Next year will be very interesting for BG football
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:45 pm
Next season, we will really find out a lot about where BG stands as a football “program.” With Jacobs leaving early, coupled with other big-time losses such as Sharon, Sanders, Pope, Warren, Piepkow, Jordan, Thaler, etc., we will have to earn everything we can get. Some people feel BG has established itself as one of the MAC’s top teams through its success in recent years and could continue to excel in the MAC. Other people feel BG could be falling on harder times and could be headed straight for a rebuilding year. Only time will tell, and this will be reflected heavily in our players' performances and coaching staff next season.
For me, thinking of this heading into 2006 will sort of remind me what it was like for BG heading into the 1996 season for this reason. From 1991-1994, BG was pretty much outstanding and was the cream of the crop in the MAC going 11-1, 10-2, 6-3-2 and 9-2 in those years. But at the end of 1994, we suffered the “Fake Punt” (need I say more) to close out the year and went just 5-6 the next season in 1995. Many felt 1995 was just one bad year but that BG was still the program it was prior to that year. But in fact, BG fell and feel hard, going 4-7, 3-8, 5-6, 5-6 and 2-9 from 1996-2000. We’ve all pretty much come to know this time as “The Dark Years.” That’s why I almost see 2006 as I did 1996. This past year (2005), I feel we were a much better team than 6-5, but that’s what we finished and we can’t change that. But 2006 will prove to us if we are really a good “program” and are able to reload and retool (such as what Toledo has established itself as the last decade after big losses of talent), or if we were just a good team during these recent years like we were a decade ago (or how WMU was a few years ago)?
I had a conversation with a friend of mine at Ohio about this topic (with the understanding Jacobs was likely to leave early). He made a point that really stood out to me in my mind. He said when Jacobs was out with his injury, BG still had the same team without him and got beat twice at home against teams it should have beaten (WMU, Akron) and then struggled with a very bad Kent State team. He acknowledged how there certainly was an adjustment needed to be made for losing such a good player like Jacobs, but he said it showed just how much BG’s program was like so many others in the MAC, and that BG just had one difference maker that some teams lacked. Whether he was right or not, we’ll find out next season. I obviously hope he’s wrong and that we can win the MAC next season. But there’s no doubt in my mind the road will be a lot harder to a MAC title after the players we’ve lost from 2005 and how much improvement some of the teams in the MAC are making. But hey, if Akron can do it like they did in 2005, why not BG in 2006?
For me, thinking of this heading into 2006 will sort of remind me what it was like for BG heading into the 1996 season for this reason. From 1991-1994, BG was pretty much outstanding and was the cream of the crop in the MAC going 11-1, 10-2, 6-3-2 and 9-2 in those years. But at the end of 1994, we suffered the “Fake Punt” (need I say more) to close out the year and went just 5-6 the next season in 1995. Many felt 1995 was just one bad year but that BG was still the program it was prior to that year. But in fact, BG fell and feel hard, going 4-7, 3-8, 5-6, 5-6 and 2-9 from 1996-2000. We’ve all pretty much come to know this time as “The Dark Years.” That’s why I almost see 2006 as I did 1996. This past year (2005), I feel we were a much better team than 6-5, but that’s what we finished and we can’t change that. But 2006 will prove to us if we are really a good “program” and are able to reload and retool (such as what Toledo has established itself as the last decade after big losses of talent), or if we were just a good team during these recent years like we were a decade ago (or how WMU was a few years ago)?
I had a conversation with a friend of mine at Ohio about this topic (with the understanding Jacobs was likely to leave early). He made a point that really stood out to me in my mind. He said when Jacobs was out with his injury, BG still had the same team without him and got beat twice at home against teams it should have beaten (WMU, Akron) and then struggled with a very bad Kent State team. He acknowledged how there certainly was an adjustment needed to be made for losing such a good player like Jacobs, but he said it showed just how much BG’s program was like so many others in the MAC, and that BG just had one difference maker that some teams lacked. Whether he was right or not, we’ll find out next season. I obviously hope he’s wrong and that we can win the MAC next season. But there’s no doubt in my mind the road will be a lot harder to a MAC title after the players we’ve lost from 2005 and how much improvement some of the teams in the MAC are making. But hey, if Akron can do it like they did in 2005, why not BG in 2006?
