Topic: FAU are you kidding me?

[herd1990]

They are ranked 6 in total D we are ranked 22nd. They played one team in the top 50 in total O. FAU at 48. We played NC State at 24. Scoring D they are 5 we are 8. Rushing D they are 4 we are 19.

Before I hear competition.. they played Maryland on their 3rd string QB. Purdue just lost to Rutgers, who knows what Northwestern is. I know Wisconsin is Wisconsin by name but statistically we match up well. Don’t know a ton on their personnel but I know we play a ton of different players at all three levels. When it comes to stopping the run we will be fine.

You can’t be serious....I agree our D is playing well.  But comparing our success to that of Wisconsin, based solely on statistics, is delusional.  We haven’t beaten a team with a pulse yet.  We haven’t beaten a team with a QB with a pulse yet.  Hell, the Miami kid (Ragland) was the best of the bunch.  It doesn’t take much to get some of you guys overly optimistic.  If we played an AAC schedule and faced decent D1 talent (not SEC or Big 10) we’d probably be 4-3 or 3-4 right now.  And I’d be ok with that based on a tougher level of play.  We are beating the worst of the worst, and in some cases we’ve had to wait until the 4th QTR to put them away.  I do agree our Defense is playing great.  But I will reserve anointing them better than Wisconsin until after we’ve beat a team worth a sh**.

[goherd24]

No it is not!!!  but it can make a huge difference in the first year.........Attitude and Motivation (coupled with confidence) can do sooooo much, but it doesn't last with out players

Kiffin
Saban
Meyer
Harbaugh
Petersen (boise to making washington relevant immediately)
Brohm
Sweeney

All examples of elite coaching turning around programs immediately

It amazes me how little people recognize the impact of coaching

[Scottyo614]

Herd1990 who would you consider Wisconsin playing so far that is a world beater? They’ve played Big 10 but you got what, a Nebraska team who lost at home to NIU. Maryland who doesn’t have a QB. Purdue who has fell off the tracks. They also had tough contests against a bad BYU and Utah State teams. Yes their strength of schedule has been tougher coming in at 60 to our 100 but it’s not like they are playing the best of the best.

Here’s why I’m optomistic. I realize we dominated NC State till we ran out of gas in the second then picked us apart.. I realize we ran out of gas because Hames and Harris were both in Huntington. Young was in Huntington as well. Malik Thompson has started playing more to give more depth and Ty Tyler has gotten better as the years gone on.  Even with the depth issue we had a chance until fumbling at our own 23 in the 4th. We have a deep DL. Can rotate 6 LBs with ease and secondary we have 3 CBs. Safety we can go two deep even with Gant leaving. So the one true team we played we simply ran out of steam. Now we have depth to keep providing steam. Don’t discredit what they are doing because our names not Wisconsin and we aren’t playing below average to middle of the road Big 10 schools.

Also not the Ds job to pull away. Just make sure the other team doesn’t score. Can’t blame them for not putting people away.

And GoHerd24 Kiffen ruined Tennessee and got fired on a tarmac at USC. This O is Briles. Not Lane.

[herd1990]

Herd1990 who would you consider Wisconsin playing so far that is a world beater? They’ve played Big 10 but you got what, a Nebraska team who lost at home to NIU. Maryland who doesn’t have a QB. Purdue who has fell off the tracks. They also had tough contests against a bad BYU and Utah State teams. Yes their strength of schedule has been tougher coming in at 60 to our 100 but it’s not like they are playing the best of the best.

Here’s why I’m optomistic. I realize we dominated NC State till we ran out of gas in the second then picked us apart.. I realize we ran out of gas because Hames and Harris were both in Huntington. Young was in Huntington as well. Malik Thompson has started playing more to give more depth and Ty Tyler has gotten better as the years gone on.  Even with the depth issue we had a chance until fumbling at our own 23 in the 4th. We have a deep DL. Can rotate 6 LBs with ease and secondary we have 3 CBs. Safety we can go two deep even with Gant leaving. So the one true team we played we simply ran out of steam. Now we have depth to keep providing steam. Don’t discredit what they are doing because our names not Wisconsin and we aren’t playing below average to middle of the road Big 10 schools.

Also not the Ds job to pull away. Just make sure the other team doesn’t score. Can’t blame them for not putting people away.

And GoHerd24 Kiffen ruined Tennessee and got fired on a tarmac at USC. This O is Briles. Not Lane.

Scottyo, I have said I think our D has had a great year.  And I don’t think Wisconsin has played a killer schedule.  But Maryland, Nebraska, Purdue and Northwestern are light years ahead of Charlotte, Kent, Miami Oh and Old Dominion.  Wisconsin also typically has one of the best defenses in the country and last year we beat 2 Division 1 teams.  There are many arguments to be made for and against our team this year.  I, for one, am happy to be excited for Saturdays again.  But saying our D is equal to or better than Wisconsin really diminishes your credibility.  Let’s just be happy we appear to have the best D in the conference.  I’m just not sure they are the 85 Chicago Bears just yet.

[HoPPy785]

Kiffin
Saban
Meyer
Harbaugh
Petersen (boise to making washington relevant immediately)
Brohm
Sweeney

All examples of elite coaching turning around programs immediately

It amazes me how little people recognize the impact of coaching

Kiffin an elite coach? He is barely over .500 as a head coach. FAU has beat nobody and lost to Buffalo this season. Don't crown him anything just yet. CUSA is bad.

[herdorbust]

No use in arguing about it one way or another. We are going to find out in 2 weeks if Marshall can shut down FAU's offense.

[Scottyo614]

Herd1990 to get some of that credibility back, the only reason I’d suggest it is depth. What separates P5, G5 and FCS os all depth. We have a second team that doesn’t miss a beat and is interchangeable. We shall see. I’m not saying we totally slow them down. I do think we keep them around 21 points. O just has to click

[herdorbust]

We can beat them. My worry is the weather.

There is no doubt we can beat them. The question is will we, with Doc and Legg playing uptight in certain situations. You have to open it up and be creative the entire game, not just parts of it. I for one am looking forward to this game. Usually we play teams that couldn't score against Spring Valley High School. This will be a much better test and something to get the fans blood flowing a bit.

[QuickStrike]

There is no doubt we can beat them. The question is will we, with Doc and Legg playing uptight in certain situations. You have to open it up and be creative the entire game, not just parts of it. I for one am looking forward to this game. Usually we play teams that couldn't score against Spring Valley High School. This will be a much better test and something to get the fans blood flowing a bit.

I watched the NoTex/FAU highlights and it wasn't as impressive as the final score.....although FAU probably called the dogs off with 12 to go in the 4th.  We can beat them down there if (1) Doc continues to get the team up for big away games, (2) The defense stays strong, (3) Legg mixes it up on offense and quits being predictable in his play calling, (4) Doc does not go into conservative mode when the game is not iced yet.

[MUther]

You can’t be serious....I agree our D is playing well.  But comparing our success to that of Wisconsin, based solely on statistics, is delusional.  We haven’t beaten a team with a pulse yet.  We haven’t beaten a team with a QB with a pulse yet.  Hell, the Miami kid (Ragland) was the best of the bunch.  It doesn’t take much to get some of you guys overly optimistic.  If we played an AAC schedule and faced decent D1 talent (not SEC or Big 10) we’d probably be 4-3 or 3-4 right now.  And I’d be ok with that based on a tougher level of play.  We are beating the worst of the worst, and in some cases we’ve had to wait until the 4th QTR to put them away.  I do agree our Defense is playing great.  But I will reserve anointing them better than Wisconsin until after we’ve beat a team worth a sh**.

Nobody says they are better than Wisconsin.  He's just saying there is evidence that we are comparable in many areas.  And Wisconsin won.  Do we know that FAU is really any better on offense?  No.  They haven't played the meat of their conference schedule, either.  And they've lost to anyone with a pulse this year already, except UNT.  I think CUSA West were all pretenders who had marginal success OOC and assumed they were all good.  In actuality they beat no one of note, either.  All their hype came from their games against each other.  Charlotte just beat UAB, who gave UNT, the west's best, all they wanted and nearly won.  They don't pass the smell test.  They have close losses to Kentucky and South Carolina and beat Baylor who is 0 and infinity.  And all of them have an FCS school as one of their wins, except us.

FAU and Charlotte exposed the west for what it was.  A weak circle jerk of teams patting each other on the back and proclaiming their excellence.  Charlotte hasn't touched an east team and FAU hasn't played WKU, Marshall, or their rival FIU.  Middle put 20 on them and ODU put 28 on them.   They got nowhere near that on us. 

I agree it's dangerous doing comparisons for different games like that, but it's all we have.  We were 10 points better against Middle than FAU at Middle.  FAU had them at home.  We both put 38 on them.  The difference was defense.  I think UNT is just that bad or at least played that badly for that game.  They only put 19 on Navy.  You gonna say that our defense is nowhere near as good as Navy's, too?  I don't buy that for a moment.

We may very well lose this game.  But it will be because of us and not because FAU is some unbeatable juggernaut.  To think that they've somehow improved in a vacuum, while the rest of us have just stood still is way harder to believe than UNT and the west are severely overrated.

[Herdalum83]

Nobody says they are better than Wisconsin.  He's just saying there is evidence that we are comparable in many areas.  And Wisconsin won.  Do we know that FAU is really any better on offense?  No.  They haven't played the meat of their conference schedule, either.  And they've lost to anyone with a pulse this year already, except UNT.  I think CUSA West were all pretenders who had marginal success OOC and assumed they were all good.  In actuality they beat no one of note, either.  All their hype came from their games against each other.  Charlotte just beat UAB, who gave UNT, the west's best, all they wanted and nearly won.  They don't pass the smell test.  They have close losses to Kentucky and South Carolina and beat Baylor who is 0 and infinity.  And all of them have an FCS school as one of their wins, except us.

FAU and Charlotte exposed the west for what it was.  A weak circle jerk of teams patting each other on the back and proclaiming their excellence.  Charlotte hasn't touched an east team and FAU hasn't played WKU, Marshall, or their rival FIU.  Middle put 20 on them and ODU put 28 on them.   They got nowhere near that on us. 

I agree it's dangerous doing comparisons for different games like that, but it's all we have.  We were 10 points better against Middle than FAU at Middle.  FAU had them at home.  We both put 38 on them.  The difference was defense.  I think UNT is just that bad or at least played that badly for that game.  They only put 19 on Navy.  You gonna say that our defense is nowhere near as good as Navy's, too?  I don't buy that for a moment.

We may very well lose this game.  But it will be because of us and not because FAU is some unbeatable juggernaut.  To think that they've somehow improved in a vacuum, while the rest of us have just stood still is way harder to believe than UNT and the west are severely overrated.

I watched the game. FAU is athletic and they do have some really good players. They are a team at their place, especially, that will be a tough out for us. Probably our toughest of the year. But, UNT quit. That game and that score says a lot more about the Mean Green than it does the Owls.

[MUther]

I watched the game. FAU is athletic and have some really good players. They are a team at their place, especially, that will be a tough out for us. Probably oir toughest of the year. But, UNT quit. That game and that score say a lot more about the Mean Green than it does thr Owls.

Thanks for saying in one little paragraph what it took me a page to try and say :)