From today's Blade. Pretty offensive about our defense

always a falcon · Post by **always a falcon** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:32 am

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /510250387

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:35 am

I don't like Ron Musselman, but those are true words he wrote except this--I'm not sure we even really padded our defensive stats when he said we did.

PGY Tiercel · Post by **PGY Tiercel** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:37 am

Looks like we need to hire (re-animate) J Cochran to defend our defense then.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:39 am

It's mediocre writing. It's making a point about something that's obvious. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. It's pedestrian all the way around.

That being said, he's spot on.

Unfortunately.

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:50 am

"Thank you, thank you very much. My name is Ron Musselman and I'll be here all night. I also have shows on Wednesdays and Sundays, so be sure to stop by the Comic Hack Shop again on those evenings. Also don't forget to tip your waitress."

The article is full of half-assed cliches. I get that the special teams and defense have been less than stellar, but some of the lines are laugh out loud doltish.

Dr. Bucko · Post by **Dr. Bucko** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:55 am

I don't much care for Musselman either, but in a statistical sense, he was right on target. BG's defense has some real/major short-comings. I can remember UT getting totally drubbed last year in their first two games --- I think the opposition scored some 120 pts on 'em. Amstutz, however, said they could correct that, and they did. They had the athletes to do it. I'm not sure that BG does, and that's frightening. Nevertheless, I'll be in the stands for every game cheering them on.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:58 am

Coach Brandon wrote: "The special teams have just been erratic. We've been really outstanding at times, and other times we've been dismal.

What the hell film has he been watching. I cannot think of one single play that the STs has been outstanding, there have been some that they've been acceptable.

Musselman says nothing special in this article, but unfortunately this is all true. Our defense is terrible. Our STs are some of the worst I've EVER seen (and this includes watching HS ball). You cannot be as bad as we are at 2/3 of the game and be considered a good team...you just cannot.

Tricky_Falcon · Post by **Tricky_Falcon** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:08 pm

What he says of Bowling Green football can also be said about his own writing...

Instead of saying "Omar," perhaps the Bowling Green football team should be muttering, "Oh my."

Bowling Green's defense is dreadful and its special-teams play borders on comical.

It's hard to defend the defense, which has more holes in it than O.J. Simpson's alibi.

The un-special teams have been pitiful, too.

---------

It's hard to tell which has been a bigger bust - the defense, which was good enough to win nine games last year under coordinator Tim Beckman, who has since joined the Ohio State staff, or the special teams, which were a huge asset under Urban Meyer.

"That's a great question," Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon said yesterday. "The special teams have just been erratic. We've been really outstanding at times, and other times we've been dismal.

I would have liked to be at that interview yesterday to see if Ron actually asked Coach Brandon "which has been a bigger bust"...I'm betting he didn't say that to Brandon's face. And if he did I am hoping he wouldn't say "that's a great question"

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:48 pm

This does it. The Blade can now kiss my ass. Maureen, you're the exception. You've done a great job covering this team, and have brought out some "non game day stories" that have been a good read. But now, after 2/3 of a season where BG deserved coverage by the beat reporter and the beat reporter only, we have two stories in two days bashing BG football by "others". Maybe it's the conspiracy theorist in me, but if those turkeys can't write about BG any other time out of the year, yet find time to write up a column when it's negative time, that's bullshit.

BGGrad01 · Post by **BGGrad01** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:56 pm

Let them write what they want as far as I'm concerned. Maybe our D will read these articles and get fired up to prove that they really aren't as bad as they've played thus far.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:58 pm

BGGrad01 wrote:Let them write what they want as far as I'm concerned. Maybe our D will read these articles and get fired up to prove that they really aren't as bad as they've played thus far.

That's what I thought after reading this stuff.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:05 pm

If it takes some chodesmoker like Ron Musselman to get our defense's attention, then put him on staff next year. But it seems like (not only this year) even when BG does great things on the field, the reporting has been left to the beat reporter. They lay an egg against WMU, and two of the next three days' papers has columns about how they're screwed. Maybe the truth just hurts, but I still think it's s**t.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:09 pm

TG1996 wrote:This does it. The Blade can now kiss my ass. Maureen, you're the exception.

First, at least The Blade is writing about us. As long as they spell "Bowling Green" right, that's generally fine with me. The more coverage, the better.

Musselman is dead on. He has stated the obvious. Truth hurts sometimes. Let's not shoot the messenger.

John Harris? Different story for me -- and it has been pretty much since he said Toledo would be a great candidate for Conference USA since they have the potential to carry the "Detroit market."

That column, and about three or four others from him, will never be pried out from underneath my skin.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:20 pm

hammb wrote:
Coach Brandon wrote: "The special teams have just been erratic. We've been really outstanding at times, and other times we've been dismal.
What the hell film has he been watching. I cannot think of one single play that the STs has been outstanding, there have been some that they've been acceptable.

Maybe he's been watching them with his orange sunglasses on. :shrug:

In all honest, I thought the same thing hammb.

Do you remember when Eric Metcalf was in his prime returning kicks for the Browns? You got this excited feeling about each return thinking something big could happen every time. Well, our STs is the exact opposite. I get this sick feeling thinking that something bad is going to happen. Every time our ST units hit the field, I think of the worst possible thing that could happen and hope that I can be excited that whatever I was thinking didn't actually happen.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:41 pm

Warthog wrote:
Do you remember when Eric Metcalf was in his prime returning kicks for the Browns? You got this excited feeling about each return thinking something big could happen every time. Well, our STs is the exact opposite. I get this sick feeling thinking that something bad is going to happen.

I know exactly what you're saying Warthog, same here.

Those that are crying about how the Blade has only given us extra coverage now that we've laid a major egg, I think it might be because this is the first thing we've done really noteworthy this season. I cannot speak for previous years, and I don't really read the Blade much unless someone here links a story, but I'm thinking what else have we done to deserve coverage? We lost games at Boise & Wisconsin that we were supposed to lose...we failed to beat the spread in both of them, and actually loss worse than we were supposed to. The teams we have beaten we were big faves in, and outside of the Temple game we've won them less convincingly than we should've.

Now that a big story comes from us its that our crappy ST & Defensive units finally cost us a game as we knew they would. We got drilled in a game where we were 3+ TD favorites...while losing our superstar QB to injury. That's newsworthy, and I would make the case that nothing else we've done all year has been deserving of anything more than beat coverage.