What will it take

savbandjacket said:
Who are the player leaders on the team?

I don’t think we have them (as evidenced by different “captains” every week) and changing things requires a few guys to step up and demand better from their teammates in everything.
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Different captains every week has always confused me. Seems really dumb.
 
Architorture23 said:
Different captains every week has always confused me. Seems really dumb.
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It’s pee wee league, participation trophy bullshit. If there are three guys who are in the film and weigh rooms after everyone else leaves, put a C on their jerseys and send them out there every game.
 
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A decent DC.

BGSU's possessions looked like this: Punt, TD, Punt, FG, TD, EOH, TD, TD, Pick-6, Punt, Downs, EOG.

They scored 31 points on 5 of 6 possessions from possession #2 through #7, not counting the EOH. Then they capped that off with a Pick-6.

It was 17-14 at the half, and by the end of the 3rd it was all done, 38-20. It was that fast. It totally negated our running game.

Our D never stopped them on drives that began in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Not once. They scored on every possession that began in those two quarters, except the EOH.

Even with the O pulling its Jekyll and Hyde stunt, w/o that, we would have won.

Just one stop in that timeframe may have done it. Say, for instance, we stop them coming out of the half. It's still 17-14. We then kick the FG on our first possession (at the 14) to tie. Then they score to go up 24-17 in the late 3rd. It's a 1-score game. We're not desperately throwing the ball and likely avoid the pick-6. The game very well might play out totally different.

Just one stop.

Now the O could have done it, too, but it would have required we score on every 2nd half possession and not rush into that pick-6. Then it's 24-14, then 31-21, then 31-28, and then finally 34-31.

That's much harder to do than simply getting a stop or two by the D.
 
Just a decent D is all this team needs. There's no realistic hope of that, though, with the same DC for the last 4+ years at the helm.

So, the options are, fold 'em and likely endure another 3-9 season, or fight like @#$% and maybe scratch back to 5-7 again. There are 2 more very winnable games on our schedule - BC and UVA, and 3 more games in which an upset could occur - Miami, UNC, and Syracuse. I can see 3-4 more wins out of those. I can also see 1-2 more if the team folds and/or the D just continues to fail.
 
Two thought experiments for y'all:

Would anyone hired as HC who was not on last season's coaching staff have retained Thacker as DC?

Whom would Paul Johnson have chosen: Willie Fritz or Brent Key?
 
Remember how Kansas State brought back Bill Snyder? We need to do that with Paul Johnson. He'd find a way to win with our talent. And he'd pick a better DC this time.

Bill Snyder was 69 when he returned to Kansas State. Paul Johnson is 66
 
savbandjacket said:
I’m not convinced that is the answer either when the GTAA repeatedly proves itself to be a poor steward of our money. Examples: Gef contract, Hewitt contract, Edge building, etc.
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That is the answer provided that it is spent well (to your point). To be such a smart school, it continues to be its own worst enemy in athletics.
 
GTAA has proven time and again to piss away any money they get. Why are we doing the edge center renovation? Pay off the debt, we'll need the ability to balance the books when we're left out of a conference reshuffle.
 
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