so much.

It was very disappointing and I'm glad we gave those who came something to cheer about. I understand a local charity bought up big numbers of tickets to get us to the 18,000+ number. Almost all those people came disguised as aluminum benches.

That's a good one, H2O. Clearly the Rockets gave the people at the game a good time. It seems NIU packed it in 3 games ago, no? What the hell is going on in Dekalb? Man.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:07 pm

Joe Novak did a great job of almost getting NIU over the top from the absolute bottom....now it seems that ship has sailed.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:10 pm

Flipper wrote:Joe Novak did a great job of almost getting NIU over the top from the absolute bottom....now it seems that ship has sailed.

No doubt, Flip. NIU hasn't been competitive in a number of games this year. And they are usually a pretty tough bunch.