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Coach Clawson record minus non FBS victorys. Glad we have him until 2018!!

Give it up, we are in pretty good shape. He has his faults, but he is also not at an elite program grabbing 5 star recruits at will. The loss sucked, but the team still controls it's destiny. I like Johnson as QB, and think the future will only get brighter with him.

Also firing him isn't an option. BG doesn't have the boosters to buy out that contract and pay a new coach.

Apathy and mediocrity should be the new slogan for BGSU football and mens basketball. We all should be happy we are a mid tier MAC school, god only knows how EMU fans feels.

OSUFALCON wrote:Apathy and mediocrity should be the new slogan for BGSU football and mens basketball. We all should be happy we are a mid tier MAC school, god only knows how EMU fans feels.

I pretty much agree with this. If you're not striving to be the best, then you're accepting the fact that you don't mind being mediocre -- and that is EXACTLY what Coach Clawson has been for BG. In fact, you could argue he's been less than mediocre in some areas, like beating his biggest rival.

I fully expect this team to lose out in the MAC East to either Buffalo or Ohio. In fact, I'd almost say it's inevitable, given Clawson's record in games that have something on the line.

So don't complain when the best you have for the next several years is, perhaps, a runner up finish or two in the MAC East and a so-so bowl invite -- and, of course, a bowl loss to end the season. In between, we have more losses to Toledo to look forward to, I'm sure.

BGWriter wrote:

OSUFALCON wrote:Apathy and mediocrity should be the new slogan for BGSU football and mens basketball. We all should be happy we are a mid tier MAC school, god only knows how EMU fans feels.

I pretty much agree with this. If you're not striving to be the best, then you're accepting the fact that you don't mind being mediocre

I don't think anyone on this board accepts mediocrity. We all want to win the MAC and take down schools from AQ conferences. Where we differ is on the best path to reach that steady state.

Implying those of us who aren't ready to join you in jumping out a window accept mediocrity isn't helping.

I don't care what Clawson's overall record is....2010 made a crater in it that is going to take time to eradicate and I put the blame for 2010 on Brandon. The Apr penalty of 8 scholarships was devastating on its own ("The U " practically paid guys directly alt penalized 9 over three years...we lost 8 in one!), not to mention the attrition from the 2006 and 2007 recruiting classes.

I'm more concerned by the inability to get the most out of his players...we should be 7-1 right now. We should have been bowl eligible in 2011 and we should have won the east last year. We fell just short on all of those.

Oh come on. Given the Louis Orr model of success, Clawson has a lifetime contract at BG.

Flipper wrote:I don't care what Clawson's overall record is....2010 made a crater in it that is going to take time to eradicate and I put the blame for 2010 on Brandon. The Apr penalty of 8 scholarships was devastating on its own ("The U " practically paid guys directly alt penalized 9 over three years...we lost 8 in one!), not to mention the attrition from the 2006 and 2007 recruiting classes.

I'm more concerned by the inability to get the most out of his players...we should be 7-1 right now. We should have been bowl eligible in 2011 and we should have won the east last year. We fell just short on all of those.

I hate to keep agreeing with Flipper all the time, but when he's right, what more can you say?

Clawson came into a total dumpster fire. Brandon had some good things going for him, many of which I'll admit I ignored while he was here, but he ran the program into the ground. Losing those scholarships was a BIG deal, then on top of that we got almost nothing from several of his recruiting classes. I'm a big fan of taking a few chances on marginal talents, but you can't build entire recruiting classes off it. When they all wash out the whole program goes in the tank.

Clawson has rebounded from that nicely. He's built a decent OL, a great RB corps, and we've got talent all over the field on defense. We've got some nice WRs, and a couple QBs who are not game breakers but can certainly play the position. The problem is that he just does NOT get his teams ready to play on game days, even against the big teams, and the initial game plans are garbage.

To make matters worse the team does NOT play an overly exciting brand of football. As the sport moves towards more passing, quick tempo, spreading things out, we're going backwards. We still want to pound the ball with a stable of RBs and grind the games out. That can work, but as we're seeing it's very dependent on having better talent than the opposition. When we face teams that are equally or more talented than us we struggle. And we have seen almost no creativity in the playcalling/scheme over the years to overcome those struggles.

Clawson isn't going anywhere right now. I thought this year was the year that this team took the next step and would put up 9-10 wins and that Clawson would move up to a new gig. Unfortunately, we're seeing a lot of the same things that have plagued this team the past 2 seasons. With the performances that we've had I really don't think he's going anywhere, and we're not firing him either with that new contract. I'm really starting to worry that we're going to be in the same boat as we've been with Orr...good enough to beat the bottom of the barrel, but never good enough to get over the top. I hope I'm wrong and something changes, but this season has really disappointed me. I've been saying it since he got here, but I'd really like to see a more creative/aggressive playcaller on offense.

hammb wrote: To make matters worse the team does NOT play an overly exciting brand of football. As the sport moves towards more passing, quick tempo, spreading things out, we're going backwards. We still want to pound the ball with a stable of RBs and grind the games out. That can work, but as we're seeing it's very dependent on having better talent than the opposition. When we face teams that are equally or more talented than us we struggle. And we have seen almost no creativity in the playcalling/scheme over the years to overcome those struggles.

I think talent and inexperience (though not effort or heart) are issues on offense and our system and playcalling exposes them rather than masks them. This game was an indictment of the muddled, disorganized and predictable system we've ran for 5 years that can't get out of the 20 point rut. We'll never be NIU or any quality team this way.

It's time to toss the playbook out the window and go clinic with Baylor, Oregon or Texas Tech.

I'm not ready to yell fire the coach and start over again, but I do want to see this staff solve some of the issues and do it this year. Winning the next 4 games will win us the MAC East. I doubt we do well against either BSU or NIU in the MACC but in one game you never know.

I think we are a better on both offense and ST than last year. Defense is roughly equal but it is sort of a rubber band D. So overall I think we are better but the slow starts are frustrating and have cost us the last two games.

Solve the slow start issue and begin beating some good teams and I'm happy for another season or three with this coaching staff. We have from 2 to 4 chances remaining to beat good teams this year.

From what I have heard, the frustration and disappointment on display for the past five days here pales in comparison to the team's reaction to the game. They wanted that win ... more than any other win this year. If Clawson and the coaching staff capitalize on that and turn frustration and disappointment into focus and tenacity, I could see a November sweep. I sure hope so

Take it out on Miami Tuesday night....this loss still stings for me. Thank goodness Dover-Phila and Massillon-McKinley are this weekend. Should Dover beat Phila again, that would be 9 straight over the hated Quakers and 18 of the last 20.

John Wagner makes a good point about Clawson's record versus bad opponents...

“Falcons Forever” e-mailed me Thursday: "You are a hopeless homer for [BG coach Dave] Clawson. How could you defend his record?"


Dear Falcons Forever: It turned out to be easy, actually. I just used a little thing I like to call “facts.”

So everyone can get up to speed, click here to read Thursday’s “End Zone,” which takes to task BG fans who call for Clawson to be fired.

My point, in a nutshell: Everyone seems to be going crazy that Clawson’s record is built by beating teams with losing records. My counter-point is simple: It is, but that’s the case for just about EVERY Mid-American Conference school.

And here are some numbers so you can judge for yourself. Here are the other MAC schools with winning records this season, and the record of the teams those schools beat (not including FCS schools):

Bowling Green: Tulsa (2-5), Kent State (2-7), UMass (1-7), Akron (2-7). Total: 7-26, .212 “winning” percentage.

Northern Illinois: Iowa (5-3), Idaho (1-7), Purdue (1-6), Kent State (2-7), Akron (2-7), Central Michigan (3-5), Eastern Michigan (1-7). Total: 15-42, .263 “winning” percentage.

Ball State: Army (3-5), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Toledo (5-3), Virginia (2-6), Kent State (2-7), Western Michigan (1-8), Akron (2-7). Total: 16-43, .271 “winning” percentage.

Ohio: North Texas (5-3), Marshall (4-3), Akron (2-7), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Miami (0-8). Total: 12-28, .300 “winning” percentage.

Toledo: Central Michigan (3-5), Western Michigan (1-8), Navy (4-3), Bowling Green (5-3). Total: 13-19, .406 “winning” percentage.

Buffalo: UConn (0-7), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Western Michigan (1-8), UMass (1-7), Kent State (2-7). Total: 5-36, .122 “winning” percentage.

See my point? Toledo is the only MAC school to really generate much of a record because the lower-tier teams bring everyone else down. And after this Saturday, when UT faces (and presumably beats) EMU, that winning percentage will drop considerably. The Falcons should blame Tulsa for stinking this season -- and taking the luster off what at the time seemed to be an impressive win. If I’m marking down BG for not beating winning teams, should I do the same for Buffalo? I do a bit in the MAC Power Rankings, but I don’t ever say UB coach Jeff Quinn should be fired. Because that’s just crazy. And the same goes for Clawson.

thewebboy wrote:John Wagner makes a good point about Clawson's record versus bad opponents...

“Falcons Forever” e-mailed me Thursday: "You are a hopeless homer for [BG coach Dave] Clawson. How could you defend his record?"


Dear Falcons Forever: It turned out to be easy, actually. I just used a little thing I like to call “facts.”

So everyone can get up to speed, click here to read Thursday’s “End Zone,” which takes to task BG fans who call for Clawson to be fired.

My point, in a nutshell: Everyone seems to be going crazy that Clawson’s record is built by beating teams with losing records. My counter-point is simple: It is, but that’s the case for just about EVERY Mid-American Conference school.

And here are some numbers so you can judge for yourself. Here are the other MAC schools with winning records this season, and the record of the teams those schools beat (not including FCS schools):

Bowling Green: Tulsa (2-5), Kent State (2-7), UMass (1-7), Akron (2-7). Total: 7-26, .212 “winning” percentage.

Northern Illinois: Iowa (5-3), Idaho (1-7), Purdue (1-6), Kent State (2-7), Akron (2-7), Central Michigan (3-5), Eastern Michigan (1-7). Total: 15-42, .263 “winning” percentage.

Ball State: Army (3-5), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Toledo (5-3), Virginia (2-6), Kent State (2-7), Western Michigan (1-8), Akron (2-7). Total: 16-43, .271 “winning” percentage.

Ohio: North Texas (5-3), Marshall (4-3), Akron (2-7), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Miami (0-8). Total: 12-28, .300 “winning” percentage.

Toledo: Central Michigan (3-5), Western Michigan (1-8), Navy (4-3), Bowling Green (5-3). Total: 13-19, .406 “winning” percentage.

Buffalo: UConn (0-7), Eastern Michigan (1-7), Western Michigan (1-8), UMass (1-7), Kent State (2-7). Total: 5-36, .122 “winning” percentage.

See my point? Toledo is the only MAC school to really generate much of a record because the lower-tier teams bring everyone else down. And after this Saturday, when UT faces (and presumably beats) EMU, that winning percentage will drop considerably. The Falcons should blame Tulsa for stinking this season -- and taking the luster off what at the time seemed to be an impressive win. If I’m marking down BG for not beating winning teams, should I do the same for Buffalo? I do a bit in the MAC Power Rankings, but I don’t ever say UB coach Jeff Quinn should be fired. Because that’s just crazy. And the same goes for Clawson.

Well I'm not ready to fire Clawson, and it's absolutely NOT going to happen regardless. But I think Wagner is missing the larger point.

Yes, every MAC team is going to build their wins against crap competition. It's what all teams do across all of college football. If you want to be anybody you have to beat the crap teams on your schedule.

The problem is that at the end of the year whoever wins the MAC title will have had to win at least 2-3 games against the better teams in the MAC. What has us all frustrated is that since coming here Clawson has ONLY built his record by beating the crap teams and hasn't been able to win hardly any games against the quality opponents. It's very true that the MAC season is basically only a handful of games. The bottom tier of the conference is so very horrible that you're just expected to win those games. If we're going to win we need to beat OU & Buffalo, and then whoever represents the West in the title game. Our frustrations with Clawson are that the UT game (and even the IU & MSU games before that) make it look like nothing has changed this year, and we're unlikely to win those upcoming meaningful games.

I'm not calling for Clawson to be fired, as if that were even going to be a possibility, but I am ready to see something change for him. Past indicators are that we'll find a way to lose at least one of the OU or Buffalo games and miss out on the title game, yet again. Then if we hold true to form we'll get beaten again in a bowl game and finish the year with an 8-5 record, and having not won the East, not beaten our rival, not beaten a BCS school, and losing a bowl game. I hope I'm wrong and Clawson & staff find a way to buck this trend, but this is what it's looking like again.

I'd go as far to say that most of the bellyaching about Clawson this week is as much about what we expect to happen in the future as it is about what happened in the past. THe nice thing is we do still control our own MAC destiny so really the UT game was meaningless, other than being our biggest rival and a chance to gauge the team against better competition.

The person writing Wagner might have had a stronger letter if they'd also included Clawson's record against UT, in close games, and bowl games. All of that shows a tendency by this staff to lose games that matter or are hard fought. To me, those are far more telling statistics than just the fact that he only seems to beat teams with losing records -- although you'd expect him to knock off a top tier team once in a while. Good coaches do that.

Again, I don't expect this team to win anything this season, because I have no faith, anymore, in this staff to get the team ready for big games and there are two of those (Ohio and Buffalo) left.

Clawson might be able to turn this around if he made a culture change, of sorts. It would involve making some staff changes and bringing in new blood on offense and defense. I know continuity can be a great thing, but it can also create stagnation.

If this team loses out on the MAC East title again, the AD might go to Clawson and tell him to shake things up in an effort to get this team to take another step forward. If players see some coaches losing their jobs because the team under-performed, it sends the message that everyone is accountable.