Just a couple of thoughts: If Campbell agrees to play a D-1 team we should expect to be taken to the woodshed. The same being said; as our team continues to improve if a lower division school agrees to play us then maybe they should expect the same. Appalachian St. is a great team and would beat us badly, but look what happened to them at VT. The fact is, we played Saturdays game exactly the way we were supposed to and the final score should not be a surprise nor was it unsportsmanslike. Secondly, I'm sure that our former AD had a little something to do with who we have on our schedule.

Go Camels! Beat JU!

Great points. I agree on all counts. I didn't think of it this way but you completely right. Also I think the our former AD had a little something to do with the Apprentice series.

(09-15-2011 10:03 AM)camels7778 Wrote:  A few corrections to your statment. The starting quarterback was out after the first half and Dakota Wolf was running the offense until the final series of the second half. A half in which the Camels threw exactly one pass. The team started to rotate in backups in the first quarter. I saw several offensive lineman in that normally don't play in the first quarter (#75, #76, #74, #58).

C.J. Oates did play half of the third quarter, but that was only to attempt to give a senior that had been here five years the opportunity to get a weekly award (and it worked). The team played two running backs that had never even had career carry until Saturday the rest of the third and the entire fourth quarter. The team also ran the same halfback dive for at least six consecutive plays with one of those running backs. The team's defensive starters were out by half time and most were starting to be rotated in and out as of the first quarter. You keep playing the game until the other team stops you. A wiser man than me once said that it isn't up to the offense to stop scoring, it is up to the defense to stop them from scoring. I have no problem with the backups continuing to play hard when called upon since this might be the only time some of them will get on the field all season long or maybe for their entire careers. If the coaching staff really wanted to run it up they would have continued to pass the entire second half and not had the fourth quarter shortened. I know Coach Steele is not well liked by many, but that does not mean he wasn't trying to do everything he could to keep the score down short of taking a knee.

I know Braden Smith played the first series and I believe the second series of the second half. I was about four rows up watching the whole thing. CJ Oates and Carl Smith also played much of the third quarter. May have switched out some linemen and defensive players but the skilled players that get most of the attention on offense were in atleast the frist two series of the second half. It was over 60 points at that point.

Maybe Braden was in but if all he was doing was handing off then I see no real problem with it. Also I looked at the stats and no mention of Braden running in the third quarter (you mention something about a draw while the team was up 60). Also Dakota was in the game by the 8:11 mark since he threw a pass. Further the last mention of any of our top three backs touching the ball was at 5:49 on C.J.'s touchdown (the one that cemented him getting Player of the Week honors in my opinion) after that is was Josh Williams and Stephen Sladek in the game and on the carry. So you are right and wrong. Either way I think we both need to move on to the next game. It is obvious that Coach Steele and his staff are wrong and will always be wrong in your eyes while I and a few others are more willing to give him a benefit of a doubt on this one.

You can't expect our 4th and 5th string running backs to go in and fall down. Those guys practice just as hard as the starters, they have every right to play as hard as they can regardless of the score. It is the other team's job to stop us - just as it was is our job to stop the other team in that first season of competition.

(09-20-2011 01:45 PM)oldcamel Wrote:  You can't expect our 4th and 5th string running backs to go in and fall down. Those guys practice just as hard as the starters, they have every right to play as hard as they can regardless of the score. It is the other team's job to stop us - just as it was is our job to stop the other team in that first season of competition.

I agree with you 100% they should not fall down. They should have been in the game middle of the first half and all of the second half. Apprentice was beaten in first quarter. We had 35 points. No starters should have even seen the second half. I think the guys on the bench should had gotten as much playing time as possible. They work hard and deserve it and that may have been some of those guys only opportunities to play this year. Coach wanted to run the score up and that is why starting skill players played well into the third quarter even though Apprentice could not score 76 points on us in 10 games let alone a half.

(09-19-2011 09:53 AM)camels7778 Wrote:  Maybe Braden was in but if all he was doing was handing off then I see no real problem with it. Also I looked at the stats and no mention of Braden running in the third quarter (you mention something about a draw while the team was up 60). Also Dakota was in the game by the 8:11 mark since he threw a pass. Further the last mention of any of our top three backs touching the ball was at 5:49 on C.J.'s touchdown (the one that cemented him getting Player of the Week honors in my opinion) after that is was Josh Williams and Stephen Sladek in the game and on the carry. So you are right and wrong. Either way I think we both need to move on to the next game. It is obvious that Coach Steele and his staff are wrong and will always be wrong in your eyes while I and a few others are more willing to give him a benefit of a doubt on this one.

It is not maybe. Braden was in the game well into the third quarter. Atleast two drives. CJ and Carl were as well. They are the most visible players on the field because they handle the ball most of the time. I think the draw I was referring to was at the very end of the 1st half when we were trying to decide whether we would have 50 at the half or not. I thought our actions showed lack of class. Folks that were sitting beside and around me felt the same way. I spoke with several students I know (who actually know a little about football and they felt the same way) I did have a couple of players parents sitting around me who thought that beating the crap out of a far inferior team was thrilling for some reason. I told one of them do that to Jacksonville in a couple weeks and we will all have something to celebrate and we will have accomplished something. This is basically the same team that gave up two touchdown leads against Davidson at home and Morehead State on the road last year and almost lost to NAIA UVA Wise. Actually we should have lost that game. Coach Steele was on the field trying to call 4th timeout of the half. Ref should have thrown a flag on him which would have stopped the game winning drive. At critical times he appears to be out of touch with what is going on in my opinion. This is also the same coach who allowed a team to throw the same two pass plays up and down the field against us at the homecoming game last year (Marist which was about the worst game we have played and was embarassing) and plays the d backs so far off the ball we give the team the first down over and over again. After a while you would figure you should stop that play but we don't seem to do anything about it. Yes I question a lot of his decisions. Then go to the post game interview and say well the boys grew up alot today and learned a lot even in a loss. I want to puke. Why doesn't he say I made a bad call and if I had a set I would have gone for it on 4th and 1 from the 5 and gave our running backs and good o line a chance to win the game rather than wuss out and kick a field goal knowing I have a defense that could not stop a wet paper bag. I hope things will be different this year but the track record is not that good. I hope we win every game the rest of the year first for the players who have worked hard and deserve it and for the coaching staff as well. If we don't win atleast five games this year there needs to be wholesale changes starting at the top. I think the staff pretty much already knows this. Win four or five conference games against decent teams and then we can celebrate. Running up stats and the score against a team that could not beat some of our local High School teams does not mean anything to me.

Again you really need to move on. You obvious have your reason for not liking Coach Steele, which is great, and I will value your opinion as soon as I see you in a position hire or fire him (unless your name really is Bob Roller). Until then just vent as much as you want because it is not going to change anything. I am willing to give him a pass. There are some that support me and some that support you. Either way the issue is now in the past and we need to move on to the next game. The important thing is that we won, had a player earn a weekly award and even got some publicity for it. Time to put this one in the rearview and see how we stack up against Jacksonville. If we win over Jacksonville then everything that we did against Apprentice will be prove a valuable lesson and if not then you and others like you will question Coach Steele as is the regular occurance win or lose.

(09-21-2011 09:43 AM)camels7778 Wrote:  Again you really need to move on. You obvious have your reason for not liking Coach Steele, which is great, and I will value your opinion as soon as I see you in a position hire or fire him (unless your name really is Bob Roller). Until then just vent as much as you want because it is not going to change anything. I am willing to give him a pass. There are some that support me and some that support you. Either way the issue is now in the past and we need to move on to the next game. The important thing is that we won, had a player earn a weekly award and even got some publicity for it. Time to put this one in the rearview and see how we stack up against Jacksonville. If we win over Jacksonville then everything that we did against Apprentice will be prove a valuable lesson and if not then you and others like you will question Coach Steele as is the regular occurance win or lose.

JU scored 57 and had over 700 yards on offense. Need I say more. When we actually play a decent team my point is proven. The actions on the field and the results speak for themselves. Looks like a good team can beat us by 30 or more anytime they want to even in our own house. The buck has to start somewhere I would say at the top.