"abysmal coaching jobs"?

[1987alum]

Turner, Thomas and Partridge have me feeling good about the Falcons' future. O'Drobinak and Ruiz are back next year and it appears Macon is headed for a redshirt this year, too, so he'll be back.

I'm worried about wide receiver depth. Patridge is good... but who comes next?

I noticed Ruiz was split out quite a bit. I found that interesting. Is he going to evolve into a possession receiver. Does he have the speed for that?

Schade: I'm pretty sure that Ruiz has been "moved" to WR.

According to the "official" roster, here are the WRs that will have academic eligibilitiy remaining next year: Partridge, Ruiz, Parks, Jones, Brantley, Magner, Aaron Davis (?), Emans, Kennedy, Kollin Hancock (?).

Partridge is a star in the making. I like what I've seen of Ruiz, though he has dropped a few passes. Parks and Jones have done pretty well with the opportunities they've gotten. Brantley will be a senior, but he has two career catches, so who knows? Is Kennedy still on the team?

Magner has the pedigree, as we all know, but we'll have to see what he can do on the field. Davis, Emans and Hancock are just names on the roster to me at this point.

So I see four receivers (Partridge, Ruiz, Parks, Jones) that look pretty good, though no one has displayed Sanders-like or Sharon-like star potential, outside of Corey.

[UK Peregrine]

Fair enough hammb. Thanks for the answer. I can live with your position.

Now for another question if you will tolerate my curiousity. I would like a simplistic breakdown of out-coached or out-classed of Brandon coached games against some of the top coaches we've faced over the past 2.5 seasons under Brandon.

So the simple answers would be Brandon was out-coached, Brandon out-coached the opposition, BG was overmatched by the opponent, or BG overmatched the opponent? I think I know three games for sure from your above answer, what about the rest? Feel free to expound on the games if you'd like.

2003
@ Purdue 27-26
@ OSU 17-24
vs NIU 34-18
@ Miami 10-33
vs UT 31-23
vs Miami MACC 27-49
vs Northwestern 28-24

2004
@ Oklahoma 24-40
@ NIU 17-34
vs Marshall 56-35
@ UT 41-49 - Brandon out-coached
vs Memphis 52-35

2005
@ Wisconsin 42-56 - Brandon out-coached
@ Boise 20-48
vs Ohio 38-14 - BG overmatched the opponent

[Dayons_Den]

Is Kennedy still on the team?

Yes. He was a QB recruit out of Morris, IL and was an spread offense/running qb with great athletic ability.

We moved him to WR because of our depth and he now wears #82 or something.

Interestingly on the replay of the Ohio game I noticed Kennedy and Freddy Barnes on the sidelines wearing headsets and with clipboards which makes me assume that Kennedy would be our emergency 3rd string QB if say Omar goes down and we get our back up injured on a kick return

[BelieveNBG]

using Pope when he's obviously not healthy

This in my opinion has to be at the top of the list of "stupid" coaching. Why in the world would Pope be allowed to play against Temple? That makes absolutely no sense. Yes, we need Pope back, but having him back healthy for the tougher games is even more important. Leaving him off the field for Temple could have given him enough time to get to 100% for the Ohio game and just maybe he would have been strong enough to not reinjure the ankles. I would like to think this staff is smart enough to rest PJ against the likes of Buffalo, even if he says he is ready to go.

[hammb]

Since I really don't want to play with SQL today for some reason LOL, I'll go game by game, just for you UK

2003
@ Purdue 27-26

Brandon clearly outcoaches Tiller. I was thrilled with Coach Brandon after this game. We ran a trick play with Cole that backfired, but we hung in there. We were aggressive and once we got out of the first quarter it was clear we knew we belonged. I even called the safety (ask those that sat with me) and it was the exactly correct call.

@ OSU 17-24

I think here Brandon out-thunk himself, but wouldn't say Tressel really outcoached him, because Tressel is a snoozefest (as alluded to earlier in this thread). My only fault with Brandon in this game was that he appeared afraid of the Buckeyes. We moved the ball very well at times in this game, but until we really needed it, seemed like we hesitated to open things up at all. I don't like trick plays, but a hostile environment as a huge dog is a good time to pull them. The Cole pass was a great call, although the execution stunk I'd say Brandon outcoached himself in this game, just because we seemed so tentative on offense...that game was the most bubble screens I've ever seen us run.

vs NIU 34-18

Brandon outcoaches Novak, I'd say. NIU came in thinking that the way to beat our offense was to blitz the crap outta us. Brandon countered by running a lot of seam routes and threw downfield more than typical in the J5 days. We torched their secondary with huge play after huge play on these quick read deep balls. Before Novak knew what was going on they were down huge, and his defensive gameplan had taken his best player out of the game...oh yeah Novak's call on the trick play that was a Patton INT...just dumb. Good game by Brandon.

@ Miami 10-33

We didn't show up to play at ALL. For whatever reason it seems to be a recurring theme that our current staff cannot get our team "up" for these big road games on weeknights. I would think being on national TV, in the spotlight, would get them ready to play, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Miami played their worst game of the year outside of Iowa, and they still rolled us. This was a game we could've won, but the team had no emotion. On gameday I cannot say we were outcoached or outcoached the opposition, but it appeared as though our team was flat, and the Miami team wasn't much better...neither team performed up to their abilities in this one.

vs UT 31-23

Perfect call on the Cole to J5 pass...it was the spark we needed, although I don't like having to rely on that at home against your rival, we were flat until that point. From then on Brandon made some good second half adjustments and we were able to have our way with UT in the second half...

vs Miami MACC 27-49

A coaching neutral game, IMO. Both teams played at the top of their game, but Miami was the better team. We were not outcoached, but Ben was a better player than Harris, and they had more talent around him than we did. Little we could've done in this one. Miami came out ready to play, and they were a better team than us...we fought, but couldn't do much.

vs Northwestern 28-24

We were flat, again, in this game. Weren't we favored going into this one? I expected us to have our way with NW, and we really didn't. Again a trick play backfired big time. I'm really not a fan of trick plays, even when they're the right call, just don't like depending on them, the failures are too costly. I wouldn't say we were outcoached per se, but we didn't seem ready to play at the beginning. In the end Harris had an oustanding game and rallied the team to victory.

2004
@ Oklahoma 24-40

Coaching neutral. The audible system was innovative, for a first time starter at QB. Not much we could've done here. We don't have the horses on defense to stop that running game. Wouldn't say anyone was outcoached in this game.

@ NIU 17-34

Another flatline game. We showed up without a pulse. We made one good drive to start the game, then went home. Looked awful...again why can we not show up ready to play these games? Not necessarily outcoached from a gameday decisions point, but again I think it is the staff's job to get the kids prepared.

vs Marshall 56-35

Wow, was I drunk...unlike the '03 UT game I haven't watched this one on DVD as often. Seems like we called a pretty good game, but cannot comment on much specifics, except we shoulda ran up the score at the end

@ UT 41-49 - Brandon out-coached

vs Memphis 52-35

Coaching neutral. I cannot think of anything that either team did to really change expectations. In the end we had a little better team than Memphis, and it definitely helped when DeAngelo Williams went down to injury.

2005
@ Wisconsin 42-56 - Brandon out-coached

@ Boise 20-48

Yet another of our "don't show up to play" games. I think this one is pretty fresh for all involved. We were outcoached in that we didn't adapt when what we tried wasn't working, but not sure it would've helped...our players didn't have their heads in this game from the first quarter on.

vs Ohio 38-14 - BG overmatched the opponent[/quote]


Looking back, I really don't think we get outcoached a TON. And one thing I will give props to coach Brandon on is that we usually beat the teams we should beat...there is no shame in that. Again my biggest beef is how we show up unprepared in so many games. It's especially noticeable in the games you picked out...most of the biggest losses were when we just showed up flat, for whatever reason. I also think that our coach sometimes outthinks himself (OU kick return, OSU game plan, MCB trick play, etc.). The basic offensive scheme we run (which is his) is brilliant and works wonders. It seems in some games he strays from it for no reason, and in others when it is getting stopped we're hesitant to adjust and we hear in post game how we know the scheme works.

Again, looking at your list of big games it's about 50/50 whether or not we came out on top (7-8). I would say only in the Ohio game were we clearly superior talent-wise. In the Oklahoma game & 2x Miami we were out talented. In OSU there was a talent gap, but Tressel's poor scheme allows teams that aren't drastically inferior (and we're not) to be in the game.

What I think looking back at this list does, to me, is re-enforce how I feel about our coach. He's not terrible, but he's not fantastic either. He does beat the teams he should beat, and he does hold home field. However, he struggles mightily in getting the team ready to play tough road games. Sure, lots of teams don't win on the road, but if we want to consistently win MAC titles we must start winning MAC road games. I'm not asking for what Utah had in '04 (although I'd love it), what I really want is what UT has had in recent years...MAC titles.

[UK Peregrine]

That was fun to read hammb. Thanks again. What keeps coming to mind is that it's not the coach but either an experience factor or the system that are the problem in these "bigger" games.

First the experience factor, this after all is only Brandon's third year as a head coach and the nuances of proper game-time adjustments can sometime be difficult to grasp. In fact, if you look at most of those games under Brandon that we lost, the team that we lost to had very well-respected and long tenured coaches who have had years to get it right. Even in the Urban Meyer years, the same trend held true with him losing to the big MAC coaches of Pruett, Darnell, Hoeppner, Novak, and Amstutz. Both Brandon and Meyer have remarkable similarities in how they started at BG, minus Brandon getting two bowl wins. So perhaps its as simple as experience.

The other concern is that it is the system itself that lets us down sat times in these big games. The top-tier teams seem to have the horses to neutralize some of the things we are trying to do on the field, such as spreading out the defense. Perhaps its not a coaching thing per se, but a system thing. Our offensive style destroys lesser teams, but can be vulnerable to some of the better defenses at times if our executuion is even slightly off. Perhaps this is the reason Brandon suggested using more tight end, two-back, and under center sets to vary the offense to combat such a phenemona of the spread becoming vulnerable if over utilized against the "good" opponents. Anyways, jJust throwing a few more ideas out there.

[JohnnySwoop '85]

For the most part that was a good read...but I don't think he has been outcoached at all...when it's reasonable. C'mon, your comparing a Wisconsin staff that is headed up by "almost" legendary Alvarez vs. BG's that still contains many that I would consider working up the ranks of the collegiate game.

I would think the most questionable games of the past 2 years really revolve around NIU, Toledo, and Boise State. I don't think they were outcoached in those either...it was more that the team just turned cold, don't you remember watching? it was like you weren't really sure that it was the same team we usually see...and that's not coaching...it's just one of those weird phenomena that occur in sports to everyone. For reference I suggest looking up national title game 2005.

In summary, we go home happy on Saturday's more often than not...we leave Bowl Games happier than the majority of the crowd...and our kids meet their favorite players up close instead of "No one past this line per order of the Athletic Dept."...and these things do have to do with coaching and I am thankful for them.