Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Its 9:14 and I have turned the game off.

This season is smelling like 1995 only this time the defense stinks and the offense is faltering.

I know its Boise, they are better than their 0-2 record, and this was going to be a tough game no matter what. However you look into the eyes of the players and they look like they've already lost. You watch the defense and wonder if we might not have been better served by waiting until the next off-season to hire a defensive coordinator. And what in gods name has happened to the special teams? How short was the bus they got off of?

I've watched BG do better with half the talent, against better teams on defense. I can give the offense a break because they at least can score most of the time.

The MAC season might cure some of the ills we are seeing, but what is going on these last three weeks warrents real concern and real questions, even if they grow wings and ralley in the second half.

Maybe I am "not a fan" but I will not be making any effort to watch another bg game. They are just not very good. Tally up the score of our games after you take out the 20 point lead we had. we are not a very good team. Who exactly did we lose that made us so bad. Our attendance will drop measurably. This team is so frustrating! You know we cant stop then on D and now Omar the magnificent is Omar the less than average.

well lets see, we lost Urban Meyer, Josh Harris, Cole Magner, Mitch Hewitt, Jovon Burkes, Keon Newson..... you know and we dont have any leaders on this team. i've said it before and i'll say it again, Charles Sharon is the best football player on this team, not Omar Jacobs or PJ Pope. some people also had Jelani, Teddy P, and Hart listed before Chuckie. We dont have any players that play with emotion and we dont have any leaders. It ALL STARTS from the very top aka our coaching staff.

BGSUFootballFan wrote:well lets see, we lost Urban Meyer...

I should have stopped right there... that was 2002. We've had success since. That is a non-factor.

Should www.jacobs4heisman.com be replaced by www.firegreggbrandon.com ?

Dayons_Den wrote:Should www.jacobs4heisman.com be replaced by www.firegreggbrandon.com ?

I checked it out Dayons. It's owned by a place called Redshirtsports.com or something like that. They want $50 for www.firegreggbrandon.com


I don't want to fire him, then we'd have to pay his contract. I'm holding out hope somebody will take him off our hands.

Too early to go after the head coach, but I'll push the point again mroe bluntly: We hired the defensive coordinator on the cheap because it was too late in the off-season to pull any top-flight talent away from other programs. This guy was washed up at several of his previous jobs, and I wouldn't believe he wasn't fired from at least one of them. None of his past jobs exactly made him a rising star.

The special teams I'll pin on brandon. Its the kind of thing that can kill an otherwise good team, and it clearly isn't helping BG. Meyer put the best talent on the team out there for kick-offs and such, it worked. High-risk I know, you don't want to lose good players to what should be mundane tasks. But when you can't get a punt off, or cover kick-offs, or make PATs, you need to get a reality check.

They'll feed us lines about why our DC isn't bad, and how he hasn't had time to get a feel for things. But even if we don't lose another game this year, I've seen way to much to avoid feeling there are growing issues on defense.

And if after three years we are still saying "Meyer did this" or "Meyer did that" and consider it better than what is going on now, that tells you a few things.

In any case, the coaches and players have yet another 12 days to screw their heads on and fix things. If they struggle against Temple at home, they might lose as many as three conference games this year.

hammb wrote:

Dayons_Den wrote:Should www.jacobs4heisman.com be replaced by www.firegreggbrandon.com ?

I checked it out Dayons. It's owned by a place called Redshirtsports.com or something like that. They want $50 for www.firegreggbrandon.com


I don't want to fire him, then we'd have to pay his contract. I'm holding out hope somebody will take him off our hands.

Ever notice how Coach Brandon is constantly scratching his head when he is on camera. Was he that dumbfounded by what was going on or does he have a serious case of lice?

Germainfitch1 wrote:Maybe I am "not a fan" but I will not be making any effort to watch another bg game. They are just not very good. Tally up the score of our games after you take out the 20 point lead we had. we are not a very good team. Who exactly did we lose that made us so bad. Our attendance will drop measurably. This team is so frustrating! You know we cant stop then on D and now Omar the magnificent is Omar the less than average.

It's disappointing that you only back your fellow BG alumni and students when they succeed. These players are part of the BG family and deserve our support.

We back our own........REGARDLESS. Please give this serious thought. This attitude trascends Wins and Losses.

Rightupinthere wrote:

Germainfitch1 wrote:Maybe I am "not a fan" but I will not be making any effort to watch another bg game. They are just not very good. Tally up the score of our games after you take out the 20 point lead we had. we are not a very good team. Who exactly did we lose that made us so bad. Our attendance will drop measurably. This team is so frustrating! You know we cant stop then on D and now Omar the magnificent is Omar the less than average.

It's disappointing that you only back your fellow BG alumni and students when they succeed. These players are part of the BG family and deserve our support.

We back our own........REGARDLESS. Please give this serious thought. This attitude trascends Wins and Losses.

I agree. That post lacked class.

Germainfitch1 wrote: Who exactly did we lose that made us so bad.

Urban Meyer.

Brandon has made us what we have become. He is not so bad of a coach that things fell apart immediately under his tenure. It has been a slow process, but he is slowly running this team into the ground.



That said, please reconsider the rest of your post. We need fans, I don't care how good we are. We need fans even more when we suck. I remember sitting through blowouts in the rain with 1500 people, and I don't want to return to those days, they were miserable. In the past few years we've built a good tailgate following, and made gamedays a lot of fun, win or lose.

I am confused how that post lacked class and where did the team lose my support? Being "A fan" a real fan, you don't really choose that it is imbedded. All I said is that I can't watch because I can't take it. This is the most frusrtating team ever. Our defense looks non-existent. Becuase I am such a big fan it literally hurts to watch. Because I am so attached I can't watch. I spend all my time here in Columbus hating the Buckeyes and hoping we will at some point rise up to near their level so their uneducated fans will shut up. I tell them how good Omar is and how scary our offense is. We put up 20 points. The reason it is such a bad loss is that it shows how far away we are from true respectability, When I thought we were pretty close. THe reason it was such a bad loss is that it doesnt seem like we are inching forward anymore. We are moving backward. My thoughts on where this team was going in the future were wrong. It seems like Urban Meyers era will be a spike on the era of mediocrity.

Germainfitch1 wrote:I am confused how that post lacked class and where did the team lose my support?
..........................
Becuase I am such a big fan it literally hurts to watch.

Maybe I am "not a fan" but I will not be making any effort to watch another bg game.

Similar but not the same.

Perhaps you should have stated the initial sentence thusly: "I'm going to find it very difficult to watch another BG game simply because my delicate sensitivities and doctors orders forbid me to watch any sort of mediocrity performed by one of my chosen teams since I take this average play as a personal reflection."

After all, it's one thing to say, "honey, when I look into your eyes, time stands still". It's another to say, "dear, you have a face that will stop a clock."

Just trying to help, Germain.

I remember 1995. I was so excited about that year I bought season tickets for the first time. Even drove out to Missouri to watch what was, at the time, a huge win for upset-starved Falcon fans.

I have my season tickets again, and I'm going to use them, no matter what happens. I was in State College in 1998, I was in Buffalo in 2000, and I'll be at the Doyt five times this eason.

But I have reached the conclusion that this team just isn't very good.

I don't know all the issues, and I'm not a football expert or anything. Some discussion questions, though:

1. Is Jon Lovitz* a hammer-weilding fella who sees every problem as a nail? Word is he's simplified our defense on the theory that our players need to do less thinking and more attacking. Maybe that works at Clemson or Auburn when you've got the horses (and judging from his resume, it didn't work so well, or he'd still be at Clemson or Auburn).

We don't have the horses. And if we don't have the horses, shouldn't we at least *try* to outthink the opposition?

2. Gregg Brandon. No idea. I didn't see as much of the game as I wanted -- some work stuff kept me away in the first half. Overall, I see no smoking guns, and I see some things I like. Just little things -- like the way he ran the clock down during the first half and went for it on fourth down at the Boise State 43. Conventional wisdom says you don't do it, but we were already in a hole and it was a calcluated risk worth taking.

On the other hand, I am also intrigued by the slow erosion theory posited by Hammb. That is, that Brandon isn't such a bad coach that the team fell apart immediately -- but that we are seeing the wheels slowly come off.

It is indisputable that the previous coach instilled a new culture here. Roughly half the team never met the previous coach. Could it be that the culture is slowly changing?

I see one of two scenarios playing out:

1. Bowling Green recovers, goes on a winning streak -- only to rip our hearts out on national television in Oxford and in the season-ender against Toledo.

I never seriously contemplated the idea that Toledo could beat us at the Doyt this season before this morning. But I am now. Toledo appears to have a good team. We don't have a good team.

2. Bowling Green stumbles against Ohio on Oct. 8, and the real suspense in this season revolves around whether or not the Falcons will stay above .500.

In other words, I don't see a MAC championship in our future. I hope Gregg Brandon can prove me wrong. But I don't see it. This is not a very good football team.

This was a significant, significant loss, and it rips my heart out.

Part of the reason: I'm not sure what we have to look forward to next year. We lose some very good players on offense this year -- Sharon, Sanders, Warren, Pope. We have a couple of studs on defense -- Antonio Smith is breathtaking -- but I don't see anything resembling the fab five class of Lictensteiger we brought in a couple of years ago.

This really was supposed to be The Year. And I'm not sure I see it anymore.

The Boise State game is even killing my buzz about next year.

After the Wisconsin game, I was able to invite Badgers fans to come out to Cleveland next year with an aura of confidence. My friends and I were already throwing around tailgate ideas. The table was really set for that game, wasn't it? A chance to beat Wisconsin on "our" field on what, presumably, would have been a national television game with a MAC-record home crowd watching?

I'm not sure I feel the buzz any more.

And, more immediately, this really will hurt attendance this year. If the team had won -- or at least shown up -- I think we would have sold out homecoming. The marketing department, alumni association, etc. were really going all out marketing homecoming. I really felt, before last night, that the Temple game woudl sell out.

And that would have been a Big Deal, because it would have helped drive advance ticket sales for the rest of the season.

I'm not sure I see a sell out any more. I'll be there. Freak will, natch. How many other people will be?

Ugh.

The only thing I can say for sure is that this team requires a bit more attention from Paul Krebs. We are at risk of backsliding and losing all the things that have been painstakingly put together over the past four years.

Football is important. If Krebs does nothing else, he must ensure we put a football team on the field people want to watch.

And the Falcons were painful to watch last night.

Painful.

---
* I'll probably remember the dude's real name the first time his defense holds an opponent to three touchdowns.

Schadenfreude wrote:I remember 1995. I was so excited about that year I bought season tickets for the first time. Even drove out to Missouri to watch what was, at the time, a huge win for upset-starved Falcon fans.

I have my season tickets again, and I'm going to use them, no matter what happens. I was in State College in 1998, I was in Buffalo in 2000, and I'll be at the Doyt five times this eason.

But I have reached the conclusion that this team just isn't very good.

I don't know all the issues, and I'm not a football expert or anything. Some discussion questions, though:

1. Is Jon Lovitz* a hammer-weilding fella who sees every problem as a nail? Word is he's simplified our defense on the theory that our players need to do less thinking and more attacking. Maybe that works at Clemson or Auburn when you've got the horses (and judging from his resume, it didn't work so well, or he'd still be at Clemson or Auburn).

We don't have the horses. And if we don't have the horses, shouldn't we at least *try* to outthink the opposition?

2. Gregg Brandon. No idea. I didn't see as much of the game as I wanted -- some work stuff kept me away in the first half. Overall, I see no smoking guns, and I see some things I like. Just little things -- like the way he ran the clock down during the first half and went for it on fourth down at the Boise State 43. Conventional wisdom says you don't do it, but we were already in a hole and it was a calcluated risk worth taking.

On the other hand, I am also intrigued by the slow erosion theory posited by Hammb. That is, that Brandon isn't such a bad coach that the team fell apart immediately -- but that we are seeing the wheels slowly come off.

It is indisputable that the previous coach instilled a new culture here. Roughly half the team never met the previous coach. Could it be that the culture is slowly changing?

I see one of two scenarios playing out:

1. Bowling Green recovers, goes on a winning streak -- only to rip our hearts out on national television in Oxford and in the season-ender against Toledo.

I never seriously contemplated the idea that Toledo could beat us at the Doyt this season before this morning. But I am now. Toledo appears to have a good team. We don't have a good team.

2. Bowling Green stumbles against Ohio on Oct. 8, and the real suspense in this season revolves around whether or not the Falcons will stay above .500.

In other words, I don't see a MAC championship in our future. I hope Gregg Brandon can prove me wrong. But I don't see it. This is not a very good football team.

This was a significant, significant loss, and it rips my heart out.

Part of the reason: I'm not sure what we have to look forward to next year. We lose some very good players on offense this year -- Sharon, Sanders, Warren, Pope. We have a couple of studs on defense -- Antonio Smith is breathtaking -- but I don't see anything resembling the fab five class of Lictensteiger we brought in a couple of years ago.

This really was supposed to be The Year. And I'm not sure I see it anymore.

The Boise State game is even killing my buzz about next year.

After the Wisconsin game, I was able to invite Badgers fans to come out to Cleveland next year with an aura of confidence. My friends and I were already throwing around tailgate ideas. The table was really set for that game, wasn't it? A chance to beat Wisconsin on "our" field on what, presumably, would have been a national television game with a MAC-record home crowd watching?

I'm not sure I feel the buzz any more.

And, more immediately, this really will hurt attendance this year. If the team had won -- or at least shown up -- I think we would have sold out homecoming. The marketing department, alumni association, etc. were really going all out marketing homecoming. I really felt, before last night, that the Temple game woudl sell out.

And that would have been a Big Deal, because it would have helped drive advance ticket sales for the rest of the season.

I'm not sure I see a sell out any more. I'll be there. Freak will, natch. How many other people will be?

Ugh.

The only thing I can say for sure is that this team requires a bit more attention from Paul Krebs. We are at risk of backsliding and losing all the things that have been painstakingly put together over the past four years.

Football is important. If Krebs does nothing else, he must ensure we put a football team on the field people want to watch.

And the Falcons were painful to watch last night.

Painful.

---
* I'll probably remember the dude's real name the first time his defense holds an opponent to three touchdowns.

I can't disagree with anything in this post. Perfectly stated.