TheTastyGreek

Medical redshirt eligible? Maybe he'll be here next year to open the new stadium.

Or Joe Miller, who wanted to apply for a medical redshirt and was refused.

Noble doesn't list as a redshirt, either in his listing or his bio... I think he may have been a greyshirt like Boutwell was. A greyshirt from last year wouldn't have their eligibility clock start until this season. Could still redshirt. As frustrating as it is that the walk-ons are the only ones left with redshirt potential... That is what we did with Casey Fitzgerald. I don't know if anyone is going to be anywhere near the player he turned out to be. Odds are, nobody will be. But we'd never have known if he hadn't redshirted in 2004. At this point, if it saves anyone at all... At least that serves a purpose. Keeping a coach around after he's been terminated doesn't do anything positive for us.

Anyone who wants to bail out on the Oct. 2nd game, let me know. I've got company coming down from Wisconsin. Took me to Lambeau Field, Wrigley Field, old County Stadium... He and my dad went to Ripon and Lawrence, the Texas/OU of D-III private Wisconsin schools. My first ever tailgating experience was with this family friend. I'm going to try and show him the best tailgate he's ever seen in his life, and I'll bring as many other guests out as I possibly can. Not fishing for tickets... But anyone who doesn't want to show up (I totally understand and don't criticize), I'll find someone to use that ticket and show them the best time they can possibly have at a potentially 0-4 coaching death march in progress. If you aren't coming, I'll find a local and try to make them a new fan. Did it in 2007 for SMU (spent about $6-700 on food and tickets for first time UNT viewers on that game) and it seemed to get at least a few new people to hop on board and somehow ride out the Dodge era. Maybe it can happen again.

I still contend that if Andrew Smith doesn't die, OR Joey Byerly does his homework, OR Daniel Meager gets healthy fast enough to actually participate in practice and use his full arm strength in his freshman season... We never go off the cliff and none of the past 6 years of misery ever happens. If it hadn't been for the series of tragedy/stupidity/disaster at QB, we wouldn't have collapsed. We probably wouldn't have gone undefeated again, but we damn sure wouldn't have dropped to 9 losses.

I'd agree if we hadn't already seen 3 years of guys playing limited, absurd minutes and then getting little or no use thereafter. Several of those burned shirts played against Clemson and haven't seen the field since, injuries be damned. Doesn't make any sense to me. In 4 or 5 plays, did we SUDDENLY realize that someone wasn't ready and they oughtn't play again this year? And, if so, why didn't we realize that after spring and fall camp? Abbe played against Clemson, hasn't seen any activity since. Boutwell played against Rice, but not against Clemson or Army. Teegarden, a 177 pound true freshman QB recruit, played against Clemson and hasn't played again since. Drew Miller, a true freshman and one of SIX tight ends on the roster, played against Army and Army only. Redshirt freshman Austin Fitzpatrick didn't see the field yesterday. Neither did Junior TE Jamie Olawale. NO tight ends caught ANY passes. None have caught any passes ALL YEAR. We've only even thrown to a tight end TWICE in THREE GAMES. They only go in there to block! Did we absolutely HAVE to burn that potential redshirt? Would it have killed us to let one of those other, older, bigger, more experienced tight ends go in and block instead? Byrd may be able to contribute this year... But is his contribution going to overshadow Lance Dunbar? And James Hamilton? And if he's so explosive we ABSOLUTELY MUST USE HIM RIGHT NOW NOW NOW, why does he have only two carries? And none in the past two games, when our offense has struggled and looked out of sorts? We can't find enough carries for our most explosive, dangerous weapon (or his explosive, dangerous backup), but we've absolutely got to have Byrd use up a year of eligibility on special teams? And not as a returner, where he might actually be able to use his speed and elusiveness to improve our field position or score points? I don't think Dodge would burn redshirts as a "middle finger" to the fans. I think he'd do it because he's proven to be completely inept at utilizing the potential 5th year to develop a bigger, better, more trained talent pool. We keep throwing guys out there, year after year, to do basically NOTHING and forego a possible year of actual contributions somewhere down the line. If the last coach followed the same philosophy Dodge does regarding giving underutilized players a year to learn and grow and develop, we would have started this season without our starting QB, half our offensive line, and our best defensive player. Anyone who is enjoying Craig Robertson's work on defense this year should stop to consider that under the current philosophy, Robertson would have graduated last year. Because he would have played a handful of snaps on special teams in the 3rd and 6th game of his true freshman year, and not seen the field at all otherwise. If he's fired, he needs to be gone and we need to do as much damage control as we can on saving the future eligibility of as many of our athletes as possible. Once the year is written off as lost, we play with the roster we have and try to secure the best possible future we can for the years to come.

I can't imagine a first year coach not utilizing a star running back, especially in an offense that occasionally bogs down and can't move the ball at critical times. /Jamario'd.

For when you shit yourself on a weekly basis. 34 times.

Remember: Whatever you may have said or done, at least you didn't get yourself thrown out of a game. Scoreboard on the boss. You should definitely come back. Though I strongly, STRONGLY encourage you to stick to your instincts and wait until next football season to do it. Study hard, get ahead on your school work, then jump back in with both feet when the circumstances are less frustrating. Basketball, on the other hand, starts in just 52 days...

We've caught at least two notable breaks. And a lot of tears... pulls... separations...

I hope that if he doesn't get to 7 wins, whatever place he winds up coaching next year provides him with the sort of fans you feel he's entitled to. If he wants to donate back all the salary he's earned under his contract, I promise I'll give him one last standing ovation on his way out the door.

Nothing good can come of leaving him on as an interim guy. Absolutely nothing positive. But it could work out to be a negative decision. The most obvious one (to me) is Dodge's propensity to burn potential redshirts. Brelan Chancellor got his shirt burned today so he could execute a 2 yard punt return. Anyone who thinks Dodge saw Arkansas State last year as his last game and last shot at a win was particularly upset about the Derek Thompson decision because Dodge would never have to deal with the potential consequences. I don't want to open up that can of worms again... But if it had turned out to be Dodge's last game, the fallout would have been more real and justified than anything we heard about black jerseys. I'm sure a lot of other people can point out other examples of guys who played a handful of snaps on special teams or got throw in the fire for no apparent reason late in the year as true freshmen. NT03 mentioned John Weber's action last year when I saw him at the Pourhouse today. Anyway... When he's got nothing to lose for his own future, I don't want him determining the future eligibility of our players. When we broke camp this year, we had Nathan Tune, Victor Gill, Esteban Santiago, and Craig Robertson starting as 5th year seniors. Whatever anyone may think about their performance so far, they were starters because the coach who inherited them chose to play them. And he had the choice to play them as 5th year seniors because the coach who recruited them allowed them to redshirt as freshmen. I want to make sure that the next coach, if there is a next coach, gets the same opportunity to use as much of the talent on this roster as possible. It's already too late for Aaron Bellazin, Brandin Byrd, Brelan Chancellor, Drew Miller, Zach Orr, Richard Abbe, Ryan Boutwell, Zach Olen, Jose Serrano, Derek Teegarden, and Will Wright. But it's not too late for Ricky Broxton, John Dodson, Blake Dunham, Shelton Gandy, Jared Harrison, Graylan Hawkins, Joshua Hunt, Antonio Johnson, John Noble, Wesley Racht, Konockus Sashington, Nick Summerfield, James Tandy, and Mason Y'Barbo. As soon as loss 6 hits, you appoint an interim and inform him that anyone who is still redshirt eligible (and the list is dwindling, just 3 games into the season) is untouchable. Because I don't trust Dodge to care about the long term future of this team if he's already been fired.

This, I don't agree with. I really, REALLY think that if/when a change gets made, it should be immediate and we should name an interim coach to finish out the year.

It's a gutterball that ought to earn someone a trip to the penalty box, that's for sure. SHUTTLECOCK.

It's a testament to what this program is capable of becoming that we keep building the fan base despite what we've been through the past 5 and a quarter seasons. It's amazing that new plants keep growing in soil that gets heavily salted every year. Welcome to the board. If you haven't already, consider checking out the basketball team. It's a brilliant shining light during a pretty dark period in our revenue sports.

I agree, but that's not a position that's going to get much support. And, odds are pretty high that if JJ gets a viable (i.e.: one we can't match) offer after this season, it's a BCS caliber offer and not just another mid-major transfer. As long as we keep enough cash in the till to avoid losing JJ to another non-power conference (BCS + A-10) school, go ahead and almost break the bank on a football coach.

Agree again. We said the guy had a chance to win 7 games to save his job, and he's still got enough chances to make it happen. Unless he decides to resign, you've got to give him through loss #6 to try and do it. The 7 win ultimatum is what kept the torches and pitchforks at bay in the offseason. But when you set the bar, you have to let the guy try to clear it.

I pretty much agree with your pretty much agreement. Luckily, I had at least one +1 left today.

He got a mulligan. This year is it. I'm sincere when I say that it sucks that the injuries are costing him the opportunity to take advantage of the reprieve, but that's the way it's going.

And we're doing it to a guy who has been a class act and fantastic visitor, too. That'll teach polite, friendly, reasonable fans of opposing schools!

Also have John Dodson, freshman walk-on from Bishop Lynch on the roster. I know that after last year, Dodge doesn't want to travel without 4 QBs, so I hope Mr. Dodson has a suitcase packed for Boca Raton.

53 days.

You've been a very gracious fan and a great presence on our board. Thank you for visiting with us, congrats on yet another win against us... And please don't be a stranger in the future.