Monday, September 01, 2008

"Unless you really know the game and study the game, you really don't understand the implications of a win like this for our program,"

So said our Coach, Gregg Brandon, after the Pitt win on Saturday.

On paper, things like this should never happen. Dave Wannstedt probably makes more than our entire coaching staff combined. The facilities, access to players, budgets--it cannot be compared. On paper, a team like Pitt should never lose to us.

On the field--it happens, and its not that uncommon. If you read my previous post, and looked through the comments of the Pitt fans, you saw lots of "Wannstedt can't coach" comments and a lot fewer that said or implied, "you know what, that Gregg Brandon can coach." You can find lots of comments that say that Pitt kept turning the ball over, and hardly in praising Kenny Lewis and Antonio Smith for big-time, BCS ball-hawking ability.

By the way, it defies logic to say "we were the better team but we turned the ball over. If we take care of the ball, we win." Yep....and if my Aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

This is the way it goes. I have always said, if you're a Bowling Green fan (or any MAC team), you have to respect yourself, because you will never get your due from the national media or the football powers with anything short of a run like Boise has had. Won't happen. Do what you want--you're never going to be one of the cool kids.

Who cares? We can't control what they think, so stop worrying about it.

Ryan has a nice column on this in the Blade today that I think spells out some salient facts.

But it should be noted that BG is the third MAC team since 2003 to beat the Panthers.

Hmm, really?

Gregg Brandon, without a single day of being an NFL coach or without an annual salary with two commas in it, outcoached Dave Wannstedt by getting better results out of (overall) inferior athletes. We were prepared, resourceful, and made the plays we needed to win.

We have players. Tyler Sheehan could start for Pitt tomorrow. Why couldn't any of their guys block Diryal Briggs? How did we make so many plays on D? Because we have players, and they believe in their system.

The only thing I expected to hear from the detractors was "if we played 10 times, Pitt would win <>." But, we didn't get that one.

I'm getting real pumped for Saturday night. Buckeyes play @ 12 and we're coming off a big win. That place should be full and jumping Saturday for a chance to beat a Big 10 team on our field.

No comments :