duder said

I think at this point we are all just graspin at straws trying to answer the same question………….WHY!?

Don't worry boys, it will get better, it has to. ;D

One thing that I do expect is for the guys that will be seniors next year to come out with a chip on their shoulder and lead this team in the right direction.

GO OWLS!!!

owlfan1 said

duder said

I think at this point we are all just graspin at straws trying to answer the same question………….WHY!?

Don't worry boys, it will get better, it has to. ;D

One thing that I do expect is for the guys that will be seniors next year to come out with a chip on their shoulder and lead this team in the right direction.

GO OWLS!!!

the one good thing is I'm not concerned about next year because the seniors now aren't doing much. with a lot of younger guys getting into games all year there shouldn't be a drop off at all.

Frantz + Paris yes

brandon jackso,n Hancock, Allen + Clark nothing that can't be replaced


jervonte jackson, rizo, st. clair i suppose.

with respect to frantz the only reason he's having so many tackles is because our d line can't stop the run, ie. 260 yards running by WKU.

I think Givens is going to be huge when he gets on the field.

our running game is deep as with the receivers and tight ends.

I do like all the seniors that are playing but this season has not gone the way we expected. Plus with all the penalties and stupid plays i don't really see the senior leadership anyway. it may be harsh words and you guys can call me a d!ck for calling people out but we all know its the truth.

Our OOC games killed our teams morale this year.  We need to find a way to lighten that and have 2 of the 4 games at home.  I just think getting housed by 3 ranked opponents on the road in the first 4 weeks took the steam right out of the team.  On a bright note, I think our 2009 OOC will be a bit easier to deal with.

Bytor said

It's amazing how a disappointing type of season, especially when one held so much promise before the start of the season has fans talking about the coaches having lost touch with this team.

Yes, there is some concerns with the lack of discipline & execution, but I also remember what they where saying about Joe P. from Penn St last year which kinds of mirrors what is being said about Howard now.

Penn St struggled last year with some of the many things that is plaguing this team this year & look at the season Penn St is having this year - same players, same coach.

It's hard to figure out the WHY's certain things happen & sometimes it's rather hard to fix these types of problems during a the course of a season, but I have every reason to believe that Howard will turn the ship around and the Players will get back to playing the type of football they are capable of.

These are the same players of last year & next year we will have return veterans with a good influx of younger players hungry to prove themselves, especially after a season of disappointment.  They will be ready to prove that they where recruited to continue the building process going that the Original Owls started.

This program is still in a building process & sometimes taking a step backwards is part of the growing process - doesn't always makes sense, but some thing we do have to deal with.

We can look to Penn St. and how they turn their ship around as a guide to help us right our own ship.

There is more to it than that.  Penn State has a different starting QB for one, and there schedule is lighter (Michigan isn't Michigan right now), plus I think they were 11-1 just two season ago with a last second loss in Ann Arbor….and you cant compare the trials and tribulations of a 100 year old program to ours.  You can look at teams like UCF that had 0-12 season out of nowhere and then turning it around.  The toughest challenge in college football is consitancy…why has Miami and FSU been so bad?  They have the talent…what is the explanation there?  UCF is down again because they dont have the depth to be good year in and year out.

Here our some reasons in my mind:
-We got pounded on the road by underrespected OOC teams which took all the momentum from 2007 out of our sails
-6 of our first 8 games are on the road (which is a HUGE factor)
-A few of the bounces that went our way are going their way this year…that is how it goes
-Rusty's shoulder injury

But we are better than 4 of the next 5 teams we face (not sure we are better tahn Ark State) and have a balanced home vs. away ratio the rest of the way so I think 6-6 is a reasonable and attainable goal.

I'd say we should beat 3 out of the next 5 teams.. ULALA and Arkie St both look good..FIU will be tough but we should win, ULM and North Texas should also be wins, but knowing this team will also be tough.  If we can beat ULM and North Texas the next two game we can get ourselves to a position where we are in the mindset of winning and go out strong.

walty12 said

Our OOC games killed our teams morale this year.  We need to find a way to lighten that and have 2 of the 4 games at home.  I just think getting housed by 3 ranked opponents on the road in the first 4 weeks took the steam right out of the team.  On a bright note, I think our 2009 OOC will be a bit easier to deal with.

That's actually a pretty poor excuse.  Look at the other teams you're losing to and you'll see that they almost always lose their OOC games to bigger opponents.  The fact that moral and discipline took a nose dive can't be blamed on a few early losses that were pretty much expected, especially since other teams rallied and came back stronger for those losses.  Good coaches can do that for a team.  This is mostly a good group of players, though I think a few need to be benched for awhile.  Rusty is good, but has been playing spooked because of his shoulder injury.  For awhile there it was like he was so afraid it was going to happen again that he lost the touch he had last year.  Discipline - mental as well as physical - is a big problem this year.  That gets laid squarely at the feet of the coaching staff, head coach included.  Talk is cheap and there has been no action taken - simply benching a few guys for a couple of games would solve some of the problems both in the short term and the long term.  There seems to be little group cohesion among the players, as well.  There were a few times they looked like they thought they were each other's opponents rather than the guys on the other team.  That needs to turn around.  There's a difference between playing angry because you're fired up to prove yourself and win and playing angry because you're frustrated and are going to take it out on everyone around you.  These boys are playing more like the latter than the former.  Change (not necessarily firings) needs to happen at all levels of this team, coaches and players.  Not suggesting people need to go or be replaced, but some change is needed in mentality and tactics.

sideline said

walty12 said

Our OOC games killed our teams morale this year.  We need to find a way to lighten that and have 2 of the 4 games at home.  I just think getting housed by 3 ranked opponents on the road in the first 4 weeks took the steam right out of the team.  On a bright note, I think our 2009 OOC will be a bit easier to deal with.

That's actually a pretty poor excuse.  Look at the other teams you're losing to and you'll see that they almost always lose their OOC games to bigger opponents.  The fact that moral and discipline took a nose dive can't be blamed on a few early losses that were pretty much expected, especially since other teams rallied and came back stronger for those losses.  Good coaches can do that for a team.  This is mostly a good group of players, though I think a few need to be benched for awhile.  Rusty is good, but has been playing spooked because of his shoulder injury.  For awhile there it was like he was so afraid it was going to happen again that he lost the touch he had last year.  Discipline - mental as well as physical - is a big problem this year.  That gets laid squarely at the feet of the coaching staff, head coach included.  Talk is cheap and there has been no action taken - simply benching a few guys for a couple of games would solve some of the problems both in the short term and the long term.  There seems to be little group cohesion among the players, as well.  There were a few times they looked like they thought they were each other's opponents rather than the guys on the other team.  That needs to turn around.  There's a difference between playing angry because you're fired up to prove yourself and win and playing angry because you're frustrated and are going to take it out on everyone around you.  These boys are playing more like the latter than the former.  Change (not necessarily firings) needs to happen at all levels of this team, coaches and players.  Not suggesting people need to go or be replaced, but some change is needed in mentality and tactics.

Most on this board expected to win a few of those OOC games.  Not an excuse, the FACT is that FAU plays 6 of its first 8 games on the road…you dont recognize that as a difference from last season where that HOME win vs. Minnesota got the momentum started? 

the troy game was probably the worst game of the year, end to end, and that was home. MTSU was the worst ending....

Exit39 said

the troy game was probably the worst game of the year, end to end, and that was home. MTSU was the worst ending….

Those two games were the result of bad momentum and beaten pride.  You really think MTSU would have beaten us if we played them the first game of the season…no chance.

walty12 said

Most on this board expected to win a few of those OOC games.  Not an excuse, the FACT is that FAU plays 6 of its first 8 games on the road…you dont recognize that as a difference from last season where that HOME win vs. Minnesota got the momentum started?

Most fans "expect" to win on gameday.  No one goes into a game saying, "Gee, let's go out and lose this game for the fans at home!"  But when they play an LSU, USC, or Texas and they come away with a loss, no one is really all that surprised.  The team doesn't fall apart and start losing games they should win.  This isn't the only school who started out with lots of games on the road with several body bag games in the mix.  This, however, is the team that let it pull them down to a losing season because no one on the coaching staff knew how to rally the team and keep them performing.

Maybe they need Dr. Lou to come give them a pep talk.  :D