Gregg Brandon

[Dr. Bucko]

Good response 1987. You seem to have a handle on the stats/details --- certainly more than I do. My responses are simply based on what I saw --- I didn't see much athleticism on the field, especially on the defensive side of the ball. You may be right about the recruits; it's what they do on the field that counts, but still, such a low ranking on a National Basis gives cause for concern. We'll see how it all pans out at the end of the 2006 season. I'll buy my season tickets, but I don't have a lot of optimism/faith in the program (especially the coaching staff). Coaching does make a difference. PS I appreciated your indepth input. It was informative/unbiased. PPS I don't feel sorry for Brandon and the flack he's been getting. Coaches know when they go into this profession (especially Div I) that they gotta produce and their big pay checks confirm that understanding. A lot of those guys can have miserable seasons, get fired, but still laugh all the way to the bank. It goes with the trade/profession. ---- Good teams both win and entertain, and they do so on a CONSISTENT basis.

[1987alum]

Bucko:

If Brandon is going to continue as a HC (@ BG or anywhere else), you're right that he's going to have to learn to live with this sort of criticism. That's just part of the job.

I wasn't happy with what I saw on the field this year, either. I'm still stuck on the fundamentals. It seemed that players were very often in position to make a play. That's a mark of a good scheme and, usually, good athleticism. All too often, though, we simply missed tackles. That's something good coaching should correct. We got manhandled up front, too, and I think that's an ongoing problem that we need to address through recruiting (cue falconboy!) and conditioning.

EDITED TO ADD:
I would maintain, too, that the lack of athleticism on the defensive side of the ball predates GB.

[hammb]

I do think we lacked some athleticism on defense, mostly at the LB spot, but I think you're dead on '87 about our biggest problem. Across the board our biggest problem this season was fundamentals.

Our defense was among the worst tackling defenses I've EVER seen.
Our OL took a HUGE step back from the level they played at last year (I know the loss of Scott M. was big).


Fundamentals, fundamentals. If you block well & tackle well you will be a good football team, I don't care how you much you lack in athleticism. Conversely, if you don't block well & don't tackle well you will be a bad football team, no matter how athletic you may be.

What we saw this past year, IMO, was a team that was superior than most of it's opponents athletically, but had no concepts of the fundamentals. I would still like to add some speed at the LB spot, because I do think that's one area where we were not up to par athletically.


Looking at this year's recruiting class it looks like we're in on some of the best players I've seen us recruit in the past few years. We've got a good deal of *** & ** guys considering us, many of them are among the top 100 at their position. The one concern that OptionQB & I have discussed, however, is that it seems as though we're the 2nd or 3rd choice for many of these guys, and that's not good. It's fun to say we recruited against Iowa & Cincinnati, but if we don't start winning some of those battles we'll be in bad shape down the road.

As for last year's recruiting class, I know they weren't ranked that highly, but I really liked what I saw from Lewis, Smith, and Thomas. It's not very often that we get that much production from true freshmen.

[1987alum]

Fundamentals, fundamentals. If you block well & tackle well you will be a good football team, I don't care how you much you lack in athleticism. Conversely, if you don't block well & don't tackle well you will be a bad football team, no matter how athletic you may be.

Dead on, there, hammb. Executing fundamentals can make up for a lot of other shortcomings.

I would still like to add some speed at the LB spot, because I do think that's one area where we were not up to par athletically.

The fact that Brandon was moving several DBs to LB last year was a clear indication that he agrees with you. That's a stopgap measure, I think. I like that he (or Lovett) moved Briggs to LB in addition to using him as a rush end. The kid is quick and appears to be a good athlete, the type of guy we need on the front seven. I believe we'll see Brandon moving more athletes to that front seven, because he sees the same games we do.

Moving Arnold and Waldron (and whoever else got bumped up) to LB and moving Briggs around indicates that GB/JL want to get more athletes on the field. I like that trend - a lot. If they can do that and instill stronger fundamentals, we could look a lot better next year.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Looking beyond Brandon, I think this is a big year for Lovett in BG also. I was very high on him coming into the program, and I liked some of the scheme things I saw later in the year. More line shifting, blitzing, etc.

I'm very excited to see what he can do with the full offseason to instill his schemes and focus on fundamentals.

[Flipper]

Our DLine has trouble getting off blocks too. It makes it hard to stop the run when your tying uo the front four like that.

[joker361]

I agree with some of what Hammb says. We need to improve our fundamentals. They can make a huge difference. I will say, watching the Toledo game I was pretty pleased with our front seven. They played lights out and I think or DC is really starting to put some stuff together. Yes, they did struggle against Wisconsin, but lets keep in mind that there running back was a freak in that game, his stats were huge. Yes, we did get pushed around but I really believe that our defense just wasn't 100 percent confident in the DC's schemes. But I still maintain that if we want to be a top level program and consistenly beat some of the big dogs we need to work on our zone coverages, or whatever coverages we have, with our DB's. We have some pretty good athletes back there i.e. Antonio Smith (Not to mention the fact that Dozier was a highly touted recruit in the state) but our coaches aren't putting them in position to make plays on the ball. You can stop a team and 1st and 2nd down, but if they are constantly convert on a third and long what good is it.
Finally, with the firing of Gary Barnett at Colorado, I wonder if GB will be interested. He did coach there in the past, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

[Falconfreak90]

Personally, I think Brandon is a joke. The program has been going down hill more and more each year the last 3 seasons. He doesn't know how to coach in game and espicially, doesn't know how to recruit anybody other then at QB, RB, and WR. He needs to start recruiting some defensive players, espicially defensive lineman. Did you see how their D line got manhandled by the Wisconsin o-line? The only reason why Brandon was so sucessful his first year was that he was using Urban Meyers players. That's why are team has gotten worse and worse over the last 3 years. If we don't get rid of Brandon soon, who knows how bad our record will be next year.

replies would be great

I think you should forward your resume to Paul Krebs. You obviously know EVERYTHING we need to have in a head coach.

Well played, transfer. If all the folks that think Coach Brandon is such a joke, then let's see them do it better.

I won't comment on Coach Brandon anymore. I think most folks know I stand behind him 100% at this time. See what happens the next couple years before ya run the man outta town.

[da3mite]

Ok, maybe I got a little overdramatic with the first post. It was because I am still very angry over the loss to Toledo, and having a 6-5 record this year with such high expectations. We were even put in the top 25 at the beggining of the season in the Sports Illustrated poll and all we could accomplish is a 6-5? I am just being all negative here is because I was just very frustrated with the team this year.

[Bleeding Orange]

Ok, maybe I got a little overdramatic with the first post. It was because I am still very angry over the loss to Toledo, and having a 6-5 record this year with such high expectations. We were even put in the top 25 at the beggining of the season in the Sports Illustrated poll and all we could accomplish is a 6-5? I am just being all negative here is because I was just very frustrated with the team this year.

da3mite, we all have been and continue to be frustrated by the way this past season ended up. That being said, this is no way to introduce yourself to a message board.

I hope you can get over your frustration and contribute to these forums constructively. If anything, no one can doubt your enthusiasm!

[transfer2BGSU]

Ok, maybe I got a little overdramatic with the first post. It was because I am still very angry over the loss to Toledo.

Hoss, I hate to tell you this, but you are about to be in for one very long year if you can't let go of something that happened over two weeks ago.

[hamjunior]

Ok, maybe I got a little overdramatic with the first post. It was because I am still very angry over the loss to Toledo, and having a 6-5 record this year with such high expectations. We were even put in the top 25 at the beggining of the season in the Sports Illustrated poll and all we could accomplish is a 6-5? I am just being all negative here is because I was just very frustrated with the team this year.

da3mite, we all have been and continue to be frustrated by the way this past season ended up. That being said, this is no way to introduce yourself to a message board.

I hope you can get over your frustration and contribute to these forums constructively. If anything, no one can doubt your enthusiasm!

Well put Bleeding!!!!

[da3mite]

Bleeding Orange, the message boards I have been to in the past, (for different things then BGSU) most of the things they said were negative. So I guess I have never been to a real message board and I hope you guys show me what a real message board is like because so far this one looks like no fluke.

[hamjunior]

Bleeding Orange, the message boards I have been to in the past, (for different things then BGSU) most of the things they said were negative. So I guess I have never been to a real message board and I hope you guys show me what a real message board is like because so far this one looks like no fluke.

Oh s**t, Here We Go!!!!

[Bleeding Orange]

Bleeding Orange, the message boards I have been to in the past, (for different things then BGSU) most of the things they said were negative. So I guess I have never been to a real message board and I hope you guys show me what a real message board is like because so far this one looks like no fluke.

Hey now, I didn't mean to sound condescending there. I guess I was just surprised by your attitude in this thread based upon your awesome opening statement in your first thread. Please don't take it personally, though. If you go back a couple of weeks in the archives, you will see exactly why myself and a number of others are completely soured on this type of attitude.