For What It's Worth...

CaribbeanGreen · September 23, 2007

Let me start by saying it's great to be back in Texas, and I was as giddy as an intern at Vivid Video being able to park over across campus and stroll through the entire gameday scene back "home" to Fouts... I was getting sick of that two or three games a year crap. Video and radio are great, but gee whiz.

Anyway, on to my good news and bad news, bad news first (as always):

-- It felt like the momentum just sucked out of a big green balloon by the end of that game. A lot of frustrated, dejected people. I really hope we don't lose a lot of the "new" Dodge fans, but I fear we will until we turn things around.

-- I know Meager is going to be the story, and he probably should be. The way I saw it, yeah, the interceptions were bad. They were momentum killers, they wiped out two scoring chances and were pretty awful. I can forgive a 3 INT game from a guy trying to make plays, but this has become a trend that this team isn't good enough to overcome yet.

-- Meager holds the ball WAAAAY too long. Everyone in my section was going nuts by the 4th quarter -- there were several "THROW THE BALL!" screams. Never thought I'd hear THAT again.... even times when he made a throw, or scrambled for a short gain, it usually followed a LONG time back in the pocket. I don't think the OL was that bad tonight. The quarterback has to help them out.

-- This offense seems essentially predicated on the quick five yard throw out to the WR. It almost looks like a WR screen on every play until you realize it's not. The problem is, by halftime FAU picked up on this, and started lighting up our WRs as soon as they touched the ball. I don't think it's so much we didn't adjust, but we couldn't throw the ball even moderately downfield for the most part. Jamario looked as good as he has in two years tonight, and Mosely showed a little, but we didn't use them very much.

-- Building on that, I think I saw what GMG1999 and some others have said in the past about Meager's "empty numbers" tonight. I can't think of one time tonight when I said "wow, what a throw!" or really saw us get a play out of the QB position, short of some nice scrambles early. It really seemed like a ho hum plug-n-play system QB can put up good numbers in this system. Meager got a ton of stats from short, quick, 5 yard zips down the line of scrimmage to WRs who would then get some nice YAC and move the chains. When we tried to go downfield, our success rate was horrible. We didn't stretch the field at all, and by the 2nd half it was open season on our WRs on those short routes, and FAU was lighting us up. Basically, I'm not saying Meager's horrible, Vizza forever, etc., but I really think the positive numbers we're getting statistically are more the offense than the trigger man.

-- Also, and I know this is dumb fan board stuff, it would be nice just once to see Meager show some fire, show ANYTHING. I know he's an even keel kind of guy, but do any of you feel like he's gonna lead us back to victory late? Like he's the kind of guy who refuses to let us lose? After things would go wrong, he'd just come sit down calmly and not talk to anyone until the next possession. To get me even more uneasy, at one point in the early 4th, I saw a player in the offense's faces, yelling and trying to get them fired up and back out there... it was Vizza, who wasn't even playing.

-- Two blocked punts. Unacceptable at any level.

-- Keystone Kops officiating at the end.

-- Evyn Roman is going to get us killed on punt returns at some point. Too much diving on muffed balls, fielding on the bounce, etc.

-- After a quick start, once FAU settled in and adjusted to us, they effectively beat us 30-3. So, while it feels like we were this close, I have this bad 30-3 feeling based on the last 2 1/2 quarters I saw.

The good:

-- Great scene out there tonight! The pre-game festivities looked great, atmosphere was good.

-- Home unis look good.

-- Student section was as full and INTO the game as I've seen in a while. Not a lot of folks left early either.

-- Green Brigade sounded and looked great. Really, I was impressed by the whole game presentation.

-- As I said earlier, J-Mo looked better than he has in a long time. Good to see a little running game...

-- I know we gave up 30, but it's as good as the defense has played this season. They were much better, save the one long pass play at a horrible time. FAU has lit up everyone they've played this year except Okie State. The offense didn't do them any favors - neither did two punt blocks. We are pretty solid against the run.

Had a great time. Tough loss. Don't really know where we are right now, but I guess that's why it's a work in progress.

akriesman · September 23, 2007

Good summary. I agree with you on all points.

After the first quarter, I thought the offense was on par for a near-record breaking day. Meager and the entire offense looked unstoppable those first 4 drives. I was shocked when FAU started shutting us down.

In the 4th quarter the offense, especially DM, seem to lose all confidence. We really needed a spark at QB late in the game and did not get it

We basically lost the turnover battle 5-0 if you include the blocked punts.

The late 4th down conversion by FAU was a killer. I could have sworn we stopped them on 4th and 1. The defense just wilted after the measurement.

The 2 replay delays were just awful. I believe the 2nd one was over 7 minutes long.

The future is very bright for this program. But, this one stung a bit.

The atmosphere was terrific. It was the best time I have ever had at Fouts, excluding the final score.

Edited September 23, 2007 by akriesman

September 23, 2007

This is the administration's way of testing your loyalty. If you can still be positive now, then you are worthy. Of what, I don't know.

yyz28 · September 23, 2007

This is the administration's way of testing your loyalty. If you can still be positive now, then you are worthy. Of what, I don't know.

LOL! There is lots to be positive about. ...but its also ok to be critical of the performance and what went wrong. I hope the team is equally critical, and I'm sure with Dodge at the helm, they are.

...One can be critical of the football performance this evening and still believe in what is going on here. It is ok to be willing to accept this as a possilble near winless building year and still disect this performance tonight.

CaribbeanGreen · September 23, 2007

I agree on that last 4th down.. I was just about even with it, and I was shocked they'd gotten ANYTHING on that play. It DID feel like a backbreaker.

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 23, 2007

I agree on that last 4th down.. I was just about even with it, and I was shocked they'd gotten ANYTHING on that play. It DID feel like a backbreaker.

I was sitting there thinking it was a bad spot, but then reminded myself that even if we had stopped them on downs, it was HIGHLY UNLIKELY that Meager was going to drive us the length of the field for a go ahead score or at least a 3 point try. That offense had done nothing in the second half.

Sophie · September 23, 2007

We noticed the same things in this game and in the OU game. Meager has no leadershio qualities. Tonight in the second half, Vizza was the only player to talk up and yell encouragement to the OL and the WR's. Vizza has the winner look in him on TV vs. OU and what I saw on the sidelines tonight. You could tell Vizza was dying to get in the game. Dodge, however, is going to stick with Meager for one more game. Not sure but that is what our group talked about after the game.

How many games has Meager won at the high school and collegiate level?

Meager made bad high school mistakes tonight without a doubt.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Sophie

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 23, 2007

We noticed the same things in this game and in the OU game. Meager has no leadershio qualities. Tonight in the second half, Vizza was the only player to talk up and yell encouragement to the OL and the WR's. Vizza has the winner look in him on TV vs. OU and what I saw on the sidelines tonight. You could tell Vizza was dying to get in the game. Dodge, however, is going to stick with Meager for one more game. Not sure but that is what our group talked about after the game.
How many games has Meager won at the high school and collegiate level?
Meager made bad high school mistakes tonight without a doubt.

The Hogs defense is M I C K E Y M O U S E this year, so they should just go ahead and start Vizza next week.

foutsrouts · September 23, 2007

I don't honestly know if it should be Vizza or Meager at this point. All I know is that I'm a bit upset and think that TD should consider putting his QB's under center every once in a while. We looked a little to telegraphed out there on offense. Glad Jamo broke out a little tonight and hope that continues. At least the D showed some improvement.

fauowls44 · September 23, 2007

You guys are right about the officiating. What a horrendous display by the Sun Belt crew. They missed some fairly obvious calls on both sides. There was a pass in the endzone where the FAU receiver's arm was help, and nothing was called. Also, that 4th and 1 play did appear to be short on the replay. In fact, the QB sneak the play before appeared to be plenty of yards for the 1st down and the spot was bad.

And the replay...how is there no time limit on that?? They must have spent a total of 10 minutes looking at replays. There has to be a better system.

Edited September 23, 2007 by fauowls44

NCMeanGreen · September 23, 2007

LOL! There is lots to be positive about. ...but its also ok to be critical of the performance and what went wrong. I hope the team is equally critical, and I'm sure with Dodge at the helm, they are.
...One can be critical of the football performance this evening and still believe in what is going on here. It is ok to be willing to accept this as a possilble near winless building year and still disect this performance tonight.

In that vein...my biggest observation is that this is the second game in a row where it seems we fell flat in the end. Should Dodge have put Vizza in towards the end to shake things up and awaken the O? Seems like we got up on them and could not hold them at all. It also seems like, whether fair or not, that DM may have had a significant hand in this defeat. I keep hearing about no emotion (need that from a field general), and those interceptions really hurt. Anyone think 1 TD to 3 INT's is a good thing? Seems to be a repeating pattern here.

We will get better...GO MEAN GREEN!!!

good_ken · September 23, 2007

-- Evyn Roman is going to get us killed on punt returns at some point. Too much diving on muffed balls, fielding on the bounce, etc.

Except for the fact that Roman probably averaged 20+ yards on any return he got his hands on. He's really good at that stuff. Its only a matter of time before he breaks one for 6.