Clawson: "Never felt better" about Falcon Program

[Flipper]

Well...according to Phil Steele, we're 10th in the MAC so far as experience goes...so I guess you'd have to say we're a young team compared to the rest of the league. Sorry if anyone is butt hurt over the notion that we're have a number of underclassmen on the roster...but that's reality....

[Falconfreak90]

I see us going at least 6-6. Call me crazy.

Guess I'm crazy too...this team will be much better in '11 but we face a pretty tough sked. I like anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5.

GO FALCONS!!! 27 days...

[sportydude1818]

Why is everyone talking about how tough the schedule is? Is this going to be another excuse we can use before the season even starts? Last I checked the MAC is the MAC and to my knowledge we are in the MAC and we know who our competition is. Lets not cry about who we have to play in the MAC. I mean who's fault is that Miami Oh , Kent, Temple, Toledo and buffalo have passed us as a program. Yea we play westerm mich and northern illinois but they are MAC schools who are just doing a better job than BG.

As far as non conference goes Ill give you West Virginia but Wyoming and Idaho? Please dont tell me these are big time schools who we should be claiming are so tough to play.. Whoever scheduled Wyoming and Idaho a few years back saw an easy I-A win that would help pad the bowl hopes, only to realize that hey Idaho and Wyoming have become legit low level I-A program.. Sorry but if we win 3 games this year its not the schedule

[MarkL]

Phil Steele even said we draw one of the toughest conference schedules. There are three legitimate west contenders, and we get all three of them. At least two of them are at home. Also, we don't play Akron who was the conference's worst team last year. So in comparison to the rest of the conference, yes, we do have a difficult conference schedule. It may be good for a growing team, though, to play the conference's best teams and skip out on the rest.

[Flipper]

To add to what MarkL stated (excellent points, MarkL) , I categorically reject the notion that any MAC program has "passed us by". 2010 was a poor season...by any measure. But it was ONE season. It's nuts to say that one season defines a program. We have a ton of talent, a coach with a history of building winners at the FCS level and greatly improved facilities compared to a decade ago when we were also coming off a difficult year.

Last year is OVER...let it go....

[Sub-Zero]

Here we go.. Ok what did I misinterpret ? Sounds like your getting ready to pull out the were so young excuse before the season starts

"never felling better" about the program does not mean clawson has full confidence. It tells me he likes the direction the program is going and I concur. Your (notice the correct usage here) post indicated that clawson guaranteed wins: It didn't.

I don't see a winning season this year but I still like the program being built. And BG is a young team whether you want to believe it or not. It's just facts. Don't let those cloud your (notice the correct usage) disdain.

Yes, lets just keep building every year and think those positive thoughts. Not. This is year three, the "we are young" speech is very old and tired. You generally find it used by coaches heading out the door.

[Flipper]

Here we go.. Ok what did I misinterpret ? Sounds like your getting ready to pull out the were so young excuse before the season starts

"never felling better" about the program does not mean clawson has full confidence. It tells me he likes the direction the program is going and I concur. Your (notice the correct usage here) post indicated that clawson guaranteed wins: It didn't.

I don't see a winning season this year but I still like the program being built. And BG is a young team whether you want to believe it or not. It's just facts. Don't let those cloud your (notice the correct usage) disdain.

Yes, lets just keep building every year and think those positive thoughts. Not. This is year three, the "we are young" speech is very old and tired. You generally find it used by coaches heading out the door.

Did you read the article? I didn't see anything there that sounded like the stuff you're talking about...

[Falconfreak90]

Phil Steele even said we draw one of the toughest conference schedules. There are three legitimate west contenders, and we get all three of them. At least two of them are at home. Also, we don't play Akron who was the conference's worst team last year. So in comparison to the rest of the conference, yes, we do have a difficult conference schedule. It may be good for a growing team, though, to play the conference's best teams and skip out on the rest.

Agree 100%...and btw, Idaho is from the WAC while Wyoming is in the MWC. Both conferences are always rated higher than the MAC. WVU is a fave to win the Big East.

All the games are winnable this year but that doesn't mean it's a weak sked.

Again, the only way we'll find out begins in 22 days. GO BG!!

[Falconfreak90]

Here we go.. Ok what did I misinterpret ? Sounds like your getting ready to pull out the were so young excuse before the season starts

"never felling better" about the program does not mean clawson has full confidence. It tells me he likes the direction the program is going and I concur. Your (notice the correct usage here) post indicated that clawson guaranteed wins: It didn't.

I don't see a winning season this year but I still like the program being built. And BG is a young team whether you want to believe it or not. It's just facts. Don't let those cloud your (notice the correct usage) disdain.

Yes, lets just keep building every year and think those positive thoughts. Not. This is year three, the "we are young" speech is very old and tired. You generally find it used by coaches heading out the door.

Hmmm...I don't remember Clawson saying we were young in 2009 with 22 SR's on the team. It was last year he said it for the first time. And if you look at the roster, it IS a young team overall. Why is that so difficult to understand?

[kdog27]

Again, the only way we'll find out begins in 22 days. GO BG!!

[bgsufalcon24]

Just for the record, I don't think our schedule is that tough. First off, we play only one school from the BCS, a West Virginia team that probably is just on the cusp of the top 25 but not what I'd call one of the nation's best teams. Wyoming is bad, we should beat them, especially at home. Idaho is an upper-middle-of-the-pack non-BCS school which will be a good measuring stick game early for where we stand. If we win then it probably shows that we're better than last year already and perhaps on the up and up. By no means is that one a gimme, we're going to have to work for it.

Obviously if we lose to Morgan State it's going to be a LOOOOOOOONNNNNG year, but I seriously doubt that happens.

Within the MAC, I think the toughest teams we'll face are Miami and Northern Illinois, though the latter graduated a lot of talent. Temple will probably take a huge step back without Golden and lots of graduations, and I'm not entirely sold on Toledo yet. People are talking about them as if they expect them to win 8-10 games this year and I'm just not sure they're worthy of that. I'm not sold on WMU either, they seem to be stuck in relative mediocrity for the most part...like Idaho that will be a good measuring stick game for BG, a victory in Kalamazoo probably means we're on track for at least .500 and perhaps a bowl bid. Buffalo's going to be horrible, outside of a 2-year aberration in 07 & 08 they always are. Ohio and Kent State are complete wild cards, especially Kent, you can never really get a read on them. When they're supposed to be bad, they rise up unexpectedly like in 2006, and when they're supposed to contend like 2007, they suck. Ohio's been good lately, but they got crushed by graduations and are rebuilding this year so who knows on them.

If I had to rank our schedule in terms of "toughest" to "weakest", which admittedly is a futile exercise for MAC football because of its constant state of flux, I'd rank them like this:

1.West Virginia
2.Miami
3.Northern Illinois
4.Idaho
5.Toledo
6.Kent State
7.Ohio
8.Western Michigan
9.Temple
10.Wyoming
11.Buffalo
12.Morgan State

[1987alum]

I think Temple's going to be tougher than you expect. Golden brought in a lot of athletes during his time and his greatest weakness was his game day coaching. So if the new crew can keep the Owls motivated and improve the game day strategy, they should hold steady, if not improve some.

[Sub-Zero]

Just for the record, I don't think our schedule is that tough. First off, we play only one school from the BCS, a West Virginia team that probably is just on the cusp of the top 25 but not what I'd call one of the nation's best teams. Wyoming is bad, we should beat them, especially at home. Idaho is an upper-middle-of-the-pack non-BCS school which will be a good measuring stick game early for where we stand. If we win then it probably shows that we're better than last year already and perhaps on the up and up. By no means is that one a gimme, we're going to have to work for it.

Obviously if we lose to Morgan State it's going to be a LOOOOOOOONNNNNG year, but I seriously doubt that happens.

Within the MAC, I think the toughest teams we'll face are Miami and Northern Illinois, though the latter graduated a lot of talent. Temple will probably take a huge step back without Golden and lots of graduations, and I'm not entirely sold on Toledo yet. People are talking about them as if they expect them to win 8-10 games this year and I'm just not sure they're worthy of that. I'm not sold on WMU either, they seem to be stuck in relative mediocrity for the most part...like Idaho that will be a good measuring stick game for BG, a victory in Kalamazoo probably means we're on track for at least .500 and perhaps a bowl bid. Buffalo's going to be horrible, outside of a 2-year aberration in 07 & 08 they always are. Ohio and Kent State are complete wild cards, especially Kent, you can never really get a read on them. When they're supposed to be bad, they rise up unexpectedly like in 2006, and when they're supposed to contend like 2007, they suck. Ohio's been good lately, but they got crushed by graduations and are rebuilding this year so who knows on them.

If I had to rank our schedule in terms of "toughest" to "weakest", which admittedly is a futile exercise for MAC football because of its constant state of flux, I'd rank them like this:

1.West Virginia
2.Miami
3.Northern Illinois
4.Idaho
5.Toledo
6.Kent State
7.Ohio
8.Western Michigan
9.Temple
10.Wyoming
11.Buffalo
12.Morgan State

I agree. Our schedule is pedestrian at best. If we cant handle this line up, it will be sad.

[Drago]

Coach Clawson feels so good he started his own website.

www.coachclawson.com

It's basically the football homepage with some minor tweaks. Do other schools do this? It seems unnecessary to me.

[Flipper]

I doubt Clawson started it...it looks like more of a departmental initiative. Whatever the case...is this really worth sweating?