Sunil

Hmm....if I recall...they BEAT us....  :-X

Let's keep in mind that guys posting on the football boards at this point of the year are generally not the raucous majority who is there once the season starts. Come August, the War Eagle superfans will come out of the woodwork. I don't think we need to look too much into this though. Personally, I'm just impressed that an SEC team other than Florida even knows who we are and which conference we play in...because outside of our own conference we've done nothing. (yet...)

Not trying to stir the pot....but I wonder how many of these viewpoints translate over to discussions on immigration. Should ppl be encouraged to assimilate to the new nation, or just hold on to the old?

We have to play out of our minds to even have a chance in that game...but we have a shot. Will a victory change my mind about the program? Not really. I think it would be a very positive step that we need to be making, but we shouldn't take for granted that it's a sign that we've 'arrived". The point at which we've arrived is when we no longer have to make a case for being in the Florida Big 3, we're favored to beat teams like Auburn, and when the avg CFootball fan in Big 12 country doesn't bat an eye when our highlights lead SportsCenter.  8-)

How bout "J-A-Marcus Russell" ?  (DeMarcus Ware plays for the Cowboys already) I also wouldn't be schocked to see the Raiders take Calvin Johnson though. Sure they have Randy Moss and Jerry porter, but this is Al davis so sometimes it's the thing that seems to make the least sense that will make the most sense to him (get that?) It also doesn't hurt that many consider him the most talented player coming out.....

On the surface, I can see how one could call that firing a bonehead move...but being a Bucs fan, I get why you have to make that move. A few years back we had an all world defense which should have gotten us to the Super Bowl multiple times. But we had a very classy head coach who wasn't able to get us over that hump. In the NFL there is this "window of opportunity" that lasts maybe 3-4 years max when the salary cap, age of players, and strength of your conference all line up to where you can win the whole thing. If the Chargers don't feel confident that Marty can get them over that hump during their window..then they don't want to waste the best years of Ladanian Tomlinson. They want to get the staff in there to get that championship before the salary cap takes that team apart. Much like our hometown bucs did, and it worked out. Love Gruden or Dungy or hate them...it worked out. Ask the fans in Cleveland, Philly, or Buffalo what they'd have given up to capitalize on their "window". Sometimes it takes bold moves......3 years from now we can second guess or delcare Smith and Spanos geniuses.

While I understand where the sentiment comes from, I have to disagree somewhwat. I get the point about supporting the local team when they are professional. If there is a local football, basketball, or baseball team and you live in the city...it's often your tax dollars which provide for their stadium. That team helps shape the national identity of the city you PRESENTLY live in. Therefore, while I get why you still love your original "home team"...it's kind of self-defeating to not support the team that represents the town you've chosen above all others..to live in and spend your dollars for. College sports are a whole different ballgame. If you are an alum of a school...that name stays on your diploma wherever you go. If I lived in Louisville, KY and someone told me I couldn't support my Bulls anymore...I'd tell them to stick it. Being the alum of a school gives you a personal stake in the success of your institution. It travels with you because it is more than a place or a logo. Those who are into pro-sports alone have a hard time relating to this kind of loyalty. Although it drives me up a wall to see nothing but Gator and Nole stuff in Manatee county (BULLS country?)...I can't honestly expect their alums to jump ship just because they're in the Bay area now. My personal pet peeve though, are those ppl who never spent one day in a school..and yet are rabid fans. Such as Joe Car Mechanic in Ruskin who bleeds orange and blue because "my grandaddy wanted to be a gator and got me hooked".... But that's another story and I digress...  :

Although my allegiances definitely are for the Bulls, I'm also an RU grad and follow their team when I don't follow our own. I think that for some reason, Rutgers specifically has gotten under the skin of Bulls fans. Let me elaborate. We've had success unlike any other team given our short history, but we remain unsatisfied. When entering the Big East, we felt that being on top of the conference was somehow our birthright. Whether we'll admit it or not, we kinda figured that there would be WVU, Louisville on top..and at worst we would be 3 or 4while we got acclamated, depending on how Pitt did. What we never could have seen is Rutgers coming out like a force; cracking the top 25 before we did, as well as having stronger recruiting than we have. I think it really bothers most alums to be considered at best distant #4 in the conference as we are now by most of the national media. I think we definitely have stronger potential as a program than RU based on geography. But we're going to have to swallow hard as Rutgers geography gives them an inevitable identity as a media darling. I think it was marketing genius for them to refer to themselves as "NYC's team" and they're "billboard" campaign is something our marketing department could learn from. The recruits definitely notice that stuff, and the excitement of new york city is one place that surely rivals the beach for incoming high school seniors. This isn't completely a bad thing though.  I think if the bulls win that game in NJ this year...it could be the beginnings of something great: A real rivalry that is presently absent for both schools. ÂÂ

I'm surprised the sentinel even mentioned our recruiting class at all. If they could, thtey wouldn't even mention us by name even the week we play UCF. Although I don't regularly post, I use these boards as a constant use of information. I can see why most people get irritated by smazza's postings...but let's be realistic. He's giving the point of view that most people around the country are giving. Most non-alums look at our recruiting and think it's a dissapointment given our WVU win this last year. They don't care about CJL's eye for talent or ability to coach up the recruits. And although we all hate it, even now the casual CFootball fan has no clue that we are even in a major conference. It might seem ludicrous to us...but we are not the nationally recognized program that we will be in a couple of years. Although I certainly don't agree with all of the guy's postings, I think it provides perspective for most of us who have our green-colored glasses on. Outsiders read this board, admire the enthusiasm, but find the reality drowned out by the enthusiasm. (We're alums, so i know you can't blame our optimism) No reason to shoot the messenger....be it smazza or any other alum. The one commonality everyone has is that we all want the program to progress... that doesn't mean we all have to "drink the koolaid" all the time.

I think that the measuring point is a good one by smazza. We should be measuring ourselves against the elite level programs given the talent we have sitting in our backyard. My only disagreement would be that it may not be the most accurate measuring stick this year. Once we've been in the Big East for a full class (4 years), there is no reason for us to lag behind in recruiting on any scale. While we shouldn't be pre-occuppied with the "star" system, it is a decent baseline to tell us where we stand. I think it would be agreed that our 2-3 star recruiting classes of today are much better than the guys we were not rated at all 7 years ago. So if CJL and the staff can get a bowl team out of a bunch of 2-3 star rated recruits we got when we were in CUSA, I can only imagine that he'll have that much more success when we regularly bring in the 4-5 star recruit as regular contenders.

Are you retarded?  Why would you want our conference rivals to get a player of that caliber?  Remember, they are our COMPETITION, not our allies.  I would rather UCF get him.  You can talk about "conference prestige" and all of that, but the number one goal is to WIN the conference, and other conference teams piking up star players does not help us win games. Do we hope that the Irqqi insurgency gets stronger, so we can give them a "good job"?  Of course not.  Extreme example of course, but I believe it still applies. Am I retarded? Not last I checked. Look, this isn't war...this is college football. These are high school kids choosing a college. If a local kid gets a chance to attend a bigtime university, then that's great. Only a "retard", as you say, would take it waay too seriously. (The Iraqi war? C;mon…) As for being happy he stayed in conference….do you think that being in a conference of teams with nothing but 2 star recruits is better for OUR program…or a conference full of 5-star recruits? I say the latter. We have nothing to be scared or insecure about, because I'm confident that no matter who the other teams recruit, we'll still be competitive. If we're the champion of a strong conference, that bodes much better for us than being the champion of a weak conference.  Even in rivalries....OSU is better off playing a strong Michigan team....FSU better off playing a strong UF squad.... Yes you can hate the other team...but it does you no good to play a schedule full of FIU caliber opponents. Their strength is always to your advantage if you can defeat them. Otherwise, we might as well be back in C-USA. Get a grip.

I share the enthusiasm for the new year, but want to temper it just a bit. Just as we went from pessimism to pleasant surprise over the course of last year, it's just as easy to do the reverse this year. Let's be careful not to be overly optimistic because we still have alot of questions coming into this year. - Grothe coming off the injury. Will he heal in time? Will he at all be affected physically or mentally hesitant? - Mike Ford is an unkown quantity. I'm as excited as everyone else about the kid...but he has to show up on the field. We've had some noticeable recruits flame out before (see C4, Johnny Peyton) - We lost great leaders on defense: Stephen Nicholas and Patrick St. Louis. Will there be a dropoff? Especially early on... - As much as I personally think it will be an improvement...Rod Smith is gone. What does it do to our offense? The offensive scheme remains more or less the same... but is there going to be any learning curve for the guys who've been here a while? - With last year's success...can we keep our guys out of trouble, going to class, and training hard? I firmly think the suspensions may have been part of the difference in that Kansas game last year. - Before you laugh...Dave W. up at Pitt is having another one of those recruiting classes. That game is one that could bite us if we aren't careful, as well as the North Carolina game. - I believe WVU is the first conference game. Luckily it'll be at home, but they'll be out for blood. Last year we got them at the end of the season, this year in late september. We've never had a bigger game so early in the season. Will Elon, Auburn and NC be enough to get us ready? I hope so.... - Ray Rice for RU, Slaton and White at WVU, Brohm at the Ville are all back. Competition isn't going to sit on their hands either. All the "prize recruits" from last year will be suiting up...and some other team may find their "Grothe". - Will our receivers be able to eliminate the mental errors and drops last year? (ie. Amp Hill in the RU game) These are just the issues that I can think of off the top of my head. So while I'm geeked up about this new season, let's be realistic as well. If things fall into place and everything goes right...on paper this team should be good enough to go 11-1. But it could just as easily drop games to WVU, RU, Louisville, and Auburn...and then we're pretty much back in Birmingham. So the difference in expectations to reality that we saw from last year to this year, could just as easily be in the other direction. We all love our team...but great programs are consistent. That's something we'll still be learning how to do.

He's committed to the Mountaineers. I know there were some rumors out there he might even be considering us....but cnnsi.com is reporting he's now given WVU a verbal. I believe the short list was WVU, FSU and Alabama....glad our conference won that one. Guess we will find out first hand whether he's just a highlight reel myth or  for real. Good for the kid, hope he does well. It sounds like he may qualify academically? If so, that gives the 'Eers Slaton this year, with Devine and last year's blue chipper all in the backfield. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/players/02/06/tuesday.notebook/index.html

The season is a GREAT success and more importantly, this game provided some evidence that the future is bright. If you look at the guys who made plays today, we get them all back with the exception of Randolph. Can't wait! 8-)

Not trying to jump the gun, we obviously have 2 big games left (and still a chance at a BCS bid!) But for the sake of those of us who are trying to arrange holiday plans and a possible bowl trip, I was wondering when specific bowl invitations historically go out. I could be wrong, but I believe I remember non-BCS sending invites starting on Thanksgiving weekend. Does that sound about right?

I received some positive feedback the last time I posted "wacky stats" a few weeks back. Here's an updated look at some interesting statistics over just the last two years : Offensive Stats - 12-1 when scoring 20 or more ourselves (loss to Rutgers '06 where we scored 20) - 0-9 when failing to score 20 Rushing - - In the last two years we are 10 - 0 when rushing for more than 150 yards. Defensive Stats - 3-6 when allowing 20 or more (wins against Rutgers '05, FIU, and UNC) - 8-1 when allowing less than 120 yards with our only loss at Kansas this year where we allowed 118 Turnovers - - When committing 3 turnovers or more, we are 3-8 (including wins over McNeese St and FIU). - 9-1 when turning over the ball 2 times or less with the only loss being Penn St where we had 2. Points by Quarter - 10-1 when we score in the first quarter (lost to Pitt in '05) - 2-8 when we are shutout in the Q1 (wins against mcNeese St. and FIU)

I don't think anyone lays the blame of losses this season on our freshman quarterback. The kid is well on his way to being a very good player for us. I would say much of the frustration is with a team who has consistently played to the level of our opponents and made mental errors on the field (illegal formations, offsides on kicks, etc). Moreover, I think that many of us don't feel that we give ourselves the best chance to win by some of the game planning decisions and in-game decisions we've made. I doubt anyone had the illusion that we were going to be up for the national championship this year...but I felt a reasonable goal would be becoming the #3 school in the Big East. Instead we're fighting for #4....and losing so far.

Over the last 2 years, 7 of our 9 losses have been on the road....so it's not just the cold. Perhaps we need to have them "visualize" a pirate ship in every stadium they visit......

If I could have a coaching hire, it would be some kind of quality control/game decision management position. That way we would have someone to call it out if we are lining up in an illegal formation before the refs....and to shoot down wacky ideas like fake punts inside your own 30.  :

I hate the wave...it should be banned from our stadium!! The wave is a sign that the game is so boring that fans need to begin entertaining themselves. Even knowing that, I've seen our student body try to start them during the middle of tight games in the second half.  >:(Are you kidding me!?? I think it's disrespectful the home team for the fans to be starting the wave while our own defense is busting it's butt. During a TV timeout?...possibly. But even then, I think it's best to keep that stuff relegated to professional baseball games where you need to entertain yourself between innings! If you're part of the student body or a cheerleader, PLEASE don't be encouraging it.... Say "NO" to fan disinterest = saying "NO" to the wave!

I can't possibly be the only one who thinks the biggest need would be RB. Not blaming the kids that are in there, but Andre Hall carried the offense on his back for much of last year all the way to a bowl game. I think we really felt his loss to begin the year as we were searching for an offensive identity. No disrespect to Ponton who may turn out to be a heck of a player, but to have a back with Andre hall's skill set and consistency would do wonders. Combine that sort of back with what we have in Grothe, and all of the sudden the entire offense looks scary to any defense we go up against.

We can all agree that we have overachieved in some respects since we began our program 10 years ago. We also can mostly agree that our bowl game last year and our start in the BE has been ahead of schedule in some ways. But just wanted to take a closer look at our progress so far in the BE (we have a 5-5 overall conf. record the last two years). - While we started out like gang busters in conference play, if we include that "fateful" game at UCONN last year, we have now lost 4 of our last 5 BE games. losses : 2005 - Uconn, WVU 2006 - Rutgers, Cincinatti Our sole win has been against Uconn in the "rubber match". Keep in mind that we still have games against Syracuse, WVU and Louisville. Some other interesting stats: - We have shut out our BE opponents in the first quarter 6 times.....5 of those we have won (implication: if we shut them out in the 1st quarter, we win) - We ourselves have been shut out in the first quarter by our BE opponents 4 times, all 4 we have lost (implication: if we don't score early, we lose) - We've never had a first quarter end in a 0-0 tie in BE play.... and of course the stat I pointed out in another post... - We are 1 - 20 overall when we fail to score more than 20. I think this is actually some revealing and scary stuff. Comments anyone? PS. Overall we have outscored BE opponents 99- 53....

I couldn't believe that call by the coaching staff. I'm not opposed to fake punts, but there were several other chances to call that play in the second half....when we were at the least in the middle of the field. Sure he came close, but I would have just as well lined up for another offensive play on on 4th down. I've been a CJL supporter...but you gotta call it like it is. He blew that call.

Yes, we should stop the spread offense right this moment! Not another second of it....no..not really.... : Do I think they should cease and desist on the spread formation this very instant? Of course not. You don't change offensive systems in the middle of the year due to the talent you have and challenges in learning new schemes. i think you misunderstood me. The point of my post is that the decision itself needs to be made right now to find a more pro-style scheme. I agree that we should maintain some spread formations and multiple receiver sets, but I'm talking our BASE offense. Stick a fullback in there, or even double TE sets so that we can pound the ball in close games. Right now we don't have the personnel for that. I could be absolutely wrong, but I think that a pro-style scheme would be more attractive to recruits, improve our running game, and help take the offense to the level we need to be at when competing against top ranked defenses. We aren't giving ourselves the best chance to win right now.

An unbelievable stat that I stumbled upon. Since beginning Division 1-A games in 2002, we are now 1-20 in games where we score 20 pts. or less. The lone win was in 2002 when we beat Southern Miss 16-13. What this tells me is that we have yet to learn how to win close games. It takes a high level of mental toughness and physical play to "grind out" wins in the inevitable ugly games. Although I'm encouraged by the close games we eeked out this year, we just aren't mentally there yet. Is this a case of coaching or just a young program learning how to win? Not sure...I'd rather wait for the dissapointment of the last night wear off before I start down that road.  But undoubtedly, if we are to ascend as a program this record MUST change. Any thoughts?