(09-03-2017 11:50 PM)NIU007 Wrote: Sorry, I disagree with 7 100%. The board is usually worse than this, but that 's because the fans' expectations have been lowered significantly since we found out that Graham was anointed the starter even though his upside is more limited than anyone else at the QB position. Where is the reason for optimism? I understand that the rest of the team LOOKS good but realize that BC is inept on offense and half the MAC will have a better and more experienced QB than BC has right now. I do think the offensive line did well, but what good will it do if Graham can't hit anyone even with all the time in the world. The defense looked pretty good but we'll see what happens when they're faced with a better QB.
For me, the issue in the BC game wasn't necessarily that Carey was too conservative. For me, the issue was that when we got close to field goal range we decided to launch a deep throw that we had to know by that point had little chance of succeeding, even if the WR was open, instead of trying to get a first down or closer in for an easier field goal range. We all knew that every point was going to be critical against BC but we seemed to not care whether we could kick a FG or how far it was.
I think most people on here are just being realistic.
I don't think people are being realistic at all. Honestly, the majority of the posts on here are the same "blame the coach" posts after just about every loss no matter who the coach is. Look what most of the complaints are in this thread, not being aggressive enough, too many QB runs, etc. No offense to anyone, but if you think Graham is bad (and like everyone does) and in the same time you want Carey and company to be aggressive at the end of the half, that's just stupid. Common logic would tell you if you don't trust your QB to be conservative and protect him. Statistically, we can literally look at the stats and see Graham running was far and away NIU's most effective play. It's just true.
Your post I can respect because it's more than just your typical blah blah blah not aggressive enough. Throwing a low percentage pass to the end zone in that situation I can totally see you ripping the coach for. Not for not being aggressive though, that is being aggressive.
Go back to the sequence I talked about to start the 4th. They threw a bomb to Blake on 3rd and 2 and then went for it on 4th and 2. Is that not being aggressive? Sure, the jet sweep to Beebe was a terrible call but then rip Coach U for it because Carey doesn't call the plays.
If losing on a missed 33 yard field goal to an ACC team and calling for the coach to be fired is "realistic," I'm sorry, I can't agree with that. As I said, even at their peak NIU has always struggled to beat P5 teams, including a Kansas program which was way worse than BC is now.
Sure, they'll play MAC teams with better offenses/QBs than BC. Toledo for sure and probably WMU (although their QB threw for like 50 yards against USC), but that is also going to be easily the best defense they will play all year.
It was a game they could have won that they didn't, which sucks. Be upset about it, you should be. But NIU went 5-7 last year and they preformed better than they did against BC two years ago. So what's there to lose your **** over?
I feel like I'm making posts with legit facts to back them up in this thread and being met with nothing but hysteria, and maybe I should know better than trying, but I just don't get it.
IMO, NIU looked like a better team last night than they did in the opener against Wyoming last year. Both sides of NIU's line got dominated against Wyoming last year, and that was far from the case last night.
The QB issue is an issue that is not going away, but IMO everything other than that was a positive.
I guess the last thing I'll say is, before the game everybody would have expected this game to be a close, low scoring game. That's exactly what it was. NIU ended up losing because their kicker missed a FG he should have made.
Hitting the panic button over that? Nah, not realistic at all.
Again, they'll be fine. Not 10-2 fine, but 7-5 and make a bowl fine. I get the feeling that won't be good enough for this place either.