Bullshark

Not to change the subject, but doesn't it seem odd that the USF/ WVU game isn't even on game plan (as of today, at least). There aren't that many games this weekend as it is, and the 4 games listed are like Division 2. Last week at this time they were considerring televising the game nationally on ESPN and now, the game is being ignore like it isn't even happening. How do they get people to subscribe to it? Wouldn't anyone think you first try to televsie the high profile games on your national networks, when all those slots are full, you then offer as best games/ matchups as you can on your pay per view. Does ESPN have an accountant or a CFO, because the number 12 team in the nation playing the team that slapped UL on this same field isn't a game noone cares about. IT HAS BOWL IMPLICATIONS!!! I'm lost Southwest Central Rhode Island State v. Northwest Alabama Community College on game plan, but our game isn't.

I have to say I am satisfied with the play of PJ especially over the past 4 or 5 games, he has some restored confidence and you have to like his desire to go to the deep man. Hall has played brilliantly and even when there is 8 in the box, he can still get those big runs off. I agree, where are the slant passes? Screen passes? Our recievers are huge, who can stop a quick slant with a 6-3 reciever in front of them? Think about when we had 3rd and goal on the 6 at Uconn.....this would have been the perfect call. Four possible out comes all more favorable than than a botched trickeration call. (1) TD, we lead w/ 2:20 left in game, (2) caught but doesn't get in ....okay 4 down territory, (3) incomplete....again 4 down territory, (4) Remote almost impossible chance of interception, but if the DB got in front, they get the ball at their own 2 or 1 yard line, unless it bounces in the air. The point is, this consideration and thought prior to calling plays in is why Collegiate Teams and the NFL Teams employ offensive coordinators, this isn't a flag football game at the YMCA. The concern now is, will this same ill-advised play call return this Saturday with the year on the line. We need to just lose the trickeration, is there such a lack of confidence in our from the coaches in our offense that we have to play Sam Weich football? Our defense has done awesome and we don't need to run these kinds of play, even if we are behind. Our defense will give numerous possessions.

Amen!! Too question the offensive play calling and consider a potentially new offensive coordinator is not bashing the coaching staff and trashing the program. The only reason to even go out on that limb is for the love of the program and the desire to see it become the best it can be. The best way of putting this is, I don't think anyone is asking for an Urban Meyer type to come in with a wide spread and change everything, but our team needs to be more than one dimensional with the occasional trickeration play when have 3rd and long. As much as this hurts, execution also factors into this as well. So Smith calls the wrong plays in, if they are executed properly, let's say 50% of the time, we don't question it, we get the 1st down or TD, but c'mon, you can't say you agree w/ the "hurry up" to the goal line and snap the ball with a center at guard and a replacement center. The game was ours, we had the power people in, you call a TO, talk about it and then you are in 2 down territry. As a result of this, we have to bite our nails for the next three days and keep an eye on two games at the same time to get back what was ours.

Wow, someone actually thinks WVU doesn't care if they win or not. West Va has nothing to gain? Well for starters they probably, and I'm just guessing here don't want to lose their national ranking @ 12, which when they loose to us will more than likely fall into the early to mid 20's. Second, they will have to play LSU, will not be favored and momemtum will be key, you think a loss before that matchup will help WVU, clarify...a loss to an unranked team? Third, yes even after the Sugar Bowl, they will have to play us again. How much confidence do they want to give us for next season?

I agree Rod needs to mix up the play calling, maybe keep the same formula, but at the least make defenses guess as to which down 1st or 2nd to load the box. Our offense has become like a predictable snap count. The reality is we never called Cincy's bluff, like clockwork they lined up 8 in the box and we answered by by running the ball. @ Unconn, I don't think PJ played that bad, he had some good tosses down field and think of how many passes were freakin' dropped, I can think of 7, 5 of which would have been 1st downs. When running off tackle isn't working, we need to get AH into short passes, screen plays, etc. Running isn't going to work against eveyone especially, when we are so predictable. I wish Rod would realize, when an opposing team is putting 8 in the box, you can't muscle anyone done the field. We need to recruit a true passer and your right, there is a lot of talent out there. Cincy's Gruta (sp?) Uncoon, Louisville's Brohm...I watched the WVU-Pitt game, is it fair to say if we can contain their mobile QB, that is 70% of their offense?

I'm sure next year will be resolved soon, I guess I'm just not ready to give up on this one. If we do manage to get to either the Mieneke or Motor City bowl, I think we will have no problem filling that last spot. I really don't understand some of the offensive play calling. Saturday's loss was a combination of dropped passes and predicatable series with the once of hope by a couple of big plays. The past 2 weeks, for the most part, the running game has been bottled up, so what is out answer, run every 1st down and 99% or 2nd downs? I'm really starting to hate trick plays, I know one worked against Louisville and I still don't know how the double reverse worked against Cincy, but, plays in that area of the field coupled with a limited amount of time and downs need to go forward only. A slant pattern, hell a draw, I like the fact that we went for it, but, these plays when the defense isn't spread out are just disasters. What I think sucks the most is, we are no longer a shoe-in for any bowl and now have to pull the upset (which I'm confident we can do) or get help from Louisville. Since UL, has already accepted the Gator Bowl bid, are they going to be starting their 1st team? Could they be looking ahead to Miami potentially? While Uconn comes off a win and needs to beat UL to become eligable? The only thing we can do is beat WV.

Agreed, its getting annoying as hell to hear all those in the media just trash the BE. The reality is, Miam, BC & VT, decided to accept the ACC bid, it isn't as if the BE said "get out." Now with that in mind, how is a conference to fill the void? It does it by selecting teams with the potential of matching that talent in the future, reallistically, who is the BE going to lure out of their conferences? Teams usually want to move upward, not make lateral moves or go down. So were they supposed to offer an invite to Ohio State or Florida and just be rejected? Its also a little classless to downpaly these conferences after teams such as USF, UC & UL make the leap. Take UC, one of the oldest programs in the country, almost 75 years since their program started and they finally get an invite to a BSC conference. I guess I just don't know what they want, we have two teams firmly ranked, Rutgers is improving, comparitively, the SEC (w/ 12 teams has 5 ranked teams) the ACC w/ 12 has 3 ranked...ironically the same ones which left....and the Big 10 with 5. All of those other conferences have more teams. The would be a higher probabilty of us having another ranked team if we had 4 more teams. I think the media needs to shut up about it and let the cards fall as they may, When USF wins out and gos to the Sugar Bowl, the media will expect to see a blowout by the SEC team, but they won't, and then the BE will have 3 ranked teams

Does anyone know for sure if the win over FAMU does count toward bowl eligibility? Didn't we have this problem a couple of seasons ago with ttwo teams who were either Div II or III? Last I heard they were seeking Division 1-AA status and then like a million violations came out.

Amen....I agree we probably already have a bigger rivalyry with Louisville or Pitt than we will ever have with UCF, that may change, but playing them does nothing for us (maybe a 1-AA win for bowl eligibility) but even if they are in the same conference, they can really do nothing to either of our programs but potentially hurt us. The only good thing now is our exiting requirement w/ CUSA requires us to play 1 CUSA team for I think for the next 5 years, so as far as that goes we are satisfying it and "testing" the fans reactions. But in the grander scheme, I say we push to play Rice, why take chances with non-BE games now, with the exception of FAMU, we really didn't have any cupcakes on the schedule this year. With UNC, Auburn and our BE games next year, we shouldn't take chances with a potential loss to an albiet slow but improving UCF team. I realize it is an easy game to get to either way, but they as well are recruiting from the same well as we are. The Gators, Seminoles & 'canes recruit the best here do to thier success and their conferences. We are a strong 4rth (maybe a 3rd with players who won't start at other bigger schools), if UCF go into the BE, they could potentially have a more attractive package for recruits, longer history, new stadium and the same sales pitch on the BE we make. I really hope the BE stays with 8 teams.

USF (24-20) 366 A. Jackson

Well...I don't put so much of the blame on PJ as I do on the play calling. I'm not suggesting if we had better talent at that position that Staurday's game may have come out in our favor, but Pitt adjusted to our defense in offensive line play and passing. We didn't do anything different and we had more possessions than Pitt did. Basically, the big play in college football is inevitable, the reality is if PJ was falling victom to coverage sacks, then shorten the passing patterns, if we had mixed up anythining we would have been in better shape. The play calling was abissmal, we attempted one deep pass (other than the hail mary at the end) the worst part about this is, we have the talent to play this way, consider Johnny peyton's two TD's vs PSU, instead of a reverse pattern 4 times for -1 yards, ( I still cannot get over the ball inide the 5 and a reverse play call). The way I see it, the play calling regardless of how good or bad PJ is, is making out athletice team very predicatable.

I say have a little faith, 31-13 if the game were to be played in Morgantown or Morganville whereever WVU plays, but at Ray Jay, this year, it will be closer and although it may seem unimaginable (after the pathetic display at Pitt), we pull it off. There is no difference in the play selection that was used against UL, we just executed a lot better. Basically, we didn't have to do much to beat UCF (just make sure the OL blocked the right people), UL came to town (we were just rev'd up), realistically, I know we looked pathetic against Miami, but even if we looked good, the score would have been 27-7. There's no place like home and although WVU comes in knowing what happened to UL there, our defense gets faster and our recievers actually embrace the ball instead of dodging it.

Does anyone notice a reoccuring theme here? We haven't had a passing game since 2002, that's the unfortunate reality. Defense may win championships, but offense wins games and one needs to happen before the other. I'm not defending PJ, but I really just don't want to see CD throw another pass this year. I'm confident that we can beat WVU, the odds makers agree (as of now) 2 points means nothing. We play a lot better in RJ. Hell, the reverse my even work again there. Peyton, Hill and Jackson can't drop anymore freakin passes, it just can't happen!!! If by some awesome karma PJ can get it to them, they need to stop thinking about the approaching tackle or the end zone, relax and catch the ball, given passing problems, we need our defense to rest as much as possible between series.....don't get me wron, PJ is bad, but how many passes collectively were on the numbers (admittedly thrown at 80 mph) and dropped, I lost count @ PSU, (more than likely the reason we lost), @ Miami (probably intimidated) and Pitt, I have no clue just dropped. The only reciever who seems to be consistent is a tail back and he had the only receiving touchdown on Sayurday.

Agreed!! I don'y know how many viable options we have at QB right now, just because CD is from Auburn, let's just put all that to rest...how many picks can the other 2 throw, let's not see. At the very least, PJ is taking the sack and not trying to thread the needle in triple coverage. This was the problem last year, we would have been better than 4 and seven last year had he taken a sack and not just put it up for grabs. The reality is, we have no passing game to get us out of a hole, so realistically we can't be down more than a score to have a remote chance. A lot of this though is the recievers dropping passes, how fustrating is that? That stupid reverse play, we tried four times for no yards, when were they going to give it up? Basically, to beat WVU, our defense needs to create 4 or 5 turnovers and give out offense the ball twice as much as WVU has it, because obviously to score we need about 3 times as many possessions to to score.

Sorry you had to go through that! Miami is one of the few teams I hate, not because they are better than us or because they beat a lot of teams, but because most of their fans have as much to to with UM as we do with Congress. Unfortunately, they are an exception to all the rules that make college football what it is. I wasn't there but out of 58,000, about 15,000 were students or alumni and the remaining were well...non-students. How classless is it to try to antagonize people ( I guess into a fight) Have pride, but respect visiting teams fans, that's what makes the game what it is. This is like a foriegn concept to a lot of Miami fans and players, remember Winslow and the "we are soldiers" crap or whatever. The problem is even while VA Tech is pounding them this year, the folks in Blacksburg will have enough class to be polite.