This season, ODU & FIU have requested/agreed to shorten the 4th quarter to 10 minutes. Is there any justifiable reason for an FBS team to allow players & coaches to quit playing football per the regulation time of 15 minute quarters?

Injuries piling up, 80 points, hurt feelings, embarassment, coaches unprepared, USM AD scheduling Alabama.....none are reasons to stop playing football for 60 minutes, IMO. Life is hard; Not everyone gets a trophy in real life. Football is a violent game and players will get hurt, especially if they aren't physically and mentally prepared for the speed and violence of a 12 week FBS season. Coaches should be forced to coach, even facing dire adversity.

I make a motion to make it against conference regulations for any C-USA team to invoke the mercy rule.

Debate at will.

Not a single ODU fan is happy about waving the white flag. It's a bad look but he had his reasons, although that decision will stick with him forever.

(11-25-2013 12:45 PM)TruBlu Wrote:  ...I make a motion to make it against conference regulations for any C-USA team to invoke the mercy rule.....

I second and move the motion be adopted...

Yeah, it's bull****. You should have to play your players and assume the risk that every team does when playing a full game of football.

I'd give ODU a pass since they aren't on a level playing field w/ the rest of FBS right now

Its embarrassing.. As a player if my coach requested or accepted a "running" clock or a shortened 4th quarter I'd look at it like he quit on us.. But I'm also the same kind of person that would rather see someone up 50 throwing for the endzone on 4th down then I would see a team take a pity knee just keep from running up the score

And yet some people think ODU is C-USA's 3rd best OOC win this season.

It's (shortening the game) is okay to do if you're players are getting hurt, the roster is too depleted to field a team, etc.
But don't do it just to minimize the embarrassment level of a score.
The running clock is a better approach.

I agree with HerdAlum83. It looks like the coach is throwing in the towel and saying "we give up!" I'm sure Wilder thought he was doing what was best for his team, though. Whether he can explain it to their satisfaction remains to be seen. Very tough way to end an otherwise decent season.

(11-25-2013 01:16 PM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I agree with HerdAlum83. It looks like the coach is throwing in the towel and saying "we give up!" I'm sure Wilder thought he was doing what was best for his team, though. Whether he can explain it to their satisfaction remains to be seen. Very tough way to end an otherwise decent season.

Wilder has a ton of equity with us but we are also a military town that doesn't quite process waving the white flag. Most rational ODU fans can at least understand it.

My biggest concern is the excuse is because of the state of the roster, yet he managed to RS what equates to nearly an entire class of freshmen.

They should mandate it so there'd be less bitching about running up the score.

(11-25-2013 01:05 PM)Lee Moses Wrote:  And yet some people think ODU is C-USA's 3rd best OOC win this season.

and you said Idaho was a better win if you want to talk about true crazy. As well as ignorance to the fact ODU beat Idaho by 3 TD's. It was top 5 that was said and Sagarin had them as the 6th best win and still does, well 7th now that you add NC State in front of them now that we have that win too. ODU's still better than much of CUSA sadly and most of the OOC wins. That's a fact. It just makes our UNC beat down look better at the end of the day. A team with as much NFL talent as UNC can make you look really bad if you bring your D game like they apparently did.

BTW you were talking up UNT weren't you. Then you got punked by a 3 year old.

(11-25-2013 01:21 PM)ODUR8R Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 01:16 PM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I agree with HerdAlum83. It looks like the coach is throwing in the towel and saying "we give up!" I'm sure Wilder thought he was doing what was best for his team, though. Whether he can explain it to their satisfaction remains to be seen. Very tough way to end an otherwise decent season.

Wilder has a ton of equity with us but we are also a military town that doesn't quite process waving the white flag. Most rational ODU fans can at least understand it.

My biggest concern is the excuse is because of the state of the roster, yet he managed to RS what equates to nearly an entire class of freshmen.

It's definitely embarrassing but are you saying that you would rather him burn a bunch of redshirts for just one game? Because that's what it looks like. That would have been a shortsighted decision with long-term consequences. Further, those players would have been irate. Losing a year of eligibility for a couple of quarters wouldn't sit well with anyone.

ODU was being physically crushed. There was nothing to be gained on either side by allowing the game to go the full length. I do agree that running clock is a better option.

Of course I wouldn't want him to burn 22 RS but it just looks poor. The injury situation has been building for 5 or 6 weeks now, they clearly underestimated the effects of this schedule.

My problem is that ODU and Wilder have had no problem running the score up on lots of teams, including Howard this year, but the minute the favor is returned Wilder says stop hurting and embarrassing our team. It's duplicitous and I believe a bad stain on Wilder and the ODU program.

ODU plays out five more minutes and loses by 67 instead of 60....it's not a significantly worse outcome & could teach players a valuable life lesson about perserverance and facing a tough situation together as a family. What's the lesson learned by asking for mercy?

C-USA should formally take the option away from coaches. I don't want Coach Stockstill even contemplating taking his team off the field until sixty minutes elapses for any reason. We lose 223-0 to replace Cumberland College in the record books, so be it.

Sorry for the passion.....I understand it's just a sport. But we need to teach our sons to be more like the men that hit Omaha Beach: Do the right thing in life until you are the last one standing. Duty & honor still mean something.

(11-25-2013 01:58 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  ODU was being physically crushed. There was nothing to be gained on either side by allowing the game to go the full length. I do agree that running clock is a better option.

I understand this, but as a player and a competitor I would still be upset with it.. It's like when you're a little kid playing your dad or older brother in 1 on 1 and they let you come back to make it kind of close before beating you 11-8.. They'll tell you that you "almost" had em but deep down you know they weren't trying their hardest so it doesn't feel good at all.. That's basically the same kind of feeling I'd get from this scenario in a game, "oh we'll shorten the game and take it easy on you so that you don't get beat as bad as we could really beat you".. It just makes you feel cheap as a player.. Of course I'm nearly a decade removed from the last time I played any real football so maybe these players don't feel the same way

(11-25-2013 01:48 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 01:21 PM)ODUR8R Wrote:  

(11-25-2013 01:16 PM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I agree with HerdAlum83. It looks like the coach is throwing in the towel and saying "we give up!" I'm sure Wilder thought he was doing what was best for his team, though. Whether he can explain it to their satisfaction remains to be seen. Very tough way to end an otherwise decent season.

Wilder has a ton of equity with us but we are also a military town that doesn't quite process waving the white flag. Most rational ODU fans can at least understand it.

My biggest concern is the excuse is because of the state of the roster, yet he managed to RS what equates to nearly an entire class of freshmen.

It's definitely embarrassing but are you saying that you would rather him burn a bunch of redshirts for just one game? Because that's what it looks like. That would have been a shortsighted decision with long-term consequences. Further, those players would have been irate. Losing a year of eligibility for a couple of quarters wouldn't sit well with anyone.

Assumption of risk. You signed the contract, you play the game. If you can't field a damn team then don't sign the contract. By that logic CUSA should move all conference games to two quarters so we can save up our players' energy for OOC games.

And I don't care if you have to burn 22 redshirts the final game, pull a clarinet player out of the band to play center, or put in a female cheerleader at middle linebacker....players & coaches need to understand there are no escape hatches for lack of effort.