Great BG Teams....'03, '04

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:08 pm

The '03 team was light years better than the '04 team. We saw signs of how poorly coached we were in '03, but the seniors held that team together. In '04 it became obvious how poorly coached we were and we didn't have Harris and a few other guys to keep things glued together.

I don't think it'll be a long time before we're that good again. Sometime around 2009-2010 sounds about right.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:28 pm

'03, no doubt. Josh Harris was an absolute winner, carry the team on his back winner. That team was also division champ.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:39 pm

Yeah..we we SO poorly coached in 03 ...we only beat Purdue at their place, came withhin two plays of beating OSU at their place, destroyed NIU with a PERFECT game plan and beat UT and Northwestern at the end of the year by making half time adjustments that allowed our offense to eat clock and control the tempo in the second half. yep...those are the hallmarks of a crappy coach...

honestly hammb, your blind dislike of gregg brandon as a coach is mind boggling.. I share some of the criticisms and concerns you and others have voiced about the past season, but this constant rewriting of history to diminsh the things the man has actually achieved here is beyond petty.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:16 pm

kdog27 wrote:2003 no contest.

Agreed.

BGSUFootballFan · Post by **BGSUFootballFan** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:54 pm

2003 was better. Can you say Purdue or how about 1st and only MAC school ever to get GAMEDAY CREW!!!!!? Plus I never had that inner gut feeling then of oh man what if we lose in 2003. 2004 was still a frickin awesome season though, just not the same magic though!

moneymaker02 · Post by **moneymaker02** » Wed May 23, 2007 2:25 am

Flipper wrote:Yeah..we we SO poorly coached in 03 ...we only beat Purdue at their place, came withhin two plays of beating OSU at their place, destroyed NIU with a PERFECT game plan and beat UT and Northwestern at the end of the year by making half time adjustments that allowed our offense to eat clock and control the tempo in the second half. yep...those are the hallmarks of a crappy coach...

honestly hammb, your blind dislike of gregg brandon as a coach is mind boggling.. I share some of the criticisms and concerns you and others have voiced about the past season, but this constant rewriting of history to diminsh the things the man has actually achieved here is beyond petty.

i swear flipper is the only person with a head on their shoulders on this board. and yes im drunk right now, dollar wells at ziggys was a blast tonight

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Wed May 23, 2007 6:35 am

moneymaker02 wrote: i swear flipper is the only person with a head on their shoulders on this board. and yes im drunk right now,

No need to say that you're drunk-your first sentence makes that obvious.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:02 am

Flipper wrote:Yeah..we we SO poorly coached in 03 ...we only beat Purdue at their place, came withhin two plays of beating OSU at their place, destroyed NIU with a PERFECT game plan and beat UT and Northwestern at the end of the year by making half time adjustments that allowed our offense to eat clock and control the tempo in the second half. yep...those are the hallmarks of a crappy coach...

honestly hammb, your blind dislike of gregg brandon as a coach is mind boggling.. I share some of the criticisms and concerns you and others have voiced about the past season, but this constant rewriting of history to diminsh the things the man has actually achieved here is beyond petty.

Flipper, I'm not rewriting history. My opinions on 2003 have not changed since I voiced them then. There were signs in 2003 that we were not a well oiled machine, despite the success. I will gladly grant you the Purdue & NIU games, I think those are still the 2 best games Brandon has ever coached. Solid gameplans and teams that came out fired up and ready to play. Toledo was pretty good as well. Still, what I said was that there were signs of things in that season that I didn't like.

The OSU game I was not happy with at the time. Yes, on the surface we played a close game against the defending national champion, but watching the game I thought that we weren't playing to win that game. Our tailback averaged over 4 yards per carry and we gave him only 11 carries. Instead we let our QB pass the ball 55 times. I have no idea why we abandoned our running game in that one, OSU's defense was so keyed on Harris we were having good success with PJ. Our passing game was almost entirely short. Then when we do decide to throw the ball deep it's our WR throwing to our seldom used TE, or we're throwing deep to a senior DB on his first ever play as a collegiate WR? Yeah, we kept it close, but I fully believe we could've won that game. To me this game was the first sign of questionable play calling that has plagued us the last couple years.

The first Miami game we flat out didn't show up to play. Miami played one of their worst games of the season and they still beat us handily. I do believe they were a better team than us, but I don't think they were so much better than us that they should roll us on one of their worst days. Had we showed up ready to play that game should've at least been close. Did it matter in the scheme of things? No, but that was the first in a tradition of showing up flat to weeknight conference matchups.

The bowl game was a combination of the two. We didn't show up at all in the first half and were actually losing to a mediocre NW team. Then on our first drive of the second half we're rolling along until we make an insane trick play call and have Cole Magner, again throw the ball. WHY? In the end Harris was money and had a huge 2nd half so we won anyways, but we didn't look prepared to play that day.

2003 we took a huge step back in terms of STs dominance as well. In '02 we blocked 7 punts, and a number of FGs; I believe leading the nation in blocked kicks. In '03 we blocked 2 punts, I'm not sure about FGs. We didn't yet have the STs protection issues that have arisen the past couple years, but we went from being dominant on special teams, to only average in one year. Redd graduating hurt our return game as well, but that's no fault of the coaches.

In the grand scheme of things these little things didn't really effect that 2003 team. They were a damn good team and had a great season on the whole. Still, at the time there were some chinks in the armor. It's nitpicking, I know, but that's what I do

.

You say that you share the same concerns as the rest of us over last year, but therein lies the problem. To me the problems of last year were not isolated to last year. They were becoming evident in '04 and there were even signs in '03. I fully believe that a veteran led, talented team can overcome poor coaching. As you lose those veterans though the team starts to fall apart. The results were better in '03 & '04, but do you really believe that Gregg Brandon has gotten WORSE each year as a HC (because that's what the record would indicate)?

In '03 I wasn't convinced he was a good coach. In '04 I was afraid he was Blackney the sequel. '05 & '06 were just brutal. Still to sit back and ignore the signs that were occurring in his first 2 years here is just wrong. You don't get as bad as we were last year overnight. That was a culmination of 4 years of not emphasizing special teams, ignoring fundamentals, and not properly developing talent. I suppose we can buy the excuse that we had a poor recruiting year due to Urban's departure, but that seems pretty far fetched 4 years into the future.

My dislike of Gregg Brandon as a coach is not blind, it's eyes wide open and 20/20. He took over a Ferrari of the MAC and in 4 years has parted it out and bought a Yugo.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:19 am

You are blind..."On the surface we played a close game against OSU"...what the hell? We played a close game against them on the field...we damn near beat them.

The Miami game was a mess...it was also one of the first...if no the first..midweek games we played. The team was, Miami was off..the weather was off...it was an off night. They happen to even the BEST coaches and the best teams.

So far as the ST "dominance" goes...I'm going to have to do some research...we blocked fewer kicks one year to the next, but that might be due to a number of things... the opposition may have overplayed us on the blocks. We got one aganst UT in '02 and in 03 they lined up three blockers directly in front o fth ekicker.

So...what your objections boil down to about the 03 coaching were.....a bad game against Miami, fewer blocked punts and a really close game against OSU that you think only "looked close". We balance that against perfectly executed game plans against ranked opponents in Purdue and NIU, great second half adjustments against Northwestern and Toledo but you think that tips the scales towards bad coaching? You...are...insane

BGfootballfan · Post by **BGfootballfan** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:20 am

Hammb, I agree with you 100%. As the Brandon coached teams have gotten further away from Coach Meyer they have gotten worse, period.

Sitting in the stands for Motor City Bowl, that trick play in second half was a joke. it was the only play BG ran from under center the whole year!! Did Coach B not think Northwestern watched any film?

Until coaching changes at BG are made, the glory days are well over here folks.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:28 am

BGfootballfan wrote: Until coaching changes at BG are made, the glory days are well over here folks.

Well, going into 2007, we have a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, a new assistant head coach, different special teams coaches, a new wide receivers coach, a new offensive line coach, a new defensive line coach, a new linebackers coach and a new secondary coach.

I guess we'll see how it works out

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:57 am

Flipper wrote:You are blind..."On the surface we played a close game against OSU"...what the hell? We played a close game against them on the field...we damn near beat them.

I think Hammb is saying it was a close game despite Brandon's coaching. We played that game with one hand tied behind our back with the way he called that game. If he goes in there with the confidence and the expectation to win that game, the coaching is different. He coached as if he was going to be happy just to make it a game.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:59 am

Flipper wrote:You are blind..."On the surface we played a close game against OSU"...what the hell? We played a close game against them on the field...we damn near beat them.

The Miami game was a mess...it was also one of the first...if no the first..midweek games we played. The team was, Miami was off..the weather was off...it was an off night. They happen to even the BEST coaches and the best teams.

So far as the ST "dominance" goes...I'm going to have to do some research...we blocked fewer kicks one year to the next, but that might be due to a number of things... the opposition may have overplayed us on the blocks. We got one aganst UT in '02 and in 03 they lined up three blockers directly in front o fth ekicker.

So...what your objections boil down to about the 03 coaching were.....a bad game against Miami, fewer blocked punts and a really close game against OSU that you think only "looked close". We balance that against perfectly executed game plans against ranked opponents in Purdue and NIU, great second half adjustments against Northwestern and Toledo but you think that tips the scales towards bad coaching? You...are...insane

I'm not saying the OSU game wasn't close. It WAS a close game. What I'm saying is on the surface of it if you look at just the scoreboard we played a close game. But when actually watching the game I was mad with the way we were not running the same offense we ran against Purdue.

I don't know, you think I'm insane for saying we weren't well coached back when we were good. I think it's equally insane to believe that Gregg Brandon has actually gotten worse as a coach. I suppose it's possible, but I just think that the talent & leadership on the team had more to do with the success than the coaching. As we've started to rely on the coaching we've gotten worse.

bgsukid · Post by **bgsukid** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:45 pm

Hammb's 100% correct. Brandon is not anything special as a head coach, although he has coached a few good games, but he had better players a great senior leadership in 2003.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:38 pm

FWIW, that is exactly what Hammb said right after the OSU game. I didn't really see it that way, and you might not either, but he's been consistent.