Thoughts from the game....

[ipEAGLE]

Lets start off with The GOOD: Fouts looked pretty decent tonight with 23,000 fans packed in along with the new turf and various other improvements. Rick V. came over to the main gate to take tickets when the line got extremely long (Folks no other AD in D1A would do this... we have to keep him here for along time, RICK V. WE APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!!!)

The BAD:

We got outplayed... we got outcoached BIG TIME! Our players gave up after the 3rd quarter. Did I mention we got outcoached.... OUR PLAYERS/COACHES should not sleep a wink tonight after their performance at on the field today!

What pissed me off was the 'wingettes' or whatever they call themselves ( they sit in the stands with their outfits to match the 'Wings' out on the field ). Basically what they did the whole damn game was tell the fans behind them to stop throwing tortillas because we are not 'Texas Tech' and that is very stupid. They got to the game in the second quarter then left at half time and then came back in the 3rd to leave again in the middle of the 4th quarter. As they were walking out I said loudly "Real fans don't leave early" and with their prissy voices "we are real fans".... I bet 10 bucks they had no clue what the score even was!!!!!!!!!

WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TALENT ON THIS YEARS TEAM TO WIN WITH REGULAR DICKEY STYLE BALL... WE HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. WE CAN NOT PLAY POWER FOOTBALL BECAUSE OUR TEAM LOOKS TO BE THE SMALLEST TEAM IN DIVISION 1A!!!!

RANT OFF/////

[ipEAGLE]

Forgot... THE GOOD: The firework show was great, best part of the night.

[wizade]

This was a really bad loss for the program... 23,000 fans (lots of first time people and students) that will not make the effort to come out again.

We have to compete in these OOC games.

[flyonthewall]

We did not recruit a punter, we relied on a quarteback that did not go to class, our d-line that could have helped us flunked out, and we were exposed tonight

[ipEAGLE]

BTW, how about that GREEN BRIGADE?!!! They sounded awesome and looked great with their new uniforms.

[Got5onIt]

We did not recruit a punter, we relied on a quarteback that did not go to class, our d-line that could have helped us flunked out, and we were exposed tonight

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You've got to remember. Meager was, supposedly, neck & neck with Byerly until the injury set him back giving Byerly the final edge he needed to win the job. If that's the truth, I really don't think Byerly would've helped much.

The real question we should be asking, who evaluates talent at the Qb position and why was a push for a legitimate JuCo QB not made a priority? I know the OL's play doesn't help either...

Edited September 18, 2005 by Got5onIt

[ipEAGLE]

Why did we put in Phillips? He looked terrible.

[Got5onIt]

Why did we put in Phillips?  He looked terrible.

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I think FFR hit the nail on the head with this post:

"When Phillips came in, his first snap was a roll out to the right and our recievers were heading long down field, but the ball was blown dead at the snap due to a delay of game or something yet Phillips continued his roll out. At that point it was obvious we were going to try something different, possibly a stronger arm at QB. And Tulsa knew it as well. They read that and blitzed the remaining plays Phillips was in there, sacking him at least once, maybe twice. This told Tulsa that Meager can't throw long due to his shoulder. 35 yards seems to be his range and Quinn has yet to have a ball thrown in front of him. He's had to stop on every long throw so far. Due to this, we currently cannot stretch a defense to open the running lanes. Our coaches are in a pickle right now on offense and I'm not sure what else they can do to change it. "

[MootPoint]

You've got to remember. Meager was, supposedly,  neck & neck with Byerly until the injury set him back giving Byerly the final edge he needed to win the job.  If that's the truth, I really don't think Byerly would've helped much.

The real question we should be asking, who evaluates talent at the Qb position and why was a push for a legitimate JuCo QB not made a priority? I know the OL's play doesn't help either...

←

I really think that, for some reason or another, the injury Meager had to his shoulder hasn't come even close to healing. There is no way he should even be a QB if he can't throw the ball more than 25-30 yards. It looked to me like his range has gotten worse since the MTSU game.

[ipEAGLE]

Remember how a lot of the people on this board expected DD to take over a coaching job somwhere else... but with this performance tonight why would any other school want him?

I know we are all really mad right now... but why can't our coaching staff get us prepared for out of conference games? Is the SUN BELT that bad?

[Guest JohnDenver]

I agree. His range looks terrible ... worse than in practive.

I really think that, for some reason or another, the injury Meager had to his shoulder hasn't come even close to healing.  There is no way he should even be a QB if he can't throw the ball more than 25-30 yards.  It looked to me like his range has gotten worse since the MTSU game.

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[gangrene]

This was. by far, THE MOST embarrassing loss of my lifetime!!!!!!

Edited September 18, 2005 by gangrene

[risinggreen]

If DM can only throw the ball 25/30 yards then we need to start recruiting the middle schools. Hell, I could throw that far accurately when I was in the sixth grade! How about Haynes? His numbers in high school were unbelievable. If not, bring in Mills. At least he's got some age on him!

[Rudy]

The real question we should be asking, who evaluates talent at the Qb position and why was a push for a legitimate JuCo QB not made a priority? I know the OL's play doesn't help either...

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I believe the QB coach goes by the name of ramon flannigan.

Enough said.

[ipEAGLE]

Not to make this loss worse... but I heard Tulsa didn't even play their starting tailback.

[meangreen2012]

Hmm the good....

Well the green brigade was good I must agree, great atmosphere

The bad

We quit at half time no question ( if we ever really got going). I was expecting us to come blazing at halftime didnt happen.

The Ugly

The O line- Holy crap you cant do anything offensivly when the you have no protection, but even when the QBs had time they still made dumb decesions.

anyways... I think we'll bounce back. Its just like TCU against SMU.

We did not recruit a punter, we relied on a quarteback that did not go to class, our d-line that could have helped us flunked out, and we were exposed tonigh

Im a decent punter, I might try to walk on in 2 years.

[Got5onIt]

Not to make this loss worse... but I heard Tulsa didn't even play their starting tailback. 

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In trying to stay in line with tonights theme....

yes this makes teh loss 100X's worse!

[KingDL1]

In trying to stay in line with tonights theme....

yes this makes teh loss 100X's worse!

←

y'all went and did it and I hope you are happy.

I threw-up again!

[Rudy]

The good: After the game, as flanigan went down to the field, I turned to some other fans and said, rather loudly, "Hey, whenever they line up 9 ( N I N E) men in the box, lets run up the middle." fanny gave me an ahole fu stare. I gave him one back, hoping that little effer would come over to me.

The bad: This is the first year that I have bought season tickets. I spend hard earned money to see that embarassment. I AM PISSED!

[MootPoint]

The good:  After the game, as flanigan went down to the field, I turned to some other fans and said, rather loudly, "Hey, whenever they line up 9 ( N I N E) men in the box, lets run up the middle."  fanny gave me an ahole fu stare.  I gave him one back, hoping that little effer would come over to me. 

The bad:  This is the first year that I have bought season tickets.  I spend hard earned money to see that embarassment.  I AM PISSED!

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I am so disenchanted with our coaching staff. Unless we play against a team with less talent, we have no hope. And even when we play against a team with less talent (FAU last year), we can get outcoached and lose the game.

[eleazar]

First let me say that I am a lifelong saints fan. What does this have to do with tonight? It means that I am used to watching a losing team so I know after a loss what typical fan reactions and overreactions happen such as those tonight. That said, I am actually in agreement with most of what has been said.

I would usually say that after such a beat down, people would overreact but tonight was not just a group of inexperienced young players getting out played by a better team. It was the little things that really bothered me. The number of penalties is just inexcusable and is a reflection of the coach. You don't have to have talent to avoid personal fouls.

The other thing that really stuck out in my mind was our total lack of preparation regarding the tight end. He had something like 150 yards against OU last week yet he was uncovered for most of the game and not because of out of position players, rather, scheme.

Last, I could just tell by the play calling at the beginning of the game when it was still close that the staff has no confidence in the QB position in general. I know that this is to be expected with a freshman but if I can sniff out that they are scared to call any pass plays up in the stands, I am sure that opposing defenses are salivating. You have to at least give the impression that you aren't scared to go for it.

EDIT: oh and PS, the green brigade looked great tonight. I love the new unies. Reminds me of a cross between the cavies and the devils for all you dci guys.

Edited September 18, 2005 by eleazar

[eulesseagle]

My humble thoughts on the game:

1. Got to disagree with the punter.....I believe this was one of the brighter sides of the game. This kid can kick. With the wind he was nailing them. Against the wind....well Tulsa didn't do better.

2. On Phillips at QB the first series he played he didn't get in until the clock was down to 18-19 seconds.....and that happened twice!! not his fault as it was the fault of the coaches.

3. Coach Dickey in his post game interview took the blame on himself for the game. He did not blame anyone but himself. He said the Tulsa coach "out coached him."

4. If it was not for the five turnovers in the MUTS game we would have lost by 25-30 points.

5. Let's face it.........

a) This is another OOC loss.

Tulsa put some big time whooop a__s on us at Fouts.

c) We don't have a mature offensive line, yet, this year making the holes for the RBs

d) We don't have a mature defensive line, yet, this year to stop anything!

e) We lack experience at QB even though Meager looks promising.

f) We still have a chance of another Sun Belt Championship again.

6. Unfortunately DD has to play with the experience he has. Unfortunately DD did not adjust his game plan to correspond with the talent he has. Heck, I thought after the first two series he was coming out passing for this game!! Then for the rest of the game it was DD ball again.

7. The Ramon Flanigan comment: Aw man, that was awful to say the least, "sophmorish."

8. This is the same diatribe that everyone says about DD about all OOC games but, you know, DD has always finds a way to improve during the year.

9. For one, I still have faith in DD and Flanigan. This was just one game and you know the coaching staff learned some lessons.

10. That is all I got to say.

[SouthBendGreen]

I can't believe that you guys are this surprised. After watching the team last week and knowing the talent level this shouldn't be that much of a shock. I guess the only shock was the final score. I never posted my predication because I didn't want to get flamed, but to my dismay the game played out the way I thought it would. We aren't that good, but luckily in the Sun Belt that doesn't really matter.