We have no talent.

Our coaches are stupid idiots, with no talent.

When their RBs weigh more than your LBs, you've got a problem.


If our coaches were really good, we could be pretty good with the limited talent we do have.

btw, I will ask that no one on this board, ever preach about how "star ratings" don't matter. the people that say this are idiots.

here's a little nugget for you...talent matters and so does coaching. when you have neither, you have a terrible team.

(10-15-2016 11:19 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  here's a little nugget for you...talent matters

No shite....

We once were competitive against the so-called big boys with 2 star talent...Boise does to this day...but once we went to being an OFFENSIVE oriented team, defense became less a priority.

As for coaching, looks like Ed Ogre is Knute Rockne compared to LSwhooo's old ball corch....and jury is actually out on Hop, who is having the kinda first year blues most coaches have (even Nick Satan for gosh sakes). Doesn't mean he will not be a flop, just means it ain't near enough time to figure that out yet.

(10-16-2016 11:13 AM)eaglebeaver Wrote:  

(10-15-2016 11:19 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  here's a little nugget for you...talent matters

No shite....

We once were competitive against the so-called big boys with 2 star talent...Boise does to this day...but once we went to being an OFFENSIVE oriented team, defense became less a priority.

As for coaching, looks like Ed Ogre is Knute Rockne compared to LSwhooo's old ball corch....and jury is actually out on Hop, who is having the kinda first year blues most coaches have (even Nick Satan for gosh sakes). Doesn't mean he will not be a flop, just means it ain't near enough time to figure that out yet.

I still say the biggest culprit is the talent pool being watered down. There is still only a finite number of athletes at the highest level. They go to elite schools. There's also only a finite number on the second tier, and they end up spread out among the lesser money-conference schools and the upper lesser-money conference schools. The finite pool of competent athletes hasn't kept up with the exploding number of schools.

20 years ago, we were in a 6-team conference, just a step off the pace. Now, we're in a 14-team conference despite the other 5 members with whom we started all moving somewhere else. The freaking Sun Belt has 11 FBS programs in it now. Only the WAC has dissolved, and those schools didn't disappear, they just relocated. We've got literally 100 programs fighting over about 50 teams' worth of leftover legitimate IA-caliber players now. Of 5 guys who would've started for us in the early '90s, now one's at Troy, one's at UAB, one's at UCF, and one's at UTSA. So instead, our starters are 2 guys who would've played for Delta State, one who would've gone to Milsaps, and one who would've only played 2 years at Southwest Community College.

The only way to counter that is by doing a vastly superior job of evaluating and/or recruiting, but that's asking a lot. Even as good a job as Boise has done over the years, they're starting to show some cracks in their armor. They won by 5 points at home last night vs Colorado State and by 11 at Utah State 2 weeks ago. The field is catching up.

Anybody with a lick of sense knew the NCAA should've kept a lot of these schools from moving up to protect the quality of play, but since the NCAA is run by the schools who are going to get the pick of the litter regardless, they just said, "Yeah, let's just go ahead and let anybody who can build a 20,000-seat stadium into the club and not enforce the rules to stay a member. We'll be in the back room counting our money if anybody needs us."

Well said, Harbor.

On a positive note, we didn't look bad like we did against UTSA. There weren't gigantic holes in our line like there was all last Saturday. The talent gap is what killed us. I say this as a positive because it means we actually did work on it this week and improved. Talent will have to be brought in though.


Don't call for Hop's head just yet. Saban went 6-6 his first year at Bama. Let's get recruiting and keep winning.

(10-16-2016 01:24 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Don't call for Hop's head just yet. Saban went 6-6 his first year at Bama. Let's get recruiting and keep winning.

Charlotte, you's in biiiiig trouble...we's gonna treat you like LSwhoooo treats us

(10-16-2016 12:39 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(10-16-2016 11:13 AM)eaglebeaver Wrote:  

(10-15-2016 11:19 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  here's a little nugget for you...talent matters

No shite....

We once were competitive against the so-called big boys with 2 star talent...Boise does to this day...but once we went to being an OFFENSIVE oriented team, defense became less a priority.

As for coaching, looks like Ed Ogre is Knute Rockne compared to LSwhooo's old ball corch....and jury is actually out on Hop, who is having the kinda first year blues most coaches have (even Nick Satan for gosh sakes). Doesn't mean he will not be a flop, just means it ain't near enough time to figure that out yet.

I still say the biggest culprit is the talent pool being watered down. There is still only a finite number of athletes at the highest level. They go to elite schools. There's also only a finite number on the second tier, and they end up spread out among the lesser money-conference schools and the upper lesser-money conference schools. The finite pool of competent athletes hasn't kept up with the exploding number of schools.

20 years ago, we were in a 6-team conference, just a step off the pace. Now, we're in a 14-team conference despite the other 5 members with whom we started all moving somewhere else. The freaking Sun Belt has 11 FBS programs in it now. Only the WAC has dissolved, and those schools didn't disappear, they just relocated. We've got literally 100 programs fighting over about 50 teams' worth of leftover legitimate IA-caliber players now. Of 5 guys who would've started for us in the early '90s, now one's at Troy, one's at UAB, one's at UCF, and one's at UTSA. So instead, our starters are 2 guys who would've played for Delta State, one who would've gone to Milsaps, and one who would've only played 2 years at Southwest Community College.

The only way to counter that is by doing a vastly superior job of evaluating and/or recruiting, but that's asking a lot. Even as good a job as Boise has done over the years, they're starting to show some cracks in their armor. They won by 5 points at home last night vs Colorado State and by 11 at Utah State 2 weeks ago. The field is catching up.

Anybody with a lick of sense knew the NCAA should've kept a lot of these schools from moving up to protect the quality of play, but since the NCAA is run by the schools who are going to get the pick of the litter regardless, they just said, "Yeah, let's just go ahead and let anybody who can build a 20,000-seat stadium into the club and not enforce the rules to stay a member. We'll be in the back room counting our money if anybody needs us."

yep...it's hard for the younger folks out there (not sayin' you ain't young, harbor) to realize USM was practically the #3 recruiter in the state of Alabama 2 decades ago...or how we "stole" Marvin Harvey, Hanford Dixon and even Brett Favor from "smaller" schools, when they would probably have tons of offers from USA, UAB, ULaLa and the like NOW....or how we could practically get anyone in school 3 or 4 decades ago (I knew an O-Lineman with 70 credits as a Senior {you needed 129 to gradumicate}), to the eternal chagrin of many of our opponents who think we still have that same "power" (we don't)...

Again, there are many more "issues" that have screwed us up big time...but they all add up to a perfect storm, and like George Clooney, I hope we don't continue to keep goin' down with the ship..