As I illustrated in a previous thread, Charlotte football which is a relatively newer football program fired their head coach this season for a record very similar to Hammock’s.

Hammock has to have a winning season next year. Otherwise, he should be fired. Four losing seasons in five for NIU football is unsat.

(11-17-2022 07:47 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 07:32 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 06:31 PM)7 Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 06:08 PM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 04:01 PM)7 Wrote:  But we aren’t even competing in the MAC right now. The next level stuff has been a pipe dream for forever now, but we’ve taken a step back from where we were even at under Carey.

I have always been happy with and will always be happy with competing for a trip to Detroit every year and making a bowl. We’ve done that in 1 of 4 years under Hammock so far.

I think you mean "But we aren't even competing FOR the MACC right now.

Losses are in OT, 29,7,13,6. Wins by 7, 3.

I'd hardly say they are good but neither is the MAC.

Thank you for the clarification I’m proud of the lads for managing to give Ball State and 4-7 CMU games. Good stuff.

We wanted to see life after Carey. Pull up a chair and get your popcorn. Welcome to your wish come true.

I disliked Carey personally as much as most here, but to be real about him, he was a good 1 or 2 transfer portal QB's away from being on the NIU Mt.Rushmore of coaches.

That's pretty much every MAC schools path to MACC every year. Lost Rocky AND Rudolph AND Ducker plus other guys. There is very little depth at this level. A 2-3 on offense/defense is the difference between 9-3 and 3-9. And it doesn't help when the play calling blew at least 1 up to 3 games. The whole catch phrase of "next man up" rarely pans out, especially when it comes to multiple players. There is no next Rocky yet. Is he on the roster or coming in the portal? I don't know.

And yes, that was the problem with Carey. Could not get the very good qb to go with the slew of talent he had on both sides of the line and RB. He had a decent one in Hare and look what happened when he went down. He, to his credit, did get some really good defensive players, including Smith who got him to a MACC. Now you see it with Hammock. It's not a secret, not hard to see.

(11-18-2022 09:46 AM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 07:47 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 07:32 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 06:31 PM)7 Wrote:  

(11-17-2022 06:08 PM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  I think you mean "But we aren't even competing FOR the MACC right now.

Losses are in OT, 29,7,13,6. Wins by 7, 3.

I'd hardly say they are good but neither is the MAC.

Thank you for the clarification I’m proud of the lads for managing to give Ball State and 4-7 CMU games. Good stuff.

We wanted to see life after Carey. Pull up a chair and get your popcorn. Welcome to your wish come true.

I disliked Carey personally as much as most here, but to be real about him, he was a good 1 or 2 transfer portal QB's away from being on the NIU Mt.Rushmore of coaches.

That's pretty much every MAC schools path to MACC every year. Lost Rocky AND Rudolph AND Ducker plus other guys. There is very little depth at this level. A 2-3 on offense/defense is the difference between 9-3 and 3-9. And it doesn't help when the play calling blew at least 1 up to 3 games. The whole catch phrase of "next man up" rarely pans out, especially when it comes to multiple players. There is no next Rocky yet. Is he on the roster or coming in the portal? I don't know.

And yes, that was the problem with Carey. Could not get the very good qb to go with the slew of talent he had on both sides of the line and RB. He had a decent one in Hare and look what happened when he went down. He, to his credit, did get some really good defensive players, including Smith who got him to a MACC. Now you see it with Hammock. It's not a secret, not hard to see.

What Carey had was really good talent around really bad QBs. It was enough to never have a losing record in MAC play. But ultimately it’s the QB who gets you championships(unless you have a 15 sack DE). I will be shocked if Rourke doesn’t win the MACC by at least 10.

Last year Hammock had average talent around a special QB. Sprinkled in a big playmaker at wr and got that championship. This year the average talent had bad QBs and it produced bad results.

The question’s are:

Can Hammock find or develope another really good QB?
Can Hammock increase the talent around the QB in case he isnt special?

I LOVE Rocky, he’s one of my favorite NIU players ever. He’s got the it factor. With that being said, he did not play like a special QB last year. He was good not great. They won the MAC last year because of the running game and luck.

(11-18-2022 12:30 PM)7 Wrote:  I LOVE Rocky, he’s one of my favorite NIU players ever. He’s got the it factor. With that being said, he did not play like a special QB last year. He was good not great. They won the MAC last year because of the running game and luck.

Im not on the NFL talent level like many. But he is a winner. He didn't make mistakes. He could run when needed, make a long pass, play ball control or somehow amass 500 yards in a game! He was perfect for Hammock's keep it close, don't turn the ball over , adjust as needed offense. I think at some point this year NIU was 1-5 with like 4 turnovers. Amazing what a couple guys, ball bouncing your way and 28/33 (1st in % and #) instead of 7/20 (120th %, 108 total from a quick glance) will do to a team.

(11-18-2022 12:30 PM)7 Wrote:  I LOVE Rocky, he’s one of my favorite NIU players ever. He’s got the it factor. With that being said, he did not play like a special QB last year. He was good not great. They won the MAC last year because of the running game and luck.

I get what you’re saying bc Rocky isn’t a big passing stats guy. But he is everything else a QB does to win. Especially close games. I didn’t mean to minimize how important the run was to the 21 offense. Especially for keeping the defense off the field. But you remove Rocky and Rudolph’s rushing yards, 600 and 10 tds, you have about the same rushing attack as this year. Even in the 5-7 season of 2016 NIUs rush offense was only 2 yards a game less than last years. It’s just really hard to run your way to a title. You can take any QB on the roster besides Lombardi since 2017 and they don’t win the mac last year.