.......after 5 games

[factman]

I'm sort of tired of this "video game", one dimensional, non disciplined type of football! Sure hope it gets better, but..........

The penalties and "attitude" on the sideline concerning them, really bother me, especially the personal foul, type of thing. I never noticed this so much until I watched a game on TV.

[Zom]

After 5 games...... we're on top of the MAC East.

Can't we give this 2014 squad some slack? This morning ESPN reports BGSU is 3 - 2 including a .500 record against Big Ten opponents and BGSU is sitting on top of the MAC East on my web page, all this without a starting quarterback, so many injuries web technology cannot keep up and with a posse of new coaches. This has to be the most entertaining season I've had for years. What's the problem?

For once, I can indulge the immense warmth that comes with the smugness of knowing 12 other MAC teams are wondering: "how come those tossers are there and we're not?". Answer: even when they're down, conference champs find some way to win like nobody else. Good conference champs p*ss people off on both sides of the ball. Have we forgotten that?

Whatever the angst, "survey says" job done. A team like UMASS would be glad for BGSU's stats right now, and but for a couple strokes of luck UMASS might even be there too. It doesn't have to be pretty. Good teams so often turn out dreadful performances, somehow leave a W on the doorstep, and at season's end they are the last man standing. It doesn't matter how. Good teams conquer chaos, and if you cannot do it with a glittering conference TV contract to stitch it up off the field which the NCAA and the academic world should hang their heads in shame for, you have to do it any other way you can. We've been given a schedule and at five games we have found a way through. What else do you want?

Spare a thought for Miami if not UMASS. That graveyard deserves a moment's silence which is pretty hard for some of us to do, but even I feel the dismay in Oxford. Yet this morning BGSU is still MAC champ with a record that next week at least still makes us the team to beat. We're still the ones with the targets on our back. Pray or whatever else it is you do if you have to, but isn't it about time to forget the roller-coaster so far, put week 7 to one side and say that in week 6 "do what you have to guys, we're with you on this one, just make it 4 - 2 next week?

[pardonfan]

Zom, uMass would love to be in our position because they are terrible and always have been. We have a respected program and have high standards. If you think this program is doing in the right direction in terms of defense and discipline, then you have sucked in by the dog and pony show

[FalconTurf]

What is the magic formula for a MAC school?
U
Is it Gary Blackney who was happy to stay, started strong and finished weak?

Is it Frank Solich at Ohio who came with dirt on the tires, won early and seems to have fallen off the Appalachian cliffs last autumn?

Is it Urban Meyer who came to BG from nowhere and quickly ascended to the pinnacle of college football leaving us with great memories, a stocked cupboard and no championships?

Is it Tom Amstutz who loved the TSUN and brought excited, great meals and the eventual failure?

Now we try a new formula with, regardless of current opinion, a proven head coach who is installing a new system that may or may not end up competing for a MAC championship and provides the potential to beat Power 5 schools. Understandably this is a difficult transition because as defending MAC Champs it is difficult to adopt a new formula that appears to give away strengths in order to build new power. Patience people, we can't be sure how it turns out but so many factors are in play I don't think we can find definite answers even when the season is over and the victories are tallied.

[kdog27]

Babers is taking MACTION to an all new level.

One of the few things I will give them credit for is they have won 2 close games. Clawson rarely won a close game here in 5 years. Now maybe they have just been lucky to score with 9 seconds left and get a turnover yesterday. I guess we'll find out because I see just about all of our games being 4+ hour shootouts with several lead changes.

Don't care much at all for the penalties and some of the celebrations I've seen. I might be reading into things too much but I'm close to thinking this behavior is approved/encouraged from the coaches.

I'm not going say we're making progress on defense because we're not. UMASS just passed for 600 yards, end of discussion.

I love the offense at times. I can live with the inconsistencies at this point, especially without Johnson being out there.

Still think all our games are toss ups and we will most likely go about 5-3.

[Falcon Commander]

https://twitter.com/TheFootPaul/status/ ... 08/photo/1" target="_blank

[Flipper]

Overall...I think the defense had a much better outing this week. They forced turnovers and got to the QB and tackled much better than previous weeks. Our LB's were very active...James Sanford and Martin were all over the place. The 60, 80 and 32 yard TD passes were the issue...you can't give up points on big plays in this defense.

On offense, we left at least 15 points on the field due to miscues, poor play calling and other breakdowns. If every game has the potential to be a shootout, we have to be more efficient.

The penalties...like the long TD's and the points we left out there are a sign of sloppiness. Don't care what scheme you run or what level of competition you are playing, it is tough to win if you aren't being precise.

That said..we're 1-0 in the MAC and just about halfway to being bowl eligible. I will take that....

[Zom]

Thank you, pardonfan. I was not really thinking about the merit of our record, just the record. I will gladly bank a tenuous 3 - 2 record with a new coach before I would settle for 0 - 5 with same. Is a 3 - 2 record come-what-may better than a 2 - 3 record where at least our standards conformed to conventional wisdom so that we can hold our heads high in consolation?

If BG give up 50 points while winning our next game (and I can't see why we would be the first team to blank Buffalo's own endzone addiction), I'll take that and be happy for it too. UMASS' scoreboard collapsed trying to keep up with yesterday's 89 point game. So what if our scoreboard collapses en-route to a 100 point game? I would rather see that than a 7 - 3 score which I can get from a soccer game. So be it. Does anybody seriously think either a defining 5 - 0 or 4 -1 standard was realistic coming into a season with a new coach?

[Flipper]

What is the magic formula for a MAC school?
<<<Snip>>>.

There isn't one...that's why AD's get fired .

[FalconTurf]

What is the magic formula for a MAC school?
<<<Snip>>>.

There isn't one...that's why AD's get fired .

And the AD formula doesn't work either

[Globetrotter]

I think people are forgetting how good we were last year.

[FalconTurf]

I think people are forgetting how good we were last year.

I remember how good we were at the end of the year. I also remember all the doubts and questions that had to be answered throughout the year to get to that point. After the TSUN loss there were many doubts and questions that needed answered the last 4 games.

[Flipper]

Yep...go back and look at the forum immediately after the UT game..or the first half of the UB game. There was sturm, drang and angst aplenty ...but the team jelled and we won. I'm willing to give a new staff, a bunch of underclassmen on defense and the guy who started the year as the backup QB time to jell....

[Globetrotter]

We beat Indiana. Indiana beat Missouri. Missouri beat South Carolina. South Carolina beat Georgia. We are better than Georgia.

[BGFan]

Zom, uMass would love to be in our position because they are terrible and always have been. We have a respected program and have high standards. If you think this program is doing in the right direction in terms of defense and discipline, then you have sucked in by the dog and pony show

Not true. They are new to FBS and so, yes, they have not been good since moving up. In the FCS they have been a powerhouse. Remember, they have been playing with, primarily, FCS players since joining the MAC. Once that all changes, as we're starting to see, they will start competing.