(11-12-2014 03:43 PM)TampaRocket Wrote: You touched on a lot of good points as have others in this thread. I'm having a tough time putting my finger on why the staff is bothering me so much. Is it my lofty expectations? Or the fact that we show flashes of greatness, but never sustain that level or intensity...and I'm not taking about an entire season...we can't sustain it through an entire game. Going on a ramble here...This is our 3rd season with this staff, yet each year feels like a replay of the year before. I really felt that Campbell was the right choice when he took over. Now, I'm really having doubts that he can right the ship and make the strides that Row your boat is making at WMU. We've been cursed by the injury bug this year, but the results are much the same as when we have had a relatively healthy team. So what's the deal? How do we still put up 400+ yds on NIU with a WR playing QB? Would we have done that much better with Woodside in there? Are we hanging around and competing based on pure talent alone due to recruiting? Or are the coaches developing these guys and getting the most out of them? It seems that our team reaches a certain level, yet can't get over the hump...I feel like the players are putting in the effort and competing, but just can't get it done. I'm more than frustrated...I bleed Midbight Gold & Blue, but the past 2 years have really tested me.
Here is my 2 cents------If you view last night's game as one isolated game, then any rational person would likely conclude that it would have taken a miracle for UT to win that game on the road with a 4th string QB while also missing your 1st team MAC center who calls the blocking assignments stacked on top of all the other previous injuries. It is easy to rationalize that particular loss, although Macon did provide a bit of a miracle.
But when viewed in context of all the other big games the Rockets have found ways to lose, then, fair or not, last night game is viewed as just one more failure in a long litany of failures to achieve a victory in an "important" game----5 in a row against NIU alone---and the season becomes just one more season in a consistent pattern of seasons of wasted and undeveloped talent with unrealized potential and a failure to meet expectations (which may or may not be realistic) with the subsequent fan disappointment.
A few games that stand out in my mind just off the top of my head are: 1) The Ohio State Game---high stakes game that was one play away from taking the program to an entirely new level of respect---a win would have been like the 2000 Penn State game on steroids 2) Beckman's lack of clock management that could have put a dint in the NIU victory streak and probably netted UT a MACC 3) The Missouri game at Columbia where I was amazed to see UT had the talent to play with these SEC guys and actually had Missouri on the ropes for a short while but just could not overcome TO's 3 interceptions---BTW why was TO's sophomore season his best season as a QB? What happened to experience and player development? These are just 3 of the more significant losses that come to mind but there many other losses that can usually be laid directly at the feet of the coaching staff for virtually every aspect of coaching (play calling, game preparation, motivation of players, coaching execution, real time adjustments, etc,etc,)---EXCEPT recruiting where the staff has excelled, although P.J. Fleck, the new MAC wunderkind on the block has out recruited UT for two years now and if the WMU staff can also coach, we will have a new MAC dynasty to worry about for a few years or so until they move up the corporate coaching ladder to the BIG TIME.
Any single loss can usually be justified and glossed over-----certainly the most recent NIU loss was understandable based on injuries alone. However, when you view the collective body of work of the Beckman/Campbell era as a whole there is a history strewn with missed opportunity after missed opportunity and a lot of accompany frustrations.
Frustration over time is cumulative much like radiation exposure and once you reach the limit of your lifetime acceptable dosage, unless you are a total masochist, your defense mechanisms usually kick in and you find less stressful pursuits to "entertain" yourself with-----which is what sports should be about anyway.