Long break

[MarkL]

It's hard to believe that the team gets 2 and a half weeks off between the WMU and Akron games. What all should the team be working on? My top two are injuries and offensive woes.
I expect everybody who is injured except for Johnson and Gallon should be healthy for the Akron game. And with that thought, I can't help but think having Dieter healthy could be a real shot in the arm for the offense. Knapke definitely looked sore as the WMU game went on. I think I heard he bruised some ribs. I have bruised and broken my ribs before and I can tell you the pain experienced there is awful and it impacts every motion. Two and a half weeks should hopefully be enough to reduce the rib pain.
Offensive woes have been noticeable at times in each of the past few games. When the pace is there, the offense is damn near unstoppable, but when you see the whole team look to the sideline and wait fifteen seconds to communicate the play, drives stall with alarming consistency. So pace needs to pick up, but pace is not our only offensive woe. Our screen plays were going for huge gains against Buffalo and we had the big one to Greene against Ohio, but WMU sniffed out the screens all day. The downfield shots have largely been just to Lewis and the defenses are getting good at keeping him out of the game, so I would like to see Dieter and Jackson get more involved in the 15+ yard passing plays. And I also hope Callaway is ready ... we may need him, especially if Knapke takes another bad shot. You know the Akron linebackers will be eager to take some shots at Knapke's ribs to get him to think about body pain every tame he takes a snap.

And there is the concern of losing a beat due to the time off. Bye weeks can be good in that you as a team can heal and reevaluate concerns. But bye weeks can also throw off the rhythm of the week-to-week progress of the team. It is concerning that we have such a long break before what may be the MAC east championship game. This break is also the first bye week for Babers. Both Brandon and Clawson teams were known to look a bit rusty after bye weeks. Last year's loss to that team up north and 2008's meltdown against Buffalo both come to mind when I think of bye weeks. I do not know how the team will look against Akron, so I am hoping they look refreshed and not rusty or out of sync.

[BGSU33]

Interesting take by Dan Enos on our break:

[Falcon137]

Interesting take by Dan Enos on our break:

http://espngameplan.espn.com/blackoutschedule" target="_blank

Think you put the wrong link in on accident.

http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/438922" target="_blank

“I think it’s awful, and I don’t know why you would do that to a team in the middle of the season,” Enos said. “It’s totally unheard of. It’s not a normal thing. It’s like having a whole month off, and who does that in the middle of a football season?"

[mscarn]

There's MAC scheduling for ya. Unknown start times, unaired games, playing three (3) teams from another division and not your natural rival in your own division, 16 day layoffs...It's a long list. The reward is having ESPN and their announcers treat us like a circus novelty act on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a couple weeks at the end of the year in empty stadiums.

[jpfalcon09]

There's MAC scheduling for ya. Unknown start times, unaired games, playing three (3) teams from another division and not your natural rival in your own division, 16 day layoffs...It's a long list. The reward is having ESPN and their announcers treat us like a circus novelty act on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a couple weeks at the end of the year in empty stadiums.

Can't wait to hear all about the college football playoff during the November games...

[BGSU33]

The other thing that really sucks about this 16-day bye (good Lord does that sound wrong saying that) is that on top of having not played for more than a half of a month, we also have to turn around and turn with a game on the road. You'd think the MAC would have at least given us a damn home game after being off that long.

[daspollak]

It's not that big of a deal. I don't anyone complaining about the break between the regular season and bowl games. The break gives us a chance to rest up and hopefully work on issues that are holding us back.

[kdog27]

We didn't play well in our last game. It would be different if we had looked sharp and we were clicking on all cylinders heading into this break. They needed this break.

[BGSU33]

It's not that big of a deal. I don't anyone complaining about the break between the regular season and bowl games. The break gives us a chance to rest up and hopefully work on issues that are holding us back.

It actually is a big deal at this point in time in the season. Getting a bye is one thing, nearly every team has one and it's part of most every team's schedule. Byes are often even welcomed at midseason. But getting a layoff of over two weeks at this point is a much different situation. Almost no other team is facing such a layoff. Cincinnati started the year off with a double bye which was very odd but was due to a schedule change, and UMass is facing a long break too but at least comes out of it with a home game.

As for your example about the bowl games after the regular season, the reason you don't hear as much grumbling about the layoff is because all bowl teams face a layoff at that point for bowl preparation. You often do you hear about teams not liking the long layout for the late bowl games where they haven't played in a month, but that break is mutual for those teams competing against one another at that point in the postseason.

But I can tell you from several firsthand conversations I've had with members of our program, our coaches and players are not happy about this 16-day break. They were happy about this first week off, but not following it up with another week plus a few more extra days and then travel.

[kdog27]

Is 16 or 17 days really that much different than 14?

[transfer2BGSU]

Is 16 or 17 days really that much different than 14?

48-72 hours is all.

[jpfalcon09]

I think more than anything else it's preparing for a mid-week game rather than a Saturday game. Kinda throws everything out of rhythm and you worry that some players lose their routine this far into the season. It's definitely more of a mental thing than physical.

[Mr_Sweets]

The way I look at it..

This team was beat down & beat up.. So extra time to heal / get healthy is a +
Offense was looking weak.. So extra time to get back on track & devise a solid game plan is a +

[mscarn]

The other factor is the recent history of coming off long layoffs and not playing very well (or at least as good as we'd played before): the SJSU bowl game, the Pitt bowl game, the rough start during last year's Toledo game. It's time for that pattern to be broken. Rhythm, timing and basic execution desperately need to be regained on offense as those are bigger issues in my mind than the injuries at this point.

[kdog27]

Is 16 or 17 days really that much different than 14?

48-72 hours is all.

Just checking.