(11-15-2015 02:58 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 01:51 PM)emdypo Wrote:  I agree with EagleTough, we need defensive help immediately either in the JUCO ranks or a freshman that hopefully competes in year one, I wouldn't waste a scholarship on a quarterback unless they are game changer. One thing I wanted to add, watching Rachwal in person he did seem to play with a little more speed, urgency and excitement then Zappone. Two years ago I thought Zappone had the opportunity to be a really good MAC linebacker, now he is more of a rotation type player. We still need him next year but I don't think he is a star by any stretch of the imagination, maybe Rachwal is though. I do think Anthony Brown and Derrick Williams have a lot of upside on defense. We need some cornerbacks that can play man coverage, our zone is pathetic.

This whole defense is made even worse with the wrong scheme. To continue beating the dead horse....you cannot play a 3-4 with 275 lb nose guards and Williams and Dawson (each 220-225) out on the ends. Is it any surprise that we get gashed around the corners without any containment time after time after time? Maclean can be a rotational player as an inside 4-3 tackle with another 20 lbs, too slow footed on the outside.

Next year go to a 4-3 with Figueroa, Dillon, Mclean (and whoever else is left over 280 lbs, as inside rotational players). Work OC, Harris and Crosby in a DE rotation (pray they all stay healthy). Brown & Pickett are your starting OLB's, and Williams, Rachwal, Zappone, Adams, Holford can all fight for the MLB job, and backup spots. Pace & Moody on the corners, with Calderon, Giraldo, Hoying deep.

Better run D & QB pressure out of the 4-3, automatically makes the DB's better because they don't have to cover as long, and always cheat up in run support.

Best case, add immediate help via Juco recruiting in this class at DB and DL as well.

Agree with all of this. Hopefully a 5th yr transfer or two heads this way also.

Recruiting class leaves a lot to be desired as it stands. Hopefully they finish strong.

Last year they got 4 kids from Florida and 2 from Texas. ZERO from either so far this year.

(11-15-2015 12:22 AM)wolverineeagle Wrote:  

(11-14-2015 09:50 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(11-14-2015 09:33 PM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Bob,
What would you expect? Not only a losing season, but when your team cannot play better against teams they should. You should consider it lucky that that many showed up. By the way, all the people on this board that say high school teams out draw Eastern are blowing smoke. Maybe this last game, but I have been to a few high school games, and the attendance at those games is maybe 300-500. Doesn't even compare. I'm talking about the State of Michigan. Not Texas, or what other Sates with high school football that might have a few thousand at their games.

Not true! My son's team just beat Saline and are in the Div I semifinals and they drew way more than 1,000. The scene was electric and my son scored a big TD. Beat Cass Tech next week! EMU looks like JV football. Sad. Goodbye Lyke and good luck getting another job.

It was in Saline. Saline was undefeated and was a state finalist last year. Class of 96’.

You went to Saline? Explains everything, the arrogance carried on from high school. I can't name one person from any other school that likes Saline.

(11-15-2015 08:18 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  Recruiting class leaves a lot to be desired as it stands. Hopefully they finish strong.

Last year they got 4 kids from Florida and 2 from Texas. ZERO from either so far this year.

Hard to judge when you have 4-5 more defensive spots to fill. Most of the current class is either 2-3 stars with offers from other MAC teams. ESPN has two of the 11 verbals are 3 star and 3 players are nationally ranked at their position. Maybe this class will a slight notch below the other two but I've seen a lot worse recruiting classes here at EMU. The real problem is that the MAC has upgraded its recruiting the past two years.

(11-16-2015 04:49 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 08:18 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  Recruiting class leaves a lot to be desired as it stands. Hopefully they finish strong.

Last year they got 4 kids from Florida and 2 from Texas. ZERO from either so far this year.

Hard to judge when you have 4-5 more defensive spots to fill. Most of the current class is either 2-3 stars with offers from other MAC teams. ESPN has two of the 11 verbals are 3 star and 3 players are nationally ranked at their position. Maybe this class will a slight notch below the other two but I've seen a lot worse recruiting classes here at EMU. The real problem is that the MAC has upgraded its recruiting the past two years.

'79, nails it (is there an emoticon showing a hammer hitting a nail?). The MAC West has really gotten even better this year.

The MAC West is damn good this year. There are at least 3 teams (UT, WMU, and NIU) good enough to win the MAC in most years. CMU is pretty good too.

The top 4 teams (including BG) are as good as they have been going back 10+ years when we had the excellent UT/BG teams of 2000, Big Ben's Miami teams, and Marshall's power houses. But not quite as good as the 2012 NIU Orange Bowl team.

I believe both Toledo and BG are now ranked in the 30s nationally in the polls.

After a decent start, EMU has been through the grinder with LSU, WMU, NIU, Toledo, etc.

Not sure how much a difference it would have made, but we could have benefited by a bye week early, e.g., esp after the LSU game. We came up flat for Akron.

(11-16-2015 05:37 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 04:49 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 08:18 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  Recruiting class leaves a lot to be desired as it stands. Hopefully they finish strong.

Last year they got 4 kids from Florida and 2 from Texas. ZERO from either so far this year.

Hard to judge when you have 4-5 more defensive spots to fill. Most of the current class is either 2-3 stars with offers from other MAC teams. ESPN has two of the 11 verbals are 3 star and 3 players are nationally ranked at their position. Maybe this class will a slight notch below the other two but I've seen a lot worse recruiting classes here at EMU. The real problem is that the MAC has upgraded its recruiting the past two years.

'79, nails it (is there an emoticon showing a hammer hitting a nail?). The MAC West has really gotten even better this year.

The MAC West is damn good this year. There are at least 3 teams (UT, WMU, and NIU) good enough to win the MAC in most years. CMU is pretty good too.

The top 4 teams (including BG) are as good as they have been going back 10+ years when we had the excellent UT/BG teams of 2000, Big Ben's Miami teams, and Marshall's power houses. But not quite as good as the 2012 NIU Orange Bowl team.

I believe both Toledo and BG are now ranked in the 30s nationally in the polls.

After a decent start, EMU has been through the grinder with LSU, WMU, NIU, Toledo, etc.

Not sure how much a difference it would have made, but we could have benefited by a bye week early, e.g., esp after the LSU game. We came up flat for Akron.

The season really divides into two halves for me: ODU, Wyoming, Ball State, Army and LSU where I felt the team was improving and playing with fire. I agree with Steve after LSU the overall performance dropped. Another observation the team either got off to a fast start and couldn't sustain it or it started too slow (ie see UMass) and got buried in a hole. It was faster and better conditioned team this year but they need to hit the weight room and maybe try rugby tackling instruction like Toledo has. The season turned into a try out camp.

What, I think, happens is that in a long season (and 12 games is long for college players), good teams get better and poor teams get poorer as the season goes on.

And this makes sense, winning teams are full of energy, confidence, etc. while losing teams lack those qualities.

And we've seen this many times say the last game of the season vs. NIU the team plays terrible. The score could have been 75 - 3 if NIU wanted to run it up.

Other than injuries, losing to ODU or Army really hurt us. Trying to gain confidence early and maintain it as long as possible is critical.

to us, the season is 36 to 40 hours. To the players, it is 4 MONTHS, day in and day out. And quite frankly it is more like an 11 month job, with an occasional week for Christmas, semester breaks, etc.

(11-16-2015 07:29 AM)emu steve Wrote:  What, I think, happens is that in a long season (and 12 games is long for college players), good teams get better and poor teams get poorer as the season goes on.

And this makes sense, winning teams are full of energy, confidence, etc. while losing teams lack those qualities.

And we've seen this many times say the last game of the season vs. NIU the team plays terrible. The score could have been 75 - 3 if NIU wanted to run it up.

Other than injuries, losing to ODU or Army really hurt us. Trying to gain confidence early and maintain it as long as possible is critical.

to us, the season is 36 to 40 hours. To the players, it is 4 MONTHS, day in and day out. And quite frankly it is more like an 11 month job, with an occasional week for Christmas, semester breaks, etc.

Very astute observation. Having played on high school football teams that were terrible vs high school baseball and track & field teams that were very good your observation is spot on. One was absolute drudgery while the other two seemed effortless and fun.


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(11-16-2015 09:02 AM)HuronRob Wrote:  

(11-16-2015 07:29 AM)emu steve Wrote:  What, I think, happens is that in a long season (and 12 games is long for college players), good teams get better and poor teams get poorer as the season goes on.

And this makes sense, winning teams are full of energy, confidence, etc. while losing teams lack those qualities.

And we've seen this many times say the last game of the season vs. NIU the team plays terrible. The score could have been 75 - 3 if NIU wanted to run it up.

Other than injuries, losing to ODU or Army really hurt us. Trying to gain confidence early and maintain it as long as possible is critical.

to us, the season is 36 to 40 hours. To the players, it is 4 MONTHS, day in and day out. And quite frankly it is more like an 11 month job, with an occasional week for Christmas, semester breaks, etc.

Very astute observation. Having played on high school football teams that were terrible vs high school baseball and track & field teams that were very good your observation is spot on. One was absolute drudgery while the other two seemed effortless and fun.


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Being a college football player, serious marathoner, etc. is indeed a 11 to 12 month endeavor.

I can't imagine what it is like to train all year and then play a football season winning but once.

To a marathon runner most marathons are like winning a football game. It is an accomplishment. In '91 I qualified to run the 1992 Boston Marathon. To me that was like playing in the MACC game. The ultimate accomplishment.

But to a football player, playing and losing a game (or 5 or 10) isn't an accomplishment. Sure it is easy to say being a FBS FB player is a huge accomplishment, it is, but players still need the wins, success, etc. A QB who gets sacked 5 - 10 times isn't going to feel successful.

To persist one needs that 'positive reinforcement', feel good feeling, etc. It is emotionally harder to play for EMU than say Toledo.

I ran almost 30 marathons and never once felt like s*it, this was a depressing waste of time and (much) energy, why do I even bother, maybe I should give it up and take up reading books or being a couch potato.

That is why I'm sad for our football team. These kids do not get the joy of a lifetime out there on Saturdays. Even within the MAC, the kids at Toledo, Western, NIU, and BG, for example, are getting the thrills of their lives competing for a MAC championship and a POSSIBLE bid to big time bowl game.

Now that's motivation so that the kids at Toledo and BG are probably today like a young child waiting for Christmas. :)

(11-16-2015 04:49 AM)emu79 Wrote:  

(11-15-2015 08:18 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  Recruiting class leaves a lot to be desired as it stands. Hopefully they finish strong.

Last year they got 4 kids from Florida and 2 from Texas. ZERO from either so far this year.

Hard to judge when you have 4-5 more defensive spots to fill. Most of the current class is either 2-3 stars with offers from other MAC teams. ESPN has two of the 11 verbals are 3 star and 3 players are nationally ranked at their position. Maybe this class will a slight notch below the other two but I've seen a lot worse recruiting classes here at EMU. The real problem is that the MAC has upgraded its recruiting the past two years.

Totally agree, have to reserve final judgement until signing day, just hope they finish strong. New to the program so I'll defer to you in regard to past classes, etc.

Bottom line is the only real way for any program to make noticeable improvement, is to add better talent. Coaching, scheme, etc can only do so much.

Also agree with 3 or 4 of the comments above, about winning vs. losing teams, and the long grind of a college season.

A big mental challenge for most of the younger guys is definitely the losing. Most have been on winning teams and experienced a lot of victories and playoff games. There might not be a single player in the last 2 recruiting classes that have ever had a 1-11 season, let alone 2 in a row! On the other hand, the guys who fight through it, and stick around with a good attitude, are the type of guys you absolutely need to turn around an historically bad program.

As far as the long grind, on top of the losing, that is also a real factor. The time commitment and physical commitment to compete at this level, is night and day from any high school experience. At this point in the season, it is like the first or second round of the playoffs, after fighting and competing daily against the best player they ever came across in high school. Shoulders, ankles, fingers, all beat up and more sore than they've ever been.

A great challenge, with great character building & life building lessons, all rolled into one.

Next year I truly believe, the players and the fans, will start to see some of the fruit of their labor.

(11-16-2015 03:13 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  Also agree with 3 or 4 of the comments above, about winning vs. losing teams, and the long grind of a college season.

A big mental challenge for most of the younger guys is definitely the losing. Most have been on winning teams and experienced a lot of victories and playoff games. There might not be a single player in the last 2 recruiting classes that have ever had a 1-11 season, let alone 2 in a row! On the other hand, the guys who fight through it, and stick around with a good attitude, are the type of guys you absolutely need to turn around an historically bad program.

As far as the long grind, on top of the losing, that is also a real factor. The time commitment and physical commitment to compete at this level, is night and day from any high school experience. At this point in the season, it is like the first or second round of the playoffs, after fighting and competing daily against the best player they ever came across in high school. Shoulders, ankles, fingers, all beat up and more sore than they've ever been.

A great challenge, with great character building & life building lessons, all rolled into one.

Next year I truly believe, the players and the fans, will start to see some of the fruit of their labor.

Let's hope so Eagle-T. I also think the younger players coming up must be better than most of the seniors leaving the program. Outside of DJack and Moulder - minimal contributions at best.

One can debate the seniors and their contributions, but I would certainly add Great Ibe along with D.J. and Mulder.

Those three are very good players and will be missed next year.

(11-16-2015 05:35 PM)emu steve Wrote:  One can debate the seniors and their contributions, but I would certainly add Great Ibe along with D.J. and Mulder.

Those three are very good players and will be missed next year.

Yup - forgot about Ibe - he will be missed.

Curious if he'll have a shot at playing on Sunday - a little small for the typical NFL linebacker.