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mat1992

Is there hope?

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I wish I can find a Coach Albert cliche' (RIP) about righting the ship, but to most, that ship has sunk. To me, after an expected blowout loss to a good San Diego State team, if Rob doesn't make major personnel and schematic (or coaching) changes during that bye week, this is going to end up being a 4-7 or 3-8 season. Do we need to change to a 4-3 defense to fit our players? Do we have the talent at linebacker to play a 3-4? Is Ferguson the guy to lead us to the playoffs? Do we need to go to a more mobile QB in Amendola? What happened to Sabias Folley and Kobe Young? Why didn't they get more time this week at running back? Howard can't do it himself, though he's the best back by far. Who plays right guard? Do you go back to Alex Desire if he's healthy? Is Darrian Bryant healthy enough to start at right tackle so they can move DeMarcus Gilmore to right guard? Do they make other changes on the left side of the line? Do we scrap the power and go with a more quick hit, West Coast offense? Guess not, but it's something to consider because even if the upcoming competition is not as good as ND State and SD State, we still need more balance. This is not 2013, where we could just pound the ball with T-West behind that great O-line. We do need to establish Howard, but also have some balance as well. Every team we play will stack the box and try to force us to throw. If you had a bit of a run option with a QB like Amendola, that could change things up and make the defense think.

I'll admit I was wrong about this team, because I thought I saw a potentially outstanding defense in preseason. It wasn't just the transfers including Mark Collins. Elorm Lumor, Darrien Reynolds, Mason Cholewa, Oly Okombi, Tramar Reece, and Keyvon Bruton. Most of these guys were productive FBS or FCS players. It also appeared that we had nice depth from their current players. They weren't stars, but when you look at the key contributors on the 2013 team guys like Delaire (UMass) and Telvion Clark (Va. Tech) were great fits and did play some at an FBS level. 

Now some are hurt. Cholewa is playing injured from what I'm told. Olokombi has missed the last two games as has Lumor. You might as well not played them against the Aztecs and let them rest an extra two weeks. Collins has been really good. Cholewa has just been a role player, but as I've mentioned, he's been limited. Due to Lumor's injury at OLB, they've started Nygil Johnson (ineffective) and Reece has been playing there at times. Peoples at corner has been to be nice, not good. Not sure why they don't go back to Shuman to team with Collins. We also need better safety play, but that's pretty obvious.

But when I wondered why the defense (when healthy) was dominating an experienced offensive line, I was told that they won't be facing a D that good. Hmm. 

I'm not going to judge us by last night's game. Everyone knew this was going to be a blowout based on the UNH game, but also the mediocre performance on offense against Morgan State. Play-calling was abysmal especially on that 4th and two to Matthews, but for all the calls for trick plays, that's very hard to do when you can't run block or pass block against that line. I don't think our pass blocking was that bad in the first two games, but it was more about poor choices by the quarterbacks. Also, I thought the routes were terrible in the first half. Nobody came back to the ball, nobody got open and Ferguson had nobody open in the rare times he went back to throw. Again, they will be lucky to get a TD or more against the Aztecs, but after that no more excuses against Rhode Island when conference play starts up again. 

As for some of the quotes Rob gives after the game or during the week, I don't blame him for trying to show confidence in his team, but I would think he sings a different tune behind closed doors. I understand fans wanting a little more truth in terms of saying "we have to play better. This is not acceptable. We got our asses kicked and they were just better. We will look at the film this week and see if changes need to be made. We aren't going to panic, because we know the most important games are coming up are after the bye. By that time, we will be ready and we will be a better team." He sort of said the final part.

I'm not ready to say it's basketball season just yet. But they better start turning things around after next week or it will be time to talk about preseason hoops.

*Also, I normally don't delete free speech, but I won't accept personal attacks against anybody on the board, coaches or players. 

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I think I've calmed down a bit.  Did anyone realistically think we would be better than 2-2 after this weekend?  UNH doesn't play Delaware or Nova this year like us.  They could end up a 2 loss season, Pitt and Purple.  

I'm not saying I'm ecstatic about the season so far, but I might think I'm over reacting.

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Delaware, NOVA, and JMU all seem to be playoff contenders. We could not beat any of them this year.
Rhode Island is a team you would think we always beat but they are 3-0 and looking like a top 25 team.

Albany(another team we should beat but they beat us last season) played NDSU much tougher than we did so they could come to Unitas and embarrass us again.

Richmonds quarterback was running around the field looking like a young Tom Flacco, they might be able to beat us too. 

That leaves Stony Brook, William and Mary, and Elon as our must win games. Haven’t seen too much of them this year but they seem to be having a similar year that we are having.

hard to have hope for the playoffs with what games we have in front of us and behind us. Might be able to pull out some gritty team wins. Will continue to follow along to see how it plays out. We might be able to pull off some surprise performances 

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25 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Delaware, NOVA, and JMU all seem to be playoff contenders. We could not beat any of them this year.
Rhode Island is a team you would think we always beat but they are 3-0 and looking like a top 25 team.

Albany(another team we should beat but they beat us last season) played NDSU much tougher than we did so they could come to Unitas and embarrass us again.

Richmonds quarterback was running around the field looking like a young Tom Flacco, they might be able to beat us too. 

That leaves Stony Brook, William and Mary, and Elon as our must win games. Haven’t seen too much of them this year but they seem to be having a similar year that we are having.

hard to have hope for the playoffs with what games we have in front of us and behind us. Might be able to pull out some gritty team wins. Will continue to follow along to see how it plays out. We might be able to pull off some surprise performances 

Nova has looked just okay so far.  have you actually watched Delaware play?  They’ve looked terrible on both lines of scrimmage. I thought they were a fraud in the Spring and that looks to be the case here in the fall.

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If you're going by rankings alone, sure delaware looks good.  But they are ranked top 15 EVERY offseason.  We don't play them, regardless.

Of the FCS teams remaining, I'm only looking at Purple as a loss.

 

I'm not saying we are destined to run the table in the least.  I'm just coming out of my rage and seeing all is not lost.  I over reacted.

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Always hope Red!

I just pray we come away from frozen yogurt town unscathed.  Can’t afford any season ending injuries and playing a team that has back to back Pac12 wins scares me. 
 

Anyone traveling to SoCal be sure to not rub elbows with any of them Padres fans or it may be bad luck for our entire season.  
I keep hearing Bruce Bochy and the Orioles next season which is hard to believe. 
 

Hat giveaway so not all lost if we get obliterated….  This could be their best team in 40 years..  so again win or lose lets fly back in one piece. 
 

Go Tigers..  

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8 hours ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

Always hope Red!

I just pray we come away from frozen yogurt town unscathed.  Can’t afford any season ending injuries and playing a team that has back to back Pac12 wins scares me. 
 

Anyone traveling to SoCal be sure to not rub elbows with any of them Padres fans or it may be bad luck for our entire season.  
I keep hearing Bruce Bochy and the Orioles next season which is hard to believe. 
 

Hat giveaway so not all lost if we get obliterated….  This could be their best team in 40 years..  so again win or lose lets fly back in one piece. 
 

Go Tigers..  

⬆️

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Not sure there is or isn’t any hope for much of us on here. While some here thought 8-3 would be the record at minimum, with some saying this is the best defense in the fcs, I’m fairly certain most of us expected a typical .500 season. 

Hope isn’t lost for that yet. 5-6/6-5 is still very attainable.

No Andy I don’t think anyone here really thought,(besides the homers and people in the program), we would be better than 2-2 after this weekend. 1-3 isn’t surprising but the first 3 games have been beyond ugly all around. A team full of experienced and older players, with more practice time, the level of play so far has been extremely disappointing.

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30 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Not sure there is or isn’t any hope for much of us on here. While some here thought 8-3 would be the record at minimum, with some saying this is the best defense in the fcs, I’m fairly certain most of us expected a typical .500 season. 

Hope isn’t lost for that yet. 5-6/6-5 is still very attainable.

No Andy I don’t think anyone here really thought,(besides the homers and people in the program), we would be better than 2-2 after this weekend. 1-3 isn’t surprising but the first 3 games have been beyond ugly all around. A team full of experienced and older players, with more practice time, the level of play so far has been extremely disappointing.

Right. It’s not so much that we’re going to be 1-3 after 4 games, as, realistically, the best we were going to be after 4 games was 2-2. Rather, it’s the quality of play, or lack thereof, that’s been so depressing, especially given the influx of FBS transfers. I’m going to keep an open mind on this team, and see how they do in the last 6 games, before we get trounced by JMU. If I were a betting man (which I’m not) I would say 4-7 will be the final record. I hope I’m wrong and it’s better, and I really hope I’m wrong and it’s not actually worse than 4-7 

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I think when you do a deep dive on the recent FBS transfers, the ones who have been major disappointments in the first three games have been Chris Ferguson and Keyvone Bruton (a safety who bulked up to play LB). It also might be a stretch to call Ferguson an FBS transfer since he barely played at Liberty. Mark Collins has been the best thus far and when he went out (non-injury related) in the UNH game, they took advantage. DT/NG Mason Cholewa has been coming off the bench due to injury. OLB Elorm Lumor has missed most of the first three games due to injury. Oly Okombi has also played sparingly due to injury. DT Tramar Reece was moved to take Lumor's spot in a position he's not familiar with. Hard to judge him. Jerry Howard has been excellent thus far. TE Marcus Joyner (ODU) has rarely played for whatever reason. CB Makai Self (Penn State) and TE Robert Schwob (Maryland) were both walk-ons at those schools so expectations here weren't huge. I did think Self would play a bit more though. He has great speed.

I would say a mixed bag. Not counting the juco transfer or guys who came here in 2019 like Jesus Gibbs. Scheme has been an issue on D.

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