Is anyone still not sold on Babers?

[Flipper]

Defense? Ours looks every bit as good as Nebraska's....

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=400547974" target="_blank

[able1]

Rushing: M. Gordon (WIS) - 25 CAR, 408 YDS, 4 TD

[Falconwriter]

I'm happy the team is going back to the MACCG, but another loss to Toledo is making what could have been a great season into a good season -- to this point. If he manages to win the MAC title game, then it jumps to a very good year. No year with a fifth straight loss to your rival can be considered "great".

Anyway, unless he wins the MAC title and/or gets a great job opportunity out of just getting to the title game, I'm willing to wait and see if he can improve the talent level enough that we see some things change that need changing: the losses to Toledo and in the bowl game are two of them.

[bgsufalcon24]

I think this loss ends any discussion of Babers leaving this season. We have had a solid year...solid but not spectacular. I still consider it good considering we lost Matt Johnson on opening night, as that could've really derailed just about everything. But the fact of the matter is that BG is merely the best of a bad bunch in the East. We're basically lucky that Toledo, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois are in the opposite division, and that in accordance with our beating up on the bad teams in the East we get a 1-shot against one of those three for the MAC title.

Even if we win that 1-shot and win our 2nd straight MAC title...I don't think that's enough for some major program to take him off our hands.

[Schadenfreude]

Our starting quarterback completed just 7 out of 24 passes last night for 71 yards, yet Dino Babers won the MAC East and went .500 against the Big Ten with the guy.

Fellas, we have a good head coach.

[jpfalcon09]

The only issue I have with this staff is the play calling. For some reason they've abandoned attacking the middle of the field in the passing game. Constantly throwing to the sidelines puts a strain on your QB to be deadly accurate and becomes extremely predictable.

[Flipper]

I agree with Schad...hell, our WR's were getting behind the UT secondary all night long...we just didn't execute the plays correctly...like we haven't practically all year. We've been leaving points on the field all year because our QB can't throw the ball accurately.

[apollo]

I'm not convinced either way...maybe Knapke isn't the guy for this offense, maybe this offense isn't a good mix with our current personnel. I have been impressed with the D getting sorted out, but the offense bugs me a little. It seems like a lot of flash without much substance. MAC defenses aren't very good, and we just don't seem to move the ball as well as we should. I just seems like everything is a little off. The blocking isn't quite good enough, receivers drop a lot of passes or just missed connecting, qb play is inconsistent, and we are just below where I thought it would be. I don't put much stock into winning the east, because the east stinks.
I think Dave Clawson was extremely overrated because they played a great championship game last year, but I do think he recruited well (as he should have with the facilities and budget upgrades he was given).
I think we are better off with Dino, but I was expecting more from the offense. Time will tell and we obviously will have a chance to win the whole thing, but overall I'd say it's been a below avg performance to this point. I would like to see improvement on the basic fundamentals of the offense. Scheme is great, but if you can't block or hit the hole correctly it doesn't make a difference. That is what I see as the problem at this point.

[jpfalcon09]

I'm not convinced either way...maybe Knapke isn't the guy for this offense, maybe this offense isn't a good mix with our current personnel. I have been impressed with the D getting sorted out, but the offense bugs me a little. It seems like a lot of flash without much substance. MAC defenses aren't very good, and we just don't seem to move the ball as well as we should. I just seems like everything is a little off. The blocking isn't quite good enough, receivers drop a lot of passes or just missed connecting, qb play is inconsistent, and we are just below where I thought it would be. I don't put much stock into winning the east, because the east stinks.
I think Dave Clawson was extremely overrated because they played a great championship game last year, but I do think he recruited well (as he should have with the facilities and budget upgrades he was given).
I think we are better off with Dino, but I was expecting more from the offense. Time will tell and we obviously will have a chance to win the whole thing, but overall I'd say it's been a below avg performance to this point. I would like to see improvement on the basic fundamentals of the offense. Scheme is great, but if you can't block or hit the hole correctly it doesn't make a difference. That is what I see as the problem at this point.

The offense won't click until Babers gets his recruits here. Losing Johnson really hurts, Knapke has done enough to keep the team in games but he's hit his ceiling and I think his confidence has wavered since the Buffalo game.

[factman]

The only issue I have with this staff is the play calling. For some reason they've abandoned attacking the middle of the field in the passing game. Constantly throwing to the sidelines puts a strain on your QB to be deadly accurate and becomes extremely predictable.

[bgsufalcon24]

I think this loss ends any discussion of Babers leaving this season. We have had a solid year...solid but not spectacular. I still consider it good considering we lost Matt Johnson on opening night, as that could've really derailed just about everything. But the fact of the matter is that BG is merely the best of a bad bunch in the East. We're basically lucky that Toledo, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois are in the opposite division, and that in accordance with our beating up on the bad teams in the East we get a 1-shot against one of those three for the MAC title.

Even if we win that 1-shot and win our 2nd straight MAC title...I don't think that's enough for some major program to take him off our hands.

Good post. We beat up on a lot of really bad teams. The MAC East is really bad. We would finish second to last in the west division.

With the talent coming back next year we should be the favorites again in the East. If we win the MAC, Babers will be gone.

You really think we would lose to Ball State and Central Michigan?

We'll find out if your hypothesis is correct at the Doyt on 11/28...I think we roll Balls Tate. They're not any good.

[Flipper]

Babers isn't leaving even if we win the MAC...I think Fleck is a far more likley choice to leave

[thewebboy]

The only issue I have with this staff is the play calling. For some reason they've abandoned attacking the middle of the field in the passing game. Constantly throwing to the sidelines puts a strain on your QB to be deadly accurate and becomes extremely predictable.

My dad went to the game with me last night. He doesn't watch BG that often.

This is EXACTLY what he kept saying all game. Each play we would have 2-3 WRs going deep or running outs. No routes to the middle of the field. By the end of the game that is all I could see.... he was completely right.

[Falconwriter]

The only issue I have with this staff is the play calling. For some reason they've abandoned attacking the middle of the field in the passing game. Constantly throwing to the sidelines puts a strain on your QB to be deadly accurate and becomes extremely predictable.

I would say this "strategy" shows the coaching staff has a complete lack of faith in the QB. Throwing to the middle of the field means you have to be very accurate and the timing has to be right. Otherwise, it's easier for linebackers and safeties to jump routes and get an interception.

With how things progressed (or didn't) with the offense last night, I think it's obvious that Babers didn't have confidence in his starting QB. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made the change. As it turns out, that change should have probably come sooner. But if the guy you send in to replace your starter doesn't work out, you may end up with no decent starting QB -- because you have undercut the confidence of the starter.

He took a big risk, and it didn't pay off. I guess we'll see if it has consequences in the last game or beyond.

[Beaker]

I resisted a reply to this thread, giving the benefit until after we had played last night's game, but my opinion before last night is the same as it is now. I have no personal grudge against Babers. My problem with him is the system he runs. I said it the minute I heard the news of his hiring. Many on this board fiercely disagree and the debate has already been put out there, but I do not believe that teams playing in this part of the country will ever win championships with this spread style offense and until it starts happening, my opinion isn't going to change.

I said it last December that when it comes to November and the cold and snow and wind set in, you have to have a power running game, utilizing tight ends and fullbacks, that will work in the bad weather when the passing game is hampered. We don't have that. You also need tight ends to throw to in short to medium, high percentage passes in this weather. We don't have that. It's simply a proven formula to winning - always has been and always will be. Yes, the spread might give us a better shot at beating a Big Can't Count Conference team in September, but for my preference, I would much rather win the MAC..........and beat Toledo. I will never be sold on Babers until I'm proven wrong and we start collecting conference championship trophies. When has a spread offense ever had any sustained, championship success? It was tried in the NFL and teams stopped using it because it couldn't win consistently, especially in bad weather. June Jones couldn't even make it work in the college game in good weather cities. Yes, it'll grab a headline here and there when 50 points are put on the board, but I will take scoring less and winning more any day. Babers won a couple league titles in Div 1-AA, but it was more of a novelty there and when they got to the playoffs and the snow was flying, they fell to a team with a power running game. Like with every new wrinkle, teams will adjust, learn to defend it and it will wane.

My opinions of his system set aside, I don't think this season can truly allow us to draw too many conclusions. The East division is simply horrible. Even with the injuries we suffered, we still should have won the East with my sister coaching this team. I don't think we can celebrate that accomplishment as an example of Dino's success. If we are in the West this year, we don't even come close to winning it. Clearly, this would be a different team with M. J. out there, regardless of the system we are running and who knows how we might have fared against the West if we had been at full strength? It just sucks to see such a good opportunity to break the streak against TSUN slip away and I'm as frustrated as anyone about that. I will always pull for BG, no matter what, but forgive me for not being gung ho on the Babers bandwagon.