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Re: Rusty, The One Year Wonder!

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fauowls44 said

But how can you assume that?  And what will "playing with heart" look like?  What if they play with a lot of heart and still score 3 points?  I mean NC State only scored 3 points against SC…so if we only score 3 points again and lose we are done?

We played 6 crappy games last year and recovered.  I just would hate to see the Owls lose (or play another poor game against a BCS team) to SC and everyone jump off the bandwagon before we play our home opener.  Don't get me wrong, we need to see improvement from that last game…a lot of improvement…but if they go into SC and get blown out, the season is far from over.  We'd have 10 very winnable games and our entire conference schedule to play for.  THe result of the SC game is hardly a indication on how the rest of the season will go.

Totally agree!


For someone to say Rusty is a one year wonder after having a bad game (the first game of the season) is ridiculous.


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This thread reminds of a thread last year when a certain long time member of the board jumped ship and basically gave up on FAU after the rocky start. Exit39, I hope you don't go the same route because of one demoralizing loss to start the season. FAU will bounce back and we still have a clean shot at the SBC title and another bowl appearance. It is far too early to give up.


GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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Wow, there is a lot of fire and hate on this board for the first game of the season where we all predicted a loss.  I am dissapointed that we could not even score a touchdown, but let's face it, the BCS teams are still out of our league, plain and simple.  We may get lucky one of these weeks and pick off one (cough….SC…cough), but even that would be luck, nohting more, because if we play SC 3 more times, I bet we lose 3 more times.  You can see our disadvantage as soon as we step on the field, BCS teams, have size and depth, and we have neither.

What we do have is a group of guys, most of which have played together for 3 years, that do have a lot of heart, and a lot of fight.  They also have a lot of mistakes.  We did not see much of that heart or fight last saturday, but when faced with overwhelming odds, it is hard to keep a high head.  These guys need to get their heads on straight, forget about last week, and focus on improving their fundamentals against SC.  After that, focus on the SBC, that is our goal, and it will be for the forseeable future, nothing else.  We need to dominate the conference and create a dynasty before we can think about whoopin up on a real BCS school.

Right now, the only thing that needs to be said is GO OWLS!, Keep Moving Forward!

FAU - We got Bowls!
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duder said

You can see our disadvantage as soon as we step on the field, BCS teams, have size and depth, and we have neither.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I do think we had the size (on the lines) and speed but not the depth.

What we're lacking is good decisions and maneuverability. FSU and Miami both had punt returns over 50 yards. These guys dart in between spaces, psyche out DBS, juke out of tackles, etc. Our guys catch and then run until they get flattened. The yards after contact is not sufficient for long gains against BCS teams.

And don't even get me started on Polo refusing to wave for a fair catch when a Nebraska defender is ten feet from him.

Another thing you can apparently get away with is shoving all the pursuing tacklers to the ground. Nebraska did it all day long without getting penalized. Easy to run in for touchdowns that way. Guess we gotta start doing that.
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Re: Rusty, The One Year Wonder!

fauowls44 said

Silver_Bullet32 said

fauowls44 said

Silver_Bullet32 said

fauowls44 said

Hootyhoot said

Guys it seems that I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't get to see the game. However, I do agree with Exit. There is just to much hype surrounding a team that hasn't proved anything other than it got lucky two years ago and beat Troy to advance to the NO Bowl and that for whatever reason they go 6-6, finish third in the conference but receivers a bowl bid over the second place team.

Oh please.  Just because we haven't had success against BCS teams, we are a complete failure?  Because we lose to teams that are better then us on the road, everything else we have accomplished is meaningless?  That is ridiculous and it's an insult to those who have put in a lot of hard work to get this program to where we are today.  No, we haven't played well against BCS competition, and so what?  Name me the teams from non-BCS conferences that routinely compete with those schools?  There are plenty of teams that have been playing football far longer then we have that go into places like Nebraska, Florida, Texas, etc. and get beat down just like we have.  We all would like to see the Owls compete better and beat one of these BCS teams on the road, but if we don't, it doesn't change anything.  Our goal is to win OUR conference.

I agree, winning our conference is the #1 goal. On the other hand, for that to happen, we need for everyone to show up when its gametime. It was easy to see who showed up on Sat. Guys like Morris, Rose, Van Camp, etc. were ready to go. That doesn't mean if the whole team showed up, we were going to win. It means we need that to happen from game 1 to be able to win our conference and go to a bowl game. This team has to show some heart in SC or you can kiss our bowl chances goodbye.

Why?  We showed nothing for the first 6 games last year and still went to a bowl game.  I'm not saying that that was an ideal situation…or even a good situation, but to say our season is over if we have another stinker in SC is just ridiculous.  We'd have 10 winnable games left to play.

What I mean is, if we play with the heart we played with on Sat, we won't win enough of those winnable games to make it to a bowl this time…
 how can you assume that?  And what will "playing with heart" look like?  What if they play with a lot of heart and still score 3 points?  I mean NC State only scored 3 points against SC…so if we only score 3 points again and lose we are done?

We played 6 crappy games last year and recovered.  I just would hate to see the Owls lose (or play another poor game against a BCS team) to SC and everyone jump off the bandwagon before we play our home opener.  Don't get me wrong, we need to see improvement from that last game…a lot of improvement…but if they go into SC and get blown out, the season is far from over.  We'd have 10 very winnable games and our entire conference schedule to play for.  THe result of the SC game is hardly a indication on how the rest of the season will go.

See, with the exception of Minn, I didn't see us quit last year. This is the first game of the year, and a game we have been prepping many weeks for. I'm not predicting a full season collapse. I'm saying we can't win with that kind of effort week in and week out. Do I think our boys will play like that all season? No, but when we do turn it around, we can't have an effort like this when the games really start counting. If we put back to back efforts like that at the beginning of this year, that is a bad sign.

I'll give you an example of what heart looks like. Our defense played horrible against FIU last year. At the end of that game, they gutted out some big stops to win that game in overtime…that's heart. We can do that next weekend too. What they did on the field on Sat won't cut it. not even against strong Sun Belt teams….

I totally respect any fans opinion, especially someone who is passionate about the Owls…. I'm a season ticket holder and haven't missed a home game yet. The streak is still going since SR…I'm not jumpin' anywhere…

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Re: Rusty, The One Year Wonder!

I'll give you an example of what heart looks like. Our defense played horrible against FIU last year. At the end of that game, they gutted out some big stops to win that game in overtime…that's heart. We can do that next weekend too. What they did on the field on Sat won't cut it. not even against strong Sun Belt teams….

This is where we disagree.  That isn't "heart".  You are just playing the result of the game.  If FAU does everything the same and FIU scores in OT and wins the game, does that mean that the Owls players were trying to win any less?  It is possible to play hard, give 110%, etc. and still lose the game, even get blown out.  On Saturday, the Owls lost because Nebraska is a better team, not because of lack of heart.  You can blame poor execution or whatever, but I don't think it was lack of effort.

That said, there is no question that the Owls need to show improvement next week.  It will take a perfect game to beat SC, but the offense does need to gain some momentum going into the "weaker" part of the schedule.
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I did not see the Nebraska game and I didn't even get a chance to look at the stats until Monday night. What stands out to me is that FAU did everything on offense except put the ball in the endzone. It wasn't like FAU had 100 yards of total offense or was forced to throw the ball all game. FAU moved the ball. We can take heart in the fact that our offense could hang in there, move the ball, not give up a single sack, and make plays against a top 25 team and BIG12 North favorite in Nebraska. Like everyone else, I would have liked to see some points on the board, but I am hopeful that FAU will shine in conference play due to what the offense showed against Nebraska. 11 more games to make this a season to remember.

GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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owlfan1 said

I did not see the Nebraska game and I didn't even get a chance to look at the stats until Monday night. What stands out to me is that FAU did everything on offense except put the ball in the endzone. It wasn't like FAU had 100 yards of total offense or was forced to throw the ball all game. FAU moved the ball. We can take heart in the fact that our offense could hang in there, move the ball, not give up a single sack, and make plays against a top 25 team and BIG12 North favorite in Nebraska. Like everyone else, I would have liked to see some points on the board, but I am hopeful that FAU will shine in conference play due to what the offense showed against Nebraska. 11 more games to make this a season to remember.

GO OWLS!!!

I agree…only thing I am really upset about is how many big plays they had.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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I understand that feeling and I take heart from it too.

HOWEVER

Yardage, First Downs, TOP, and all the other stats that came out "even" against Nebraska dont really matter a hill of beans.

This is why all of us (Sun Belt teams) take it on the chin from other confrences. We talk about how we did great on these things but we never do the important thing of SCORING. Thats how the game is won and that's what people see and remember.  We HAVE to start finishing drives and putting points on the boards.

No longer can we (players, coachs, fans,) accept this as an acceptable result from a team with this much offensive capability.

Im here for the duration, have been since Day 1 and will be even if we have a North Texas style collapse. But doesnt mean im gonna be happy and accept "excuses" about not scoring.

The name of the game is points on the scoreboard and in that regard the team failed horribly.

ALWAYS an Owl fan. Just a dissapointed one.

I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick @$$ and I'm out of bubble gum.

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owlfamily said


ALWAYS an Owl fan. Just a dissapointed one.

Exactly

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
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