CaribbeanGreen

Oh, I agree. It's all fun - and I still think we agree more than disagree. I read you earlier as saying the O-Line's inexperience effectively explained away the offensive output at FIU. I think they were part of a puzzle that included a immobile, young QB, a bit of shock effect when the lights came on, and a litany of WR's dropping balls. Now that the dust is settled, I'm sure you probably agree and weren't saying the OL was the ONLY reason. My bad. The "no excuses" thing is just may way of saying you CAN win with a young OL. Not that it's easy or that we will, but I DO think we'll get a lot better with this very group this year. That said, probably not next week. Have you seen this Houston game?

Not "shortfalls" per se... One game. Looking at other young and rebuilding programs gives me added confidence that we'll get there as well. Others with similar handicaps are performing well, ergo so can we. I wouldn't trade our staff/facility/location with many. Long term, we're in a great position. We'll be a lot better by our next Belt game, too.

31-14 Coogs at halftime. Katy bar the door.

Good for them. None of this is relevant, because it's an inaugural season. It happens. But, yay! Let's get a burger at Chris Madrid's and high five.

Okay - honest question here, because my knowledge of ISU football is limited at best.... ... We all know ISU had a history of being terrible. I mean, staggeringly so. What led to McCarney's turnaround? What was the timeline like? I know our situation is different - it's both harder to recruit TO and easier to win IN the Belt. Still, it's interesting to look at past results when thinking about future performance - especially when some similarities are there. McCarney took over a Cyclone squad that had been winless in 1994. The previous two seasons (92-93), ISU had only won 4 and 3. He inherited a team thought to have the poorest talent in the then Big 8, save for eventual Heisman finalist and stud RB Troy Davis, who was the unquestioned bright spot in the midst of a dismal era. Sound familiar? McCarney's first five seasons featured the following records.. Davis put up big numbers, but it didn't translate into wins. 3-8 2-9 1-10 3-8 4-7 The turnaround came in earnest in the 2000 season, when the Cyclones won 9 games, including the Insight.com bowl. While it's doubtful he'd be extended such a long leash in today's climate, he was, and it paid off. So, my question is this... ... in 2000, Sage Rosenfels, who has carved out a nice, long NFL career, led ISU to that turnaround. He was replaced by Seneca Wallace, who helped engineer two 7 win seasons and two bowl games (both losses - the 7 wins were all regular season wins on a Big XII slate). After Wallace went pro, the win total plummeted to 2. Mac did manage two more 7 win seasons, and was then fired after sliding back to 4. So, the question - is it as simple as Rosenfels and Wallace? Of course there are other factors, but was McCarney's career at ISU defined primarily by getting excellent QB play by two future NFL QB's? Maybe Yellow Snow or someone else is around to help me answer this, because I's be curious how other areas of the team progressed and if it felt that simple in Ames.

Isn't there a UTEP game on or something? A message board moderated by you would really, really suck. Let's just stop looking at any trends, any other teams, discussing our only game, or projecting any results. Soooo... helmet stickers? I like our potential more than USU also. A lot more. Never said otherwise. Not bagging on the team at all. I'm the one who thinks we're better than we showed. I'm not making excuses - neither is McCarney. I'll bet we get a lot better this very season. That said, me and the hundreds of other people still discussing the FIU game and looking at other programs and our similarities/differences to them are probably going to continue doing so. That's what college football message boards do. I don't know what crawled up your undies, but you're the one who started off the middle school "you just don't get it" BS with me Thursday night. It happens, people get worked up. That very night, I pointed out I think we agree more than disagree, extended an olive branch, and was summarily ignored. So while you hold the world's lamest grudge and keep taking snotty little shots at me, I'll keep having rational football discussions with others here - even those I may not agree with on every little point. In other words.... I don't even know what the eff you're arguing. So, thanks... Move On.

10-7 Coogs, 12 minutes left in the 2nd. UCLA has the momentum and the ball, but the Houston D just knocked out the Bruins' QB.

Absolutely not... but I do think it was better than it showed on Thursday. I expect to see season long improvement with this same talent that's being mocked, and the excuses to be dropped pretty quickly.

So where should we set our expectations, if not to the level of perennial loser Utah State - with a true freshman QB and sophomores all over the line? I'm not panicking, haven't lost any faith in the staff, am excited about the future (and LOVE starting kids)... BUT, I expect we'll see much better than in Miami. Yes, I think that even McCarney ver. 1 is better than it showed against FIU. I may not have done the best job of articulating this in the past, but my point is that I feel like our expectations for the year were, are, and should be higher than what we did against FIU. I believe we're better than that, even in this phase of rebuilding. I think it was just a bad, flat night, and NOT the norm. No, I don't expect to be very good or win a bunch of games - but I do think we'll be in games beyond the 1st quarter and will score offensive points this year. I don't feel like the mantra of "lower your expectations" and the excuses of starting young guys is shared by McCarney or the staff. I think they'd agree they expected to score points and expect to be more competitive. It was a really bad night. We'll probably have more like it... but I don't think the offensive gap between NT and USU - both young teams with dismal recent history - is the same as 0 vs. FIU and 38 vs. Auburn. I expect those to be outliers, and feel like this staff and these players will figure some things out.

Looks like a good crowd on TV. Nice atmosphere for the Coogs. Opening drive, and Keenum looks sharp. Lots of easy completions, mixing in a few runs... already inside the Bruin 40.

Yep. Utah State hasn't won more than 4 games since.. get this... 2000. ..and they roll into Auburn with freshmen and sophomores all over the most critical offensive positions and put up 38 points on the champs. Glimmer of hope.

A couple of crotch-kick finishes so far today. Ugh. (still, I'd take it over what happened Thursday...)

Worse - only because Baylor won. This was a potential program-maker for USU. Now, it's just a soon to be forgotten footnote.

Meltdown. Gotta feel for the USU offense. There's time for a miracle, but....

Raiders trying to hang on... nice win for the Belt if they can avoid the Boilers' comeback...

True Freshman QB (from Texas), three sophomores on an inexperienced O-Line... and they've gone into Auburn and put up 38 on the National Champs. No excuses. It can be done. (never mind the fact that Auburn looks like they're gonna win this. It's too bad USU's defense and special teams are collapsing.)

I agree with this 100%, but it seems a lot here did based on game night discussion. Still find that surprising and defeatist, even by NT standards. I don't expect the offense to get shut out in conference again. Not even a little - excuses be damned.

great, great point. That explains a lot if you revisit the game. I'm willing to throw the young o-line under the bus for the shutout, but there's no doubt they were a mere part of a much bigger issue. Hopefully we can adapt quickly.

Speaking of young teams, Utah State starts 3 sophomores on the OL, has only 1 senior, and a TRUE Freshman at QB (from Cypress, TX, btw)... and has gone into Auburn and punched the national champs in the mouth, up 21-7 in the 2nd quarter and dominating T-O-P. They'll probably lose, but they're putting up points with new starters galore and a much bigger talent gap than we had. I stand by what I said. You can and should be expected to score with new starters. We had a bad, bad, BAD night in Miami, and I expect that to turn around - even if it doesn't translate into wins and huge numbers this season. It won't - CAN'T- be expected, excused or become the norm. All I've said this whole thread. Stand by it.

Prediction looking good after the start of this drive... .... TCU's kicker has been bad tonight. That's a concern.

Baylor with a gut check drive out of the ashes. In FG range with under 3 minutes.

Baylor is the Chernobyl of football right now. Epic.