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(05-17-2018 10:11 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  

(05-17-2018 09:46 AM)Aimless1 Wrote:  The joys of being a newbie. I am always a Bronco and always enjoy our success. You're right MB, I can see how that could be taken different than intended.

No back pedal from me BB. I'm hard pressed to call it coaching skill when Ohio marched down the field for what appeared to be the winning drive and we were out of position and unable to contain them. The ball bounced our way. All great teams get some lucky bounces. Just like I don't give Dantonio coaching credit for the infamous punt recovery for a touch down. Sometimes being lucky is better than being good. Being lucky does not mean unskilled. In fact, we had the best talent in the MAC in 2016. You interpreted two lucky wins as a lucky season, but that is not what I said nor implied. But I can see how you might think that.

I wouldn't necessarily call a clean INT as "lucky." That's the defense's job. Spillane still had to read the QB's eyes in traffic and ultimately catch the pass. This wasn't a case where an OU player just dropped the ball unforced and someone was standing right there to scoop it up.

The MACC second half was the culmination of "Cotton Bowl all depends on this" nerves vs. OU playing loose.

Our 1999 MAC squad was nowhere as good as Marshall. Darnell wasn't out-coaching Bob Pruett. Yet we went up 20-0 at halftime. It's just that the Herd players were walking around stiff and scared (or too arrogant?) until they woke up in the fourth quarter, and we pooped the bed.

Losing Justin Ferguson in that Toledo game really hurt our defensive backfield... He was a huge part of that defense down the stretch and in my opinion the missing piece in the MACC and Cotton Bowl... Fumagali would not have had such a career day against us had Justin not been on crutches... Just my two cents...

IMO that might have been the single biggest coaching error of that season. Ferguson should not have been on the field in that blowout. Probably wouldn't have made THE difference against Wiscy.. but I agree he would've been the best matchup with Fumagalli.