Best of Luck to Omar

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:00 am

1987alum wrote:I'd appreciate it if we could dispense with talk of RUIT's winky.

I knew this thread was headed downhill - I just never thought it would go this far!

truth · Post by **truth** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:07 am

orangeandbrown wrote:Bleeding. Fair enough. A couple points.

My question was on what basis you think the team will be better than last year's team.

A couple points:

First, as promising as Thomas and Macon are (and I agree they are), they will struggle to be even as good as Pope and Lane were, and are very unlikely to be better--even then the year our RBs had this year. Same with our WRs--Partrdige, Ruiz, JUCOs, whatever. Even raising their game, they will be fortunate to be as good as we had this year.

Second, I understand your point (and other's) that guys will step up, etc. Here you place a lot of faith in guys we haven't seen yet, including our "talented" recruiting class pulling their redshirts off.

That defense is more than a couple redshirt freshmen away from getting some stops, and was relatively experienced on top of it. Getting the defense next year to be as good as this year will be a challenge as well. (And I challenge your theory on the "improving defense." They played one good game against good competition (Miami), and played no better against Toledo than they did against Boise.)

Third, there were extenuating circumstances to our "demise" this year. But let's not forget that we were playing poorly long before Omar got injured. And with a full, healthy compliment we lost on our home field in a game to take the East. Even allowing for some obstacles, this year's performance is a fine starting point for looking ahead.

Its not a given that guys come back from the winter and turn into players. It simply doesn't have to happen that way.

Every other year in the Meyer/Brandon era I felt we were just reloading for another run at the title. I don't see that talent coming back for next year. Given our schedule, 6 wins is very possible, even with Omar.

Having seen the highlight footage of thomas, i am very excited to see what he can do in bg's predictable running game because he can run with people attached to him.

Sure i have tons of respect for chuck, and steve. However, As much talent as they have, they lack in focus IMO. How many drops did we see this year? I clearly remember one huge one vs wisconsin. I've had and have class with both of them, and i'm not impressed with their mental capacities. Shoot i can count on one hand how many times charles has been to my one class. He wasn't even there for the first several weeks. Steve on the other hand is very good at attending.

turner looked better in his redshirt freshmen year than omar did in his. I remember people worrying about omar before his rs sophmore year. Turner will be fine.

The truth about the defense is it did get better as the season went on, and that should continue now that we don't have to replace a defensive coordinater this year. The defense i think got better as scouting became more thorough during the season. I saw more adjustments at the LOS which put them into better position to make plays as the season progressed.

The special teams hurt us all year. In the beginning the errors were in execution, towards the end of the season they had more mental errors and penalties that prolonged the opponents drives and such.

Also i noticed that the offense didn't click untill the end of the half when it was allowed to pick up the pace. The O clearly had to relax so the defense wasn't on the field all game long. When it was in hurry up mode they moved the chains a lot like they did in 2004. Maybe the Offense wasn't as consistent as 2004, but as previousely stated, those were due to extenuating circumstances which hindered the team from the first game on.

I think next year might be good for the team because they will be under the radar again.

DevilGrad · Post by **DevilGrad** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:28 am

Rightupinthere wrote:
CapitalFalcon wrote:I want us to develop the Conference Swagger Marshall once had.
Marshall had swagger, this is true. It was a part of their paycheck. You do know that the NCAA had issues with their swagger, yes?

Swagger -- Huntington style:

San Diego Falcon · Post by **San Diego Falcon** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:21 pm

quote:
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Originally posted by Jacobs4Heisman:

quote:
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Originally posted by Rightupinthere:

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Originally posted by San Diego Falcon:
I wish we were more like Marshall, but we still got that big win at Purdue. I can't wait for the big game next year against Michigan, but we'd have a better chance if Josh Harris and Urban Meyer were still here, or if we'd change our punt formation.
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Couple of things, friend.

1: You know Marshall CHEATED, don't you? The only reason they won anything is that they paid their players to lean against a mop. The NCAA didn't shine kindly upon them. Once they were caught, they began a downward trend which has continued this year.

2: We're not playing Michigan next year.
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I'm thinking his post was completely tongue-in-cheek. I hope so at least.
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If that's the case, I withdraw my comments and offer my apologies. I do need a winky icon before my morning pot of coffee (and it is literally a pot of coffee.) But that's more of a personal issue.

CapitalFalcon · Post by **CapitalFalcon** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:00 pm

Flipper wrote:
CapitalFalcon wrote: By the tally I have, out of 12 games, we were 2-3 against teams with winning records.
And your tally is wrong...you conviently left out a home win against our ARCH RIVAL......

Sorry...

My Bad...But it still doesn't make up for the fact that most of our victories since the Urban/Brandon turn around are against marginal teams. It's easy to lead in offense areas when you are playing against ho-hum teams. This year was even worse...We beat ONE TEAM that finished the year with a winning record...ONE TEAM! And we still feel that we are a conference powerhouse? That we should be in a bowl game???? That we deserve respect? That commentators that don't give us respect are douchebags? Come on...Let's face it...We may talk about how we can win on any given Saturday (or weekday if ESPN is involved) but given are track record, most likely we are going to lose if it is against a good team.

And my comments about Marshall, I meant in the fact that they won games and that they have large crowds at their events. I don't envy the underhandedness...Are we saying the only way you can win and pack inthe crowds is to cheat???

BelieveNBG · Post by **BelieveNBG** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:30 pm

I think we all know had Omar been healthy and not missed pratically 3 games, this year would have been different. Even the UT game could have been different. Omar had lost his timing and it was quite evident in the UT game. Let's also not forget that we lost another stud...P.J. for most of this season. Had this team been healthy, no doubt in my mind we would be at Ford Field. Coulda...woulda...shoulda...yes this is, but it's the truth.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:06 pm

Believe--I think that's probably true. Of course, we won one of the games anyway, and I think we probably would have beaten Akron but I'm not at all convinced that we would have beaten WMU, but you never know.

Beyond all that, I also think this. The truth to me is that we should have beaten those guys anyway.

BelieveNBG · Post by **BelieveNBG** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:25 pm

Let's not forget that Western couldn't even move the ball on us during the first quarter. They were playing a very lack luster game and looked defeated before the game even got started. Omar went down and our team quickly lost all poise on both sides of the ball. Western picked up the ball and ran it in for the touchdown. At that point, Western still looked shakey, but our offense came back in and couldn't put up points. Western scored again to go ahead in the game. At that point, Western was hyped and our team just totally lost it on both sides of the ball. Our guys couldn't believe that they were losing to Western. We began to play with too much urgency and taking too many risks. The coaches even stood around looking lost and stratching their heads wondering what are we gonna do about Omar. Probably wondering, what are we gonna do about our season, because Omar's injury looked to be season ending. As we stood around in a daze, Western just got more pumped up and won that game on sheer confidence. They went from a beaten team to a highly confident team in the matter of a quarter of play. Heck, maybe in the matter of "one play".

Prior to that game, Westerns only wins were against Temple and Southern Ill (D-1AA), and Buffalo. They had also been beaten by Ball State. Beating BG gave them a renewed confidence that they carried forward into the following weeks. Prior to our game they were still hanging their heads and still caught up in the gloom and doom of the recent past years.

I truly believe we would have won that game.

CapitalFalcon · Post by **CapitalFalcon** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:28 pm

It doesn't matter...We lost big time.

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:37 pm

San Diego Falcon wrote:
quote:
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Originally posted by Jacobs4Heisman:

quote:
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Originally posted by Rightupinthere:

quote:
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Originally posted by San Diego Falcon:
I wish we were more like Marshall, but we still got that big win at Purdue. I can't wait for the big game next year against Michigan, but we'd have a better chance if Josh Harris and Urban Meyer were still here, or if we'd change our punt formation.
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Couple of things, friend.

1: You know Marshall CHEATED, don't you? The only reason they won anything is that they paid their players to lean against a mop. The NCAA didn't shine kindly upon them. Once they were caught, they began a downward trend which has continued this year.

2: We're not playing Michigan next year.
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I'm thinking his post was completely tongue-in-cheek. I hope so at least.
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If that's the case, I withdraw my comments and offer my apologies. I do need a winky icon before my morning pot of coffee (and it is literally a pot of coffee.) But that's more of a personal issue.

Thanks for the three winkies.

Let's raise a barn *ducking*

BelieveNBG · Post by **BelieveNBG** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:40 pm

I think we all know we lost, but we all also know we had some very unexpected circumstances. One thing about mid-major teams...when the stars go down, it is very difficult to win games because we don't have the same depth as the big schools. Playing teams like Wisconsin can put you at risk to injuries and we had key injuries from that game (P.J., Teddy, Corey, etc.). We were still able to win our conference games and we were in darn good shape with a 2 game lead, and then O went down. This proved to be too much for our team to endure and was the final straw.

Look at what happened to UT when Bruce was out for the Fresno game. Look at how things were spriraling out of control for Marshall the year Leftwhich went down...I mean they needed him so bad they carried the guy down the field. Mid-majors can not endure big time injuries and still win the games. We don't have that type of depth.

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:13 pm

CapitalFalcon wrote:It doesn't matter...We lost big time.

Capital, listen - this isn't intended to be a personal attack or me telling someone "how to be a fan." Just some constructive criticism.

We are all wildly dissapointed with the way this season ended. When that fat-ass tight end of Toledo's caught that ball in the 2nd OT, I could literally feel my heart break in two. I'm pretty sure I threw up in my mouth a little bit, too. That being said, in my mind, the only thing relentlessly harping on our failures this past season is going to do at this point is either make people feel even worse, or just make people angry. You aren't the only one still jacked about the loss, and I certainly don't mean to single you out. Hell, if I posted even half of the things I've been feeling since that Toledo loss, Grant would never allow me to post here again, and any of your children that happen upon the board would be asking you what the f-word means and why that Bleeding Orange guy uses it so much!

To borrow a couple of pop. culture/anthropology term, we all have etic knowledge of the failures of this past season, and we all must deal with it emically. I don't think it a positivist statement to say that the best thing we can all do is look to the future (while still bearing in mind the mistakes of the past. Take it from an [evil] historian!

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:23 pm

I just want to express the fact that the team's performance is in no way an indicator of what type of person you are. The success and failure of your chosen team isn't a reflection on YOUR PERSONAL accomplishments.

This game of football is just that - a game. It's not personal. Stop taking it in such a way.

I believe there is a strong correlation in some of the minds on this board. There shouldn't be.

Carry on.

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:25 pm

Rightupinthere wrote:I just want to express the fact that the team's performance is in no way an indicator of what type of person you are. The success and failure of your chosen team isn't a reflection on YOUR PERSONAL accomplishments.

This game of football is just that - a game. It's not personal. Stop taking it in such a way.

I believe there is a strong correlation in some of the minds on this board. There shouldn't be.

Carry on.

Wait, what?

CapitalFalcon · Post by **CapitalFalcon** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:47 pm

I agree with you Bleeding, I think...And it has gotten to the point now where we have so many things mixed into this discussion, that I am not sure what the hell the original point was about. I think it had something to do with Omar going pro...

But my point is, that we as fans get ahead of ourselves a lot. I for one believed all the preseason hype and thought we were could get the W in Madison. I thought we would run the table in the MAC if not all season. So I am guilty as charged. But rather then continuing to believe the facade of what might/could have been, I got more realistic with the product that we are putting on the field.

We get very defensive when anyone is critical of BG's program (i.e., people on this board, commentators on radio or TV) or doesn't show us respect. My WHOLE point is that what has our program done to earn the respect and admiration of people other than the alumni base? Why should anyone at ESPN or Toledo Blade talk about how great of a program BG has when we haven't proven anything. And even if we would win the MACC next year, we still haven't proven anything. For more people to support the team. For more "respect" outside of BG or even Northwestern Ohio, for more people to care about the program than students, alumni, or townies, we need to win. You can't in one breath talk about how so-in-so is a douchebag because he is talking crap about "Mid-Major programs" not being able to compete, and then in the next breath talk about how Mid-Major teams have it worse when one of their key players fall down. You can't have it both ways. Either you can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime or you can't. That's my whole point.

We complain endlessly about how crappy our facilities are. How the Sebo might not get built. How we have lousy attendance. How people don't support us. My whole point is that until we start winning some games we aren't predicted to win and quit losing games we shouldn't, we will continue to grumble about facilities, attendance, and lack of overall support. I mean am I wrong in that assessment?

Best of Luck to Omar

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