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Not saying this was the case, but maybe his hands were tied. Perhaps they wanted to, but couldn't for budget reasons at first and then maybe they changed their mind. I don't know.

But I do know pretty much wanted previous coach gone by year three, but didn't want to pay the payout and had to wait till end of year 5.

But perhaps with a DC they had more wiggle room.

Same thing with the women’s basketball coach before Starkey. Had to watch only 20 wins over 4 years while the contract ran out. The life of a mid major.

(11-20-2021 08:26 PM)burden Wrote:  Same thing with the women’s basketball coach before Starkey. Had to watch only 20 wins over 4 years while the contract ran out. The life of a mid major.

Exactly. The college sports fans who only follow the Top 25 have no idea what mid-majors have to deal with. And yet, victories of mid-majors in football and basketball over P 5 teams happen all the time. Heck, look at lowly BGSU over Minnesota, and an even better example, Western Michigan over currently ranked 18th Pitt. With all the inherent advantages the P 5 type teams have, how in the heck do they explain ever losing to a non P 5 team?

(11-20-2021 06:12 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(11-20-2021 05:59 PM)burden Wrote:  

(11-20-2021 02:34 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Questions we obviously won't know the answer to yet... Was the D Coordinator significant addition by subtraction? Is the defense having an out of body experience? Or is Akron just really this bad?

If the previous DC was that incompetent you have to question the head coach. I remember our company hiring a computer programmer who was a complete fake. Took about 6 weeks to figure it out. The head of the department didn’t last much longer. If your first theory turns out to be correct it would have to be a similar situation. Hope not.

It's puzzling. It's difficult to believe that a change in a defensive coordinator could make such a drastic change so quickly. Agree, if the previous coordinator was really THAT bad, what does it say about the head coach???

To be clear, my question didn't mean I actually think the DC being gone makes that big of a difference. I think the more likely reality is the D was angry and under fire after the last week. They had a week and a half to prepare for a weak opponent. Then the good performance was made to look even better by Akron shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. Dropping a TD, two fumbles, missing a Fg. My guess is this game was an outlier defensively, but let's hope it gives them some confidence and momentum. We don't need shutouts, we just need a handful of stops per game to have a legit chance in any game.

I agree anti-zip. Akron did shoot themselves in the foot. And, I didn't take your posts to mean that you implied that the DC change made all the difference. But as I mentioned earlier, while Akron IS a weak team they aren't all that weak on offense. With the exception of the Buffalo game, Akron had been doing not badly that last 7 weeks offensively and put up a combined 65 the prior two weeks against Ball State and Western. Yeah, I hate the "feast or famine" scenario - surrender 54 then surrender 0. You are right, just a few more stops than they typically made in the other MAC games is pretty much all they would need to have a decent shot at their first title since 1972.

(11-20-2021 05:59 PM)burden Wrote:  

(11-20-2021 02:34 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Questions we obviously won't know the answer to yet... Was the D Coordinator significant addition by subtraction? Is the defense having an out of body experience? Or is Akron just really this bad?

If the previous DC was that incompetent you have to question the head coach. I remember our company hiring a computer programmer who was a complete fake. Took about 6 weeks to figure it out. The head of the department didn’t last much longer. If your first theory turns out to be correct it would have to be a similar situation. Hope not.

Lewis and Kaufman go back several years, he had to know what he had in him.

Quote: In 2016, Kaufman served as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Syracuse alongside Sean Lewis. Two Syracuse linebackers and two specialists earned All-ACC honors under Kaufman’s guidance, while the Orange punt return unit ranked fourth in the nation.

Prior to Syracuse, Kaufman and Lewis spent four seasons together at Bowling Green (2014-15) and Eastern Illinois (2012-13) under Dino Babers.

While at Bowling Green, Kaufman directed the Falcons’ defensive line and special teams. The Falcons won back-to-back East Division titles, the 2014 Camellia Bowl and the 2015 MAC Championship Game.

Eastern Illinois won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships in 2012-13 with Kaufman serving as linebackers coach. The Panthers finished 12-2 in 2013, advancing to the FCS quarterfinals.

Just looking through the defensive statistics for Haynes last three years and Lewis first three full years. There has been a steady decline each year. I was hoping that maybe there was a trend of increased numbers across all FBS but the averages have held fairly steady over that time frame. I then thought there might be a big difference in time of possession but it doesn't appear to be the case.

2015 #27 350/ypg #58 26/ppg 28:06/top (NCAA average 398/ypg 27/ppg)
2016 - #50 386/ypg #67 28/ppg 28:58/top (NCAA average 404/ypg 28/ppg)
2017 - #77 408/ypg #111 35/ppg 31:25/top Haynes final year (NCAA average 392/ypg 27/ppg)

2018 - #117 467/ypg #116 36/ppg 27:51/top Lewis first year (NCAA average 393/ypg 27/ppg)
2019 - #121 473/ypg #97 31/ppg 26:02/top (NCAA average 390/ypg 27/ppg)
2021 - #128 495/ypg #121 36/ppg 26:06/top

(11-21-2021 01:26 AM)ilovegymnast Wrote:  Just looking through the defensive statistics for Haynes last three years and Lewis first three full years. There has been a steady decline each year. I was hoping that maybe there was a trend of increased numbers across all FBS but the averages have held fairly steady over that time frame. I then thought there might be a big difference in time of possession but it doesn't appear to be the case.

2015 #27 350/ypg #58 26/ppg 28:06/top (NCAA average 398/ypg 27/ppg)
2016 - #50 386/ypg #67 28/ppg 28:58/top (NCAA average 404/ypg 28/ppg)
2017 - #77 408/ypg #111 35/ppg 31:25/top Haynes final year (NCAA average 392/ypg 27/ppg)

2018 - #117 467/ypg #116 36/ppg 27:51/top Lewis first year (NCAA average 393/ypg 27/ppg)
2019 - #121 473/ypg #97 31/ppg 26:02/top (NCAA average 390/ypg 27/ppg)
2021 - #128 495/ypg #121 36/ppg 26:06/top

Thanks, ilovegymnast. What was/is the average for the entire FBS? It may have held pretty steady since 2015, but it's way up over further back in time, I'm sure, since scoring is way up. I'm sure I'm in a minority, but I don't particularly like it. I know I'm old and an odd-ball, but I like defensive struggles in all sports.

Every time I go to this place I think it drips with envy. Replaying the game they won the division from 2000-ish. Also, cracked me up how fast the score was removed from the scoreboard after the game.
Akron sucks. That is all.