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Yes, this team is not playing well. Yes, this season has been and is going to be long. But let's take a look at what we've got:

The 2010 BG football team is loaded with freshmen. 44 of 85 scholarship players are freshmen.
We've got a first year starting QB and all the guys behind him are very young.
We've got a small senior class.
One of our starting receivers is a long-time banged up senior who hadn't caught a pass until his senior year and didn't catch a TD until halfway through the season (Wiley).
The 2009 BG football senior class included one of our top all time best QBs, our top all time receiver, and tons of other great players.

This all sounds like the 2006 season. The 2006 team was extremely young. The secondary featured two sophomores (Antonio Smith and Kenny Lewis) and a ton of freshmen (P.J. Mahone, Jamal Brown, Jared Sanderson, Tarell Lewis). A.T. was our starting QB, and behind him were Freddie Barnes and Tyler Sheehan. We got sick of Coach Brandon using youth as an excuse, but we all knew he was correct because the team was ridiculously young. 25 freshmen were playing by the halfway point, including quite a few true freshmen. The senior class was small. Kenneth Brantley was a senior WR who didn't get a chance to shine until his senior year and he didn't catch a TD until a 2 TD day against Toledo. The biggest names in the senior class were Devon Parks (DE) and Derrick Markray (OG). After 2005, we lost P.J. Pope, B.J. Lane, Charles Sharon, Steve Sanders, and Omar Jacobs, among others. And 2006 is a season we all wish we could forget. The team finished 4-8 and was a few plays from 1-11. On the other hand, they also were a few plays from 8-4, and a suspended QB away from potentially upsetting Wisconsin at "home".

2006 ended, and none of us could wait for 2007. The community of AZZ was excited for the 2007 season as if we all thought we were national title contenders. The QB duel between A.T. and Tyler Sheehan, the excitement of new kickers, the addition of Eric Ransom and Willie Geter, and the schedule including starting at Minnesota had us all in anticipation for kickoff. I remember several posts about how none of us were productive at work in any fashion the week before the Minnesota game. And then watch what happened. We turned around from 4-8 to 8-4. We upset Minnesota on the road and showed everybody that you can pass on Minnesota's D and light them up like the White House Christmas tree. Multiple feel-good stories emerged during the season, like the giant ball of athletic tape. We blew out WKU at homecoming. We went 4-1 at home. We swept the month of November. We blew out Akron on national TV. We humiliated Toledo on national TV. We went to a bowl game.

Folks, I'm sensing 2011 as being a huge year for BG. Yes, this season is going to be long. The talent is there, but these guys need time. Stick with them. Support them. Wear your orange and brown, and wear it proudly. I've been seeing all this negativity on this board, and believe me, that is not the right way to help turn this ship around. Let's show these guys that Falcon nation is behind them and help keep these guys encouraged because BG is going to be terrific in the coming years.

Go Falcons!

Wasn't that also the year we got blasted in the GMAC Bowl?

Speaking of Geter- injured?

Speaking of memory lane...today is the 7th anniversary of the NIU game that featured ESPN Gameday, and is also my birthday!

2006 was not nearly this bad. In 2006 we lost by 28 @ Ohio State. We lost by 24 at home to Kent State this year.

Geeze guys... give MarkL a break here.

I think he makes some great points.

Falcon137 wrote:2006 was not nearly this bad. In 2006 we lost by 28 @ Ohio State. We lost by 24 at home to Kent State this year.

We lost by 35 at home to Kent in 2006, two weeks before that OSU game you mentioned

I have a similar sentiment to MarkL's take on this team.

This season I have a much better feeling about the overall state of the program and development of the team. I feel this way based on what I see on the field- say what you want to but I just don't get a sense that this team "quits"- to me they are trying hard to the end and trying to prove something on each play no matter the score. I didn't see that in 2006.

In 2006 we had a coach that would either throw players under the bus directly or shrug and give a "I dunno" sort of dumbfounded expression. This season we have a coach that the players have bought in to and a leader they follow. His quotes are straight and to the point and don't dodge the bad play but point out our youth and by his admission the players are buying in to the system and I believe this will pay its benefits down the road.

It's easy to say "we're awful" based on looking at stats or bad plays but look a little deeper and I think we are building a foundation for something good and I know that is hard to say on a season that has produced just 1 win but I believe it.

I just don't see all great things to build on at this point. The only thing in my opinion we can argue is youth. It seems like people are trying to talk themselves into seeing positives. The MAC is down and we are one of the worst teams. I think it is going to take a very dramatic turnaround to be anywhere close to be contending in the East next season.

Drago wrote:I just don't see all great things to build on at this point. The only thing in my opinion we can argue is youth. It seems like people are trying to talk themselves into seeing positives. The MAC is down and we are one of the worst teams. I think it is going to take a very dramatic turnaround to be anywhere close to be contending in the East next season.

This sums up how I feel. It seems like everyone wants to blame everything on youth. These young players aren't going suddenly be all MAC players. Being young doesn't necessarily translate into being good a year or two later. It would be different if they looked impressive losing, other than a small few they don't.

I'm focused on just the next game vs CMU. The future will take care of itself. We have 4 games left and I wanna win them all. Get one at CMU Sat and build on that....

GO FALCONS!!!!