Please, please, walk home Taggert

[smazza]

To the people that want CWT gone no matter what, this game (which those same people predicted would be a loss), was further justification for their feelings.  After the Maryland game, I though CWT should be gone, because that loss was clearly on him.  Since then, I have changed my opinion.  I see growth in the coaching and in the execution, dropped passes not withstanding.

I think if those mentioned would look at this objectively, which is unlikely to happen, they would see that things are getting better.

i feel the same way

the tem has improved and the players clearly like playing for cwt

totally different game if we make the field goals

[NewEnglandBull]

So I took the time to read every one of your ignorant posts and have responded to every single one of them, so you can quit using that as an excuse to not admit when you are wrong. If I missed a point let me know and I’ll be happy to explain how you are wrong about that one too.

 

1)      It is our money because unlike you, I and most of the people here continue to donate to our school by being season ticket holders instead of just quitting being a fan and actually rooting for the team to lose. And if you are so eager to fire WT this year who do you want to bring in? Because we will be competing with probably at least 10 other schools many of which are P5. Sorry but those are better jobs than ours currently, which sucks but we are trying to change that. A lot of that has to do with Holtz, Woolard and even Genshaft. But absolutely some of it does have to do with Willie too.

 

2)      The last two years did suck and we are starving for a winning year. 6 and 6 is not the finishing point but it is a milestone in the road. If you are starving and someone hands you a can of spam you eat this **** as fast as you can and then use that to go try and make your next meal a steak. You don’t oh no I don’t want that, I’m just gonna keep ******** until someone brings me the perfect meal. 6-6 is absolutely spam or ramen whatever crap meal you want to call it, but it’s still food. Gives you something to build on, gives you extra practices, helps recruiting, etc. Next year, as brownbullsfan said, is when we build on that and compete for an AAC championship (steak).

 

3)      If we don’t get to 6-6, by all means fire him. I and most others here agree that WT has made mistakes that have cost us games and he is responsible for those losses (Maryland and Memphis). But he has also made adjustments and has the team playing much better football the last 4 games. I fully expect to win at least 2 more and that could be as high as 6 more if we play to the full talent of this team.

 

4)      Speaking of WT’s strong suit, he recruits talent. Everyone knows he’s better at recruiting than an X and O’s guy. But he has also adjusted his scheme this year because he knew he wasn’t cutting it. None of those guys you mentioned were high profile recruits.

 

5)      The guys you did mention as being positives, Allen and Adams, were also the guys most responsible for this particular loss. You yourself said Allen’s defense wasn’t good enough to stop Navy’s offense. Adams fumbled the game away trying to make a play. But you know what it is still WT’s responsibility in the end so if we lose 3 more games the same way he’s gone.

 

6)      If you would like to sit down and talk X and O’s about what exactly WT should be calling I’d be happy to meet you before the next home game and we can watch some tape. Because the early successful run game against Memphis was largely because of play design and granted he then should have opened up the pass, the 37 pts per game the previous 3 games were a big adjustment to play design and play calling.

 

7)      I was ready to fire WT after Maryland and wanted Bench to play. Guess what I was wrong and the development of Flowers has been awesome to watch. Kudos to WT for picking a QB and sticking with his guy and then making adjustments to get us to 4-4. Another adjustment from prior years where we were divided between awful options at QB.

 

8)      If you would like to talk specifics about this game. What adjustment would you have liked to have seen on offense? Navy shutdown the run (our bread and butter). QF was not 100% so the QB run was not as effective to open it up. We tried a couple differently designed run plays (not all run plays are the same, hopefully since you know what an Over is or at least know enough to use the word then you know there are different types of run plays). We also did pass it down the field, which was decently successful.  You could argue we could have passed it more but when players drop crucial balls I don’t blame him for trying to go back to our staple. I’m sure he wants the drops correctly just as much as you do and is probably has those guys at the jugs machine after practice. What do you want him to do, supply them with some stick em’?

 

9)      As for the personal attacks I’ve done nothing more than called you ignorant and stupid a couple times so try not use that as an excuse again, it’s just my honest opinion and not meant as an insult. But you seem to have no problem hurling them at others, especially considering usually those guys “setting up cones” at practices do have more knowledge than most because they see the gameplans being developed, understand how coaches think and react, and also see how a program is built if you happen to be around at the right time. Also a lot of those guys end up being future coaches themselves.

 

As I’ve made pretty clear I am no WT homer. I was all for firing him when this team looked like ****. Hell I never wanted JL gone, but that's a post for another day. But if you don’t see this team is better than you are just being ignorant or unrealistic. I too want this program to be like we were back in 2007, but I will gladly take a bowl game this year and build a program over multiple years and have extremely high yet realistic expectations for the next season. I’m sure now you will respond with some grammar mistake or tell me how I must be sniffing WT’s jock. Have a good night and I look forward to your next post after we win. Really looking forward to you manning up to your word if we do manage to go 7-5, except on the other hand I really hope for the good of the human race that do not have the chance to procreate and pass on your genes. (I couldn't make it all the way through without an insult sorry).

 

This debate just ended. Cambodia thank you for playing..."John, tell our guest what prizes he can take home with him..."

[Joe]

This thread is rich. Tags looks legit now, but we can't expect a complete 180 overnight.

[JTrue]

I don't know if I've put him in the "legit" column yet. But he definitely looks better.

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

This is an awesome thread.

From what I can see Taggart has finally reached the competency of being able to beat a team that has lesser talent. He cannot yet beat a team with better talent. That's on coaching and game planning and motivation. Something that Leavitt was able to do. Taggart's getting praise for figuring out after 2 years how to let the talent on the field run over lesser talent. I still don't see that he is good at anything other than recruiting.

[FazaUSF]

I had been an uncharacteristically outspoken critic of CWT until recently. Getting shut out at home by UCF the last game of last season really did not endear him to me. However, I believe a more reserved approach is appropriate at this stage, and CWT may be slowly changing my mind. I am far from sold, but I feel that we are seeing significant signs of improvement which merit more time to develop.

Firstly, Tom Allen was a hell of a hire, and our defense is legitimately good this year. Not great, but definitely good, and it appears to be improving. There's also a solid amount of young talent waiting in the wings, so I don't believe it will be a transient occurrence if our staff is left to continue the teaching process. 

Secondly, as frustrating as the passing game has been, Flowers is growing up as a QB in front of us. He is not perfect, of course, but he is demonstrating significant improvement in a lot of tangible and intangible ways as the season progresses. Our WRs are generally running better routes, and generally catching passes in an improved fashion. Again, not perfect of course, but quite the opposite of regression.

I could describe improvements we've noted in each unit (ignoring issues with FGs, etc), but perhaps the most important (and convincing, for me) factor to have improved is the culture of the team. Perhaps it legitimately does require a third year to fully take hold - minds and hearts do not change overnight. Culture is what CWT preached from the beginning, and while I continue to disagree with some of his choices such as his offensive playcalling/philosophy and game management decisions, I believe the change in culture alone may have led this team from the doldrums of constant defeat to appearing at least like a mid-major D1A college football team with potential to be much better.

That said, I also believe CWT was a project hire, in the sense that he was a very young coach and had a lot of learning to do. I have seen SOME willingness to change, and I suppose some degree of patience is necessary when young leaders are learning from their mistakes. I see enough change and improvement that I now revoke my previously critical attitude towards CWT, and amend it to be a cautiously, reservedly optimistic one. At this point, barring complete and utter meltdown of all I've described above in the last several games of the season, I believe CWT does merit more time. At least another season. He still does some boneheaded things that make us all cringe, but he is a young leader who is learning from his mistakes. I don't think we will be patient of that forever, but I do think there remains a lot of potential that would just be wonderful to see realized. If it is, we may all be praying for the opposite thing in the future, which is keeping him here and preventing him from making the leap to a school with a larger Athletics budget.

[USFbulls24]

My gripe in this game is with Allen. Our standard 4-2-5 alignment was a mistake against a triple option team. We routinely had 5 or 6 players in the box and didn't bring in a 7th or 8th player until it was too late. We can complain about the offense and officiating, but you're not going to win when you give up over 400 yards rushing.

Take away the fumble on the kick off return and Allen and our 4-2-5 held an offense that is just about foreign in college football and an offense that was averaging 35ppg to 22 points on the road. Our defense was also on the field for 40 minutes of the 60 minute game. Your gripe holds no water. 

[Sellular1]

Take away the fumble on the kick off return and Allen and our 4-2-5 held an offense that is just about foreign in college football and an offense that was averaging 35ppg to 22 points on the road. Our defense was also on the field for 40 minutes of the 60 minute game. Your gripe holds no water. 

We gave up over 425 yards rushing.  Allowed 3 Navy players to go over 100 yards each for the first time in 135 years of playing football. The week before, Tulane held Navy to 133 yards of total rushing.  I guess Tulane's just a lot better than we are.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Sellular1

[Triple B]

We gave up over 425 yards rushing.  Allowed 3 Navy players to go over 100 yards each for the first time in 135 years of playing football. The week before, Tulane held Navy to 133 yards of total rushing.  I guess Tulane's just a lot better than we are.

Tulane lost, allowed more points, scored less .... at minimum it's a push.

[Sellular1]

Tulane lost, allowed more points, scored less .... at minimum it's a push.

Tulane showed the blueprint of how to slow Navy's running game, we missed that lesson.