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Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

I'm with you, fauowls44. Though most of us (and the team) had hoped for better, this was not to be. What stands out in my mind is the heart and character of a team that rededicated itself mid-season and utterly refused to roll over when things were going wrong. Instead, it battled back time after time. I was not at the Shula Bowl, but I have to say that was one of the strangest (and most rewarding) games in memory. My thanks to the team, and my special best wishes to the seniors who now (assuming there is no bowl game) head off, in most cases, to life after football – and in a terrible economy. Good luck, gentlemen, and thank you again.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

The said

We'll be lucky to be .500 next year, i'm sorry but the defense is god awful and i can't see it getting any better next year.  Not to mention what little run game we had is leaving us with Edgecomb and Pierre.

Yes, because no team has ever improved over an offseason.    ::)  Plus, as you point out the D wasn't very good this year.  So is replacing a bunch of players that, as a unit, didn't get the job done, really that bad of a thing?  To me, the fact that we were so bad on defense this year and still managed to go 6-6 is encouraging.



As for losing players…We have talent waiting to replace what we lose.  We'll be fine.  It is certainly way too early to start making predictions for next year.  Need I remind you that at the start of the 2007 season, nobody thought we had a QB and Rusty stepped up and became the best player in FAU history(just go back and read the posts bashing the kid with a strange throwing motion).  That same year we had no idea we had a stud TE in Harmon, and everyone was certain that the OL was in trouble beacuse Nello Faulk had graduated.  Players graduate, others take their place…it's the nature of the game. 
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

owl09 said

Jab979 said

Here's my take on next season

@ Nebraska L
@ UAB W
@ South CarolinaL
vs Louisiana-MonroeW
@ TroyL
vs Western kentuckyW
@ Louisiana-LafeyetteW
vs Middle TennesseeW
@ North TexasW
vs Arkansas StateL
@ Florida InternationalW

That gives us 7 wins and I know we still have 1 more OOC game we haven't scheduled yet. If we can finish with 7 wins I think that's a successful season and should get us back into a bowl game even with 2 L's in the belt to Troy and Ark State meaning that the Shula Bowl can be VERY important again next season.

We always have trouble with Troy and I believe Ark State has a young team and we couldn't do much against them this season. ULL is losing Desmereaux and their # 1 RB, ULM doesn't scare me, WKU will still be getting adjusted to the Belt, MTSU sucks and North Texas should be a D-II school

come on, dirty j… you're not being creative or thoughtful or enough… you're picking us to lose the same games as this year… troy and arkansas state? it could happen, but i think we'll be better than both those teams next year with howard KICKING the receiver's asses this offseason for dropped passes and a senior rusty

My concern with the receivers is lack of talent.  You drop a few catches and that is lack of focus and execution.  We have lost multiple games because of drops.  That's a reflection on talent.  Sorry to say it.  We like to say on this board that we have so much talent, but after an entire season, that is weak.  Why would Howard improve anything by kicking receiver's asses in the offseason?  Why wouldn't he have been kicking them during the season if that would help anything?  This is the key for me.  If the receiver's can do what everyone on this board says they are capable of, then we will see what happens.  Talk is cheap.  We need receiver's that can catch the darn ball.  Rusty has put so many right on the money that get dropped.  No excuses other than we need to find better "talent."
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

I think our receivers are very talented. Ya they may drop passes, but have you seen some of the catches they HAVE made and the concentration it must take to make them? I seriously think it was a mental thing that was contagious. "I have to catch this ball" "I NEED to catch this ball or I'll let my team down" sort of thing. Last year after fanfest, coach apoligized on behalf the of the receievers becasue they couldn't catch. Well last year that was our strongpoint. Those receivers are still there, with the same talent. Something just happened this year that they were not consistent. Maybe they got lazy, or comfortbale thinking they were too good. Who knows, but I wouldn't say our receivers are not talented.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

FAUfasho said

I think our receivers are very talented. Ya they may drop passes, but have you seen some of the catches they HAVE made and the concentration it must take to make them?

Yeah… every time Drop Housler and Chris Bobbler make a mistake, they usually make up for it with a big play a few minutes later.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

fauowls44 said

Troy lost a bunch of talent this season and still managed to fill holes and win the conference. 

It seems to me that Troy stays on top because they consistently bring in seasoned, talented JUCO players. We shy away from that and instead try to just keep moving our classes forward one after another to replace the holes in the line like a Civil War battalion.

Problem is that we depend so much on our first team guys that everyone behind them lose out on game time. So we graduate guys, bring in new starters who know FAU's offense from practice but may have performance jitters or may not have even proven themselves and put them up against teams like Troy where the people they bring in have game time and are ready to go.

Case in point: Omar Haugabook when he landed at Troy from JUCO. Guy was a beast when he came in and did very well for them. Compare that to someone like VanCamp, who has been nurtured at FAU for what, 2 years now? Three? VanCamp has maybe played 5-10 (mostly unsuccessful) drives this season. If this was Rusty's last year or Rusty got hurt this season, we'd be screwed. Like "OMG Sean Clayton is our QB again" screwed.

Not just Troy either. I think FIU brought in some big JUCO guys from states like California and look what it did for them this season.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

They have an effective spread system at Troy that can use any quarterback, any receiver, any line.

Ours is much more of a spiritual system…the QB needs time to develop, everyone needs to work together, its a style but I think it works well enough.  It allows us to get more out of players that otherwise would not be in D1.

That being said, our talent is improving.  I think all the guys that just graduated were recruited while we were still FCS or in transition.  From here on out our recruits will have been for a bona fide FBS team and we already know they are bigger, faster, more talented.  Now just imagine that in our spiritual system that gets the best out of players.  I think next year will be alright…not great, but alright.

Florida Atlantic University Owls
2007 Sun Belt Football Champions 2007 New Orleans Bowl Champions 2008 Motor City Bowl Champions 2011 Sun Belt Basketball Champions No Bowls without Owls
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

fauowls44 said

illinoisowl said

There are 2 seasons the football team didn't improve drastically. 2005 and this year.

2005 is explainable. This year is not.

This year is absolutely explainable.  In no particular order:

Injuries - Losing Harmon, St. Clair, and Paris early on were killers.  We never did have a fully healthy D-line the entire season.  The O-line was a revolving door.

Dropped passes - No need to go into detail, we all know the ugly truth.  The drops were there in every game, but none moreso then the ASU game.  I think we dropped 10 passes.

Bad Luck -  Sometimes you just need luck on your side, and at the start of the season, we didn't have any.  Facing Texas, Minnesota, and Michigan State 3 out of the 1st 4 weeks is tough any year, but this year, UT happens to be championship caliber, and Minnesota and MSU were on fire when we played them, not to mention having to play MSU in a hurricane.  Balls bouncing off players helmets on special teams.  And the dagger…that friggin' Hail Mary pass at MTSU.  That is a play that works 1 out of 100 times and it will likely keep us out of a bowl game.

Penalties - WAAAY too many.

Still, given all the bad things that took place, we still finished 6-6, 5-1 in our last 6 games, and bowl eligible.  Not bad for a team written off and left for dead after the Troy game.  So it wasn't the season we all thought we'd get…oh well.  I'm still proud of the way this team battled back through all the crap thrown at them(and they created for themselves) this season and finished the season strong.  It showed the character of this program.  We probably don't get to a bowl, but maybe the team learned a valuable lesson about offseason preparation and what it takes to compete at a high level year in and year out.  It'll be tough watching other SBC teams play in bowls if we have to stay home, but hopefully the team uses that feeling as motivation to never have a repeat of that 1-5 start.

LOL, you named every reason except the one that matters….OUR TURNOVER RATIO!  Last year we WON the TURNOVER battle in almost EVERY game=Wins, this year we LOST the TURNOVER battle in almost every game=LOSS.

Next year is Rustys senior year and he has a TON of expereince on offense coming with him, we dont lose ANY WR's or TE's….we will be able to score in bunches.  Pierre and Edgecomb will be missed but we have W. Rose coming back and a few talented guys coming up.

On defense we will miss Frantz and Small and the LB's… but I dont think our defense was the reason we won anything this season.  There is no reason to think our defense will not be as good? as it was this year….in fact I would like to see it get better.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

fauowls44 said

The said

We'll be lucky to be .500 next year, i'm sorry but the defense is god awful and i can't see it getting any better next year.  Not to mention what little run game we had is leaving us with Edgecomb and Pierre.

Yes, because no team has ever improved over an offseason.    ::)  Plus, as you point out the D wasn't very good this year.  So is replacing a bunch of players that, as a unit, didn't get the job done, really that bad of a thing?  To me, the fact that we were so bad on defense this year and still managed to go 6-6 is encouraging.



As for losing players…We have talent waiting to replace what we lose.  We'll be fine.  It is certainly way too early to start making predictions for next year.  Need I remind you that at the start of the 2007 season, nobody thought we had a QB and Rusty stepped up and became the best player in FAU history(just go back and read the posts bashing the kid with a strange throwing motion).  That same year we had no idea we had a stud TE in Harmon, and everyone was certain that the OL was in trouble beacuse Nello Faulk had graduated.  Players graduate, others take their place…it's the nature of the game.

Hey, i hope i'm wrong.  But i'm not going to drink the Jonestown Juice and pretend that all these problems are going to fix themselves with new guys in place of veteran guys.  You saw what happened to the O-Line without Paris and we are also losing one of the best Middle Line Backers in the country.  So on paper i'm not going to be optimistic, but i hope for a good camp and that you're right.
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Re: Next year will be the year we were looking for.......

The said

fauowls44 said

The said

We'll be lucky to be .500 next year, i'm sorry but the defense is god awful and i can't see it getting any better next year.  Not to mention what little run game we had is leaving us with Edgecomb and Pierre.

Yes, because no team has ever improved over an offseason.    ::)  Plus, as you point out the D wasn't very good this year.  So is replacing a bunch of players that, as a unit, didn't get the job done, really that bad of a thing?  To me, the fact that we were so bad on defense this year and still managed to go 6-6 is encouraging.



As for losing players…We have talent waiting to replace what we lose.  We'll be fine.  It is certainly way too early to start making predictions for next year.  Need I remind you that at the start of the 2007 season, nobody thought we had a QB and Rusty stepped up and became the best player in FAU history(just go back and read the posts bashing the kid with a strange throwing motion).  That same year we had no idea we had a stud TE in Harmon, and everyone was certain that the OL was in trouble beacuse Nello Faulk had graduated.  Players graduate, others take their place…it's the nature of the game.

Hey, i hope i'm wrong.  But i'm not going to drink the Jonestown Juice and pretend that all these problems are going to fix themselves with new guys in place of veteran guys.  You saw what happened to the O-Line without Paris and we are also losing one of the best Middle Line Backers in the country.  So on paper i'm not going to be optimistic, but i hope for a good camp and that you're right.

I'm not suggesting the problems will fix themselves, just that players DO improve over the offseason and when seniors graduate, it opens up the opportunity for someone else.  So yeah, losing players like Paris and Joesph will hurt, but there is no reason to assume that the guys taking over aren't just as capable.  There will be growing pains, but there was a good deal of "pains" this season, even with all of our experience. 
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