Here is what I am going to do....

I'm gonna enjoy the season because I get chills when I see that band march around the field, Tom comes by in his cage...and the boys run out on the field with fireworks going off...I get a little choked up every time...I love college football...especially my Tigers.

I'm gonna wait till the end of the season, just like last year, and see what improvements this team has made under CJF. It will never be worse than the Porter years...

Win or lose...if they play competitive games...I won't complain.

it's only upside from here on out...

(09-15-2013 01:20 PM)Mimi Wrote:  Yes- the two times we had the ball with the lead late in the game, a pass seemed in order.

Seemed way too ready to turn it over to the defense, which had played great but should be allowed to let one FG drive in a half go.

Was surprised- and could have lived with an incompletion if we were trying to get what would nearly have been a game clinching first down.

With that- team is much better than last year and plays with more guts, but unfortunately that will not likely translate into many wins...THIS year.

But will soon.

Dead on

(09-15-2013 12:57 AM)mewes Wrote:  I know some of you will get mad but i have to say it. We didnt lose because l ynch played rather than karam. We lost because of two reasons. First because out OL is not very good. Secondly because play calling was terrible tonight especially in the fourth quarter. The second to last time we had the ball and could have iced the game we just ran it up the middle instead of throwing it.

I gotta be honest with you. Offensively this team has seriously regressed from last season. First because we're playing a freshman quarterback. secondly because coach fuente decided to reshuffle the offensive line. Instead of just adding a new left guard. To be honest with you I really don't understand that. At the end of last year the offensive line was playing so well why not just let everyone just stay where they are and just add a left guard. Its easier for one to learn a new spot than four. To be honest with you I'm really disappointed in this offense. I thought offense was coach fuente's speciality. 11 out of the 14 games he's coached here the offense has been very unimpressive.

Monkey business.

I disagree. We dominated the 2nd half and played ok the first half. Lynch missed a TD throw and then the bad pick. But you cannot be flagged 17 times and expect to win. Period. End of story. How many opportunities were squandered by penalties that had no effect on the play? I can remember 3 or 4.

Playing a freshman at QB has consequences. It means a more conservative game plan and little chance on 3rd and long.

(09-15-2013 02:16 PM)msu65 Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 01:20 PM)Mimi Wrote:  Yes- the two times we had the ball with the lead late in the game, a pass seemed in order.

Seemed way too ready to turn it over to the defense, which had played great but should be allowed to let one FG drive in a half go.

Was surprised- and could have lived with an incompletion if we were trying to get what would nearly have been a game clinching first down.

With that- team is much better than last year and plays with more guts, but unfortunately that will not likely translate into many wins...THIS year.

But will soon.

Dead on

So you would ask a Freshman QB to throw a pass on 3rd and long inside his own 25. Nice. Ever wonder why no one asks your opinion?

MTSU had to beat us late in the fourth quarter on their home turf.

A break here or there and we win that game. Learning to win is the toughest hurdle.

(09-15-2013 08:16 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:59 AM)GringoStarr Wrote:  3rd and long conversionS...

...are necessary because of conservative play calling on first and second down.

We actually had a good night running the ball yesterday. My biggest problem with play calling was when we were down by 2 with 1:45 left and needing to move the ball 50 yards for a game winner. Why do you run up the middle and waste 25-30 seconds?

Not our 3rd and long conversions, their 3rd and long conversions. See post right above mine in the thread. I was just commenting that they converted A BUNCH of 3rd and longs.

(09-15-2013 01:11 PM)lenetzach Wrote:  He got this position on the strength of his play calling success and reputation.

The success was real and the reputation well deserved by the way.

He didn't get "more stupider" all of a sudden.

Instead he took over a team that was demoralized and decimated by constant losing, and that had been fractured by internal and external forces

He had to work on basics of being a team before they could even make progress on football fundamentals.

The team now acts like and looks like a football team, has made a lot of progress in a lot of fundamentals and execution (for example, they execute misdirection plays very well, fooling defenses, commentators, and fans re who has the ball)

But there is still room to go in execution, especially pass protection and precision of routes.

We will see more variety of plays more often as they are ready to be executed more reliably.

There's still the losing mentality in the back of the minds of the players. You keep playing not to lose instead of going for the jugular and the mentality gets even worse. IMO when you are outmanned you need to think outside the box.

(09-15-2013 03:48 PM)midtowncowboy Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 12:57 AM)mewes Wrote:  I know some of you will get mad but i have to say it. We didnt lose because l ynch played rather than karam. We lost because of two reasons. First because out OL is not very good. Secondly because play calling was terrible tonight especially in the fourth quarter. The second to last time we had the ball and could have iced the game we just ran it up the middle instead of throwing it.

I gotta be honest with you. Offensively this team has seriously regressed from last season. First because we're playing a freshman quarterback. secondly because coach fuente decided to reshuffle the offensive line. Instead of just adding a new left guard. To be honest with you I really don't understand that. At the end of last year the offensive line was playing so well why not just let everyone just stay where they are and just add a left guard. Its easier for one to learn a new spot than four. To be honest with you I'm really disappointed in this offense. I thought offense was coach fuente's speciality. 11 out of the 14 games he's coached here the offense has been very unimpressive.

Monkey business.

I disagree. We dominated the 2nd half and played ok the first half. Lynch missed a TD throw and then the bad pick. But you cannot be flagged 17 times and expect to win. Period. End of story. How many opportunities were squandered by penalties that had no effect on the play? I can remember 3 or 4.

Playing a freshman at QB has consequences. It means a more conservative game plan and little chance on 3rd and long.

Well he did pretty well on that fourth and long. Let the kid use his best asset ... His ARM

(09-15-2013 10:53 AM)OneShiningMoment Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 12:57 AM)mewes Wrote:  The second to last time we had the ball and could have iced the game we just ran it up the middle instead of throwing it.

do you try to run the clock out by risking throwing three incomplete passes which the clock stops after each pass or have the clock keep running after running the ball each down? the reward is greater if you complete a pass by gaining large chunk of real estate but if you don't connect on any of the three tries, not much clock has run off. The problem is that Memphis does not have a good offensive line right now, which hinders the running game as well as a passing game.

Not true. Last night we rushed for 180yds and other than the last drive the OL passed blocked very decently. The play calling is what was bad last night.

(09-15-2013 01:30 PM)lenetzach Wrote:  Just as another thought, sometimes running on an obvious passing down is being creative and risk taking, and may give you a better chance to make the play.

Not against an eight-man front.

(09-15-2013 06:21 PM)mewes Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 01:30 PM)lenetzach Wrote:  Just as another thought, sometimes running on an obvious passing down is being creative and risk taking, and may give you a better chance to make the play.

Not against an eight-man front.

Except when the defense is over-pursuing, you have had success running with misdirection, and your o-line is prone to giving up sacks. (In fact the pass rush is the reason the extra man is in the box). And, you've been using play action, so the defense still has to account for the qb even at the handoff.

So yes, given the situation of a probable blitz and a struggling o-line, it can still be a good option.

Some fans are admitting the O line is horrible yet they want up to "open up the passing game". It doesn't make sound football sense. We only have one QB who can really throw the ball vertically, and he is just a freshman.

The upside is we are going to have a true pocket passer QB with a ton of experince the next 3 years.

Patience people. Its only game 2. I wanna win faster too, but this seems like the smart move.

The offense will develop as the O line does. We will see improvement as the year progresses.

If by 3d and long we mean 3d and 5?

Seemed too conservative- and proved to be.

(09-15-2013 01:26 PM)Herff Tiger Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 10:51 AM)TigerSeth Wrote:  Ground chuck style...

Time to open up the damn playbook...they played not to lose.

RS Freshman QB in his 2nd game.

The playbook will get opened as he gains more game experience and demonstrates that he can handle what has already been thrown his way. For instance, the handoffs and pitches went much more smoothly last night than in the first game.

He probably had a much less "deer in the headlights" sensation last night, and will be even less so next game. As the game slows down for him, they will be able to give him more to handle.

Plus he had his first road game experience up in Murfreeboro. Several lessons learned DURING the game; an example is he started sliding at the end of his runs after that cheap shot in the back near the sideline. Someone else posted correctly that the NFL would assess a $50,000 fine for that stunt. It was a DELIBERATE head spearing on an unprotected upside down player that could not protect himself. CHEAP SHOT DELUXE.

But the kid shook it off and came back. Did he throw two killer picks? Yep. Did the 80 yard punt return called back by penalty hurt? Yep? Did MTSU have to rely on a furious late 4th quarter drive to win? Yep.

The Wimprine kid a decade ago learned some hard lessons in his first full season in 2002; 16 or so interceptions; MEMPHIS won 3 games. Then he set records in his final two seasons. Give it time, FB fans.

(09-15-2013 07:32 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  Some fans are admitting the O line is horrible yet they want up to "open up the passing game". It doesn't make sound football sense. We only have one QB who can really throw the ball vertically, and he is just a freshman.

The upside is we are going to have a true pocket passer QB with a ton of experince the next 3 years.

Patience people. Its only game 2. I wanna win faster too, but this seems like the smart move.

The offense will develop as the O line does. We will see improvement as the year progresses.

We got 4 out of 5 starters back from last season on the o-line. I think the big problem is him switching them all around instead of just replacing the left guard. And as for opening it up, I don't think he will ever open it up. I think this is same philosophy of offense that we will see in year 3 or 4 of the Fuente era.

(09-16-2013 12:55 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:32 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  Some fans are admitting the O line is horrible yet they want up to "open up the passing game". It doesn't make sound football sense. We only have one QB who can really throw the ball vertically, and he is just a freshman.

The upside is we are going to have a true pocket passer QB with a ton of experince the next 3 years.

Patience people. Its only game 2. I wanna win faster too, but this seems like the smart move.

The offense will develop as the O line does. We will see improvement as the year progresses.

We got 4 out of 5 starters back from last season on the o-line. I think the big problem is him switching them all around instead of just replacing the left guard. And as for opening it up, I don't think he will ever open it up. I think this is same philosophy of offense that we will see in year 3 or 4 of the Fuente era.

Do you know anything about Fuente at all?

(09-16-2013 01:12 PM)lenetzach Wrote:  

(09-16-2013 12:55 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 07:32 PM)Jedi Master Sipho-Dyas Wrote:  Some fans are admitting the O line is horrible yet they want up to "open up the passing game". It doesn't make sound football sense. We only have one QB who can really throw the ball vertically, and he is just a freshman.

The upside is we are going to have a true pocket passer QB with a ton of experince the next 3 years.

Patience people. Its only game 2. I wanna win faster too, but this seems like the smart move.

The offense will develop as the O line does. We will see improvement as the year progresses.

We got 4 out of 5 starters back from last season on the o-line. I think the big problem is him switching them all around instead of just replacing the left guard. And as for opening it up, I don't think he will ever open it up. I think this is same philosophy of offense that we will see in year 3 or 4 of the Fuente era.

Do you know anything about Fuente at all?

He doesn't know what he is talking about. He is just talking out his neck.

(09-16-2013 12:39 PM)boss man Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 01:26 PM)Herff Tiger Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 10:51 AM)TigerSeth Wrote:  Ground chuck style...

Time to open up the damn playbook...they played not to lose.

RS Freshman QB in his 2nd game.

The playbook will get opened as he gains more game experience and demonstrates that he can handle what has already been thrown his way. For instance, the handoffs and pitches went much more smoothly last night than in the first game.

He probably had a much less "deer in the headlights" sensation last night, and will be even less so next game. As the game slows down for him, they will be able to give him more to handle.

Plus he had his first road game experience up in Murfreeboro. Several lessons learned DURING the game; an example is he started sliding at the end of his runs after that cheap shot in the back near the sideline. Someone else posted correctly that the NFL would assess a $50,000 fine for that stunt. It was a DELIBERATE head spearing on an unprotected upside down player that could not protect himself. CHEAP SHOT DELUXE.

But the kid shook it off and came back. Did he throw two killer picks? Yep. Did the 80 yard punt return called back by penalty hurt? Yep? Did MTSU have to rely on a furious late 4th quarter drive to win? Yep.

The Wimprine kid a decade ago learned some hard lessons in his first full season in 2002; 16 or so interceptions; MEMPHIS won 3 games. Then he set records in his final two seasons. Give it time, FB fans.

Great observations, I have been thinking about Danny's redshirt freshman year and what came after.

The punt return being called back was the backbreaker. And even with that if we could have stopped them on their final drive just out of field goal range, we win.

(09-15-2013 03:49 PM)midtowncowboy Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 02:16 PM)msu65 Wrote:  

(09-15-2013 01:20 PM)Mimi Wrote:  Yes- the two times we had the ball with the lead late in the game, a pass seemed in order.

Seemed way too ready to turn it over to the defense, which had played great but should be allowed to let one FG drive in a half go.

Was surprised- and could have lived with an incompletion if we were trying to get what would nearly have been a game clinching first down.

With that- team is much better than last year and plays with more guts, but unfortunately that will not likely translate into many wins...THIS year.

But will soon.

Dead on

So you would ask a Freshman QB to throw a pass on 3rd and long inside his own 25. Nice. Ever wonder why no one asks your opinion?

Yes. Now try not to be such an *******

a$$hole. Here, maybe you can read that