Something to Ponder

[puc86]

2 minutes ago, NovaBull said:

Exactly. We are in a much worse conference yet still seeing the same or similar results record wise - which is the reason for the apathy and anger from the fans.

Personally (and I don’t think I’m alone here), getting left behind in the G5 was the bullet to the brain. Everything follows suit from there as being relegated to the minor leagues with no chance of ever playing for a national championship - plus a weak slate of competition (hurray, the AAC is the tallest midget) - has completely decimated this program.

Until we get out of this conference, this is the norm - which is really a shame for a program like ours that was knocking on the door of being a true known quantity in the world of CFB.

TL;DR...I miss the BEast and national relevancy.

The AAC will destroy us (and not in the tongue in cheek way)!!!!

[Thebullsfan]

3 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

So when in our history did we play consistently good football?  xCWT last season?  xCJL years?

Yup

[Orlando Bull]

11 hours ago, Gatorbull325 said:

6 years in a p5 conference. And didnt even leave Skip Holtz a full cupboard of p5 players. Yet some of you make excuses after excuses 4 him and swear he didnt UNDERACHIEVE either. 

Top-30 class his last year with I believe 4 NFL caliber guys. Williams, Barrington, Webster, JPP. Carlton mitchell was also there along with BJD on offense. Skippy had plenty of talent to squander. 

(Yes, I know JPP and mitchell  left, Mitchell because of the coaching change)

Edited November 5, 2018 by Orlando Bull

[Gatorbull325]

8 hours ago, Orlando Bull said:

Top-30 class his last year with I believe 4 NFL caliber guys. Williams, Barrington, Webster, JPP. Carlton mitchell was also there along with BJD on offense. Skippy had plenty of talent to squander. 

(Yes, I know JPP and mitchell  left, Mitchell because of the coaching change)

In the end with 4 NFL caliber guys, he still couldnt get past 8/9 victories. 

[JTrue]

I was hoping this thread was going to be a bunch of morally casual pictures of Sam Ponder.

[michibull]

- Regardless of how CJL built the program, he did plateau once we got to the BE, his record speaks for itself. CJL got us from nothing to a BCS Conference in 10 years, that will never be duplicated and should always be remember; BUT, he never won anything of note and we were a .500 team in conference once we got here. We had BE talent and in 6 years couldn't win a thing, if it was anyone but CJL, you guys would have shown him the door after 2 years just like every coach after him. 

- Unfortunately ESPN killed the BE and our growth as a program. Idk if we ever recover, I doubt it, but it depends on future expansion. 

- The AAC as a whole is a slightly downgraded BE, but the top teams are just a good as the BE top tear was. 

- CFP/ESPN politics will always hinder the AAC and that's just the reality of our situation. 

- I personally have accepted our current football reality and look at it as a pure source of entertainment now. The BE years were a blast and I was lucky to be a student then, but things change. I refuse to let this impact my life for the negative anymore. There is so much more to life than this, the game and conference I can't control, so I've learned to not let it bring me down. I love our school and team and will always support them. I will not pile on when things are rough, but I will criticize; there is a difference. I hope we get out of the AAC and into a P5 conference someday, but until then, let's just try and win a conference championship (whatever conference we're in, we want to be the best, regardless of the competition level). 

[Orlando Bull]

45 minutes ago, michibull said:

- Regardless of how CJL built the program, he did plateau once we got to the BE, his record speaks for itself. CJL got us from nothing to a BCS Conference in 10 years, that will never be duplicated and should always be remember; BUT, he never won anything of note and we were a .500 team in conference once we got here. We had BE talent and in 6 years couldn't win a thing, if it was anyone but CJL, you guys would have shown him the door after 2 years just like every coach after him. 

- Unfortunately ESPN killed the BE and our growth as a program. Idk if we ever recover, I doubt it, but it depends on future expansion. 

- The AAC as a whole is a slightly downgraded BE, but the top teams are just a good as the BE top tear was. 

- CFP/ESPN politics will always hinder the AAC and that's just the reality of our situation. 

- I personally have accepted our current football reality and look at it as a pure source of entertainment now. The BE years were a blast and I was lucky to be a student then, but things change. I refuse to let this impact my life for the negative anymore. There is so much more to life than this, the game and conference I can't control, so I've learned to not let it bring me down. I love our school and team and will always support them. I will not pile on when things are rough, but I will criticize; there is a difference. I hope we get out of the AAC and into a P5 conference someday, but until then, let's just try and win a conference championship (whatever conference we're in, we want to be the best, regardless of the competition level). 

I agree with points 2, 4, 5, but...

1. We did NOT have BCS talent players for CJL's entire time in the BE. He coached 5 years in the BE, not 6... One of which he lost his starting QB and had to play a rookie, everyone remembers the FSU game, but, BJD struggled that year in a lot of games. In 2005, we were playing with seniors that started their career playing with no conference affiliation at all, after that, we were recruiting into C-USA for a year. I honestly don't think there is enough there to say he plateaued, but, that will be debated. I don't think anyone would have wanted him fired after 2 years in the BE, that's nonsense. I get your point though, I am not on the FIRE CCS train yet. I think OC needs to be changed. We fans got spoiled by getting to the top of the mountain and now anything less seems like failure. Whether CJL plateaued or not, to me, there is no argument that they way he was fired, and the subsequent hire of Holtz set the program back quite a bit. I often wonder if CJL had stayed if we really would have been left out of the conference realignment. Probably, but, it wasn't a good look that we had scandal and terrible football when all of that was happening.

 

[michibull]

33 minutes ago, Orlando Bull said:

I agree with points 2, 4, 5, but...

1. We did NOT have BCS talent players for CJL's entire time in the BE. He coached 5 years in the BE, not 6... One of which he lost his starting QB and had to play a rookie, everyone remembers the FSU game, but, BJD struggled that year in a lot of games. In 2005, we were playing with seniors that started their career playing with no conference affiliation at all, after that, we were recruiting into C-USA for a year. I honestly don't think there is enough there to say he plateaued, but, that will be debated. I don't think anyone would have wanted him fired after 2 years in the BE, that's nonsense. I get your point though, I am not on the FIRE CCS train yet. I think OC needs to be changed. We fans got spoiled by getting to the top of the mountain and now anything less seems like failure. Whether CJL plateaued or not, to me, there is no argument that they way he was fired, and the subsequent hire of Holtz set the program back quite a bit. I often wonder if CJL had stayed if we really would have been left out of the conference realignment. Probably, but, it wasn't a good look that we had scandal and terrible football when all of that was happening.

 

I can agree with most of what you said for sure. To clear one point tho, I didn't say BCS talent, I said BE talent, and I only said that because I feel we had just as much talent as anyone in the BE. Your point on getting spoiled is spot on, I think that's the largest reason a lot of our fan base can't accept our situation now. I also agree with you that the way the CJL firing happened was not right. Although I believed he plateaued, I love CJL and thought he got a raw deal. 

[Gatorbull325]

On 11/4/2018 at 9:09 AM, Bullrush33 said:

Did you not read at the beginning of the season that Strong wanted them lighter? It’s the reason Kegler and pinkney aren’t over 300. Nico went from 240 to 220. 

Maybe he wanted them 2 be faster, who knows. But i think he will steer them in the right direction. 

[cmhatter]

On 11/4/2018 at 8:14 AM, BDYZR said:

We're 8 games into the season with ZERO noticeable improvement on defense and ABSOLUTE ZERO intensity from those playing.  

This is the most concerning part. No improvement... we're actually regressing.