Loeffler Aggravated Presser
Scot Loeffler wasn't in a "clean a few things up we'll be fine" mood yesterday. Far from it. He used words like "frustrated," and "aggravated" to describe his mood. Said he is not happy. Which you wouldn't expect, but he's usually not this blunt.
Many people feel the same way. He had the five years he said he needed. He was given patience. And you can see where we are, which is nowhere close.
He did do one thing certain to aggravate his critics, by calling out the 21-2 record of the teams that have beat us. We are 2-4...and he thinks we should be 4-2 or 3-3. That would be my point. I get that it was a tough schedule. He had five years to build us "the right way" to being a sustainable championship contender and it has not happened.
Yes, Miami and Ohio are good teams. The point is that WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD TEAM, and they beat us 65-7, with one of the games a home game.
The schedule gets much easier and it is possible we go on a winning streak and look like things have turned around. To match last year's 5-3 MAC record, we'd need to go 5-1 from here on out. To make a bowl game, you have to go 4-2.
I guess it comes down to what you want from the program. Do you want to be EMU, who has made bowl games the last 4 non-COVID years, winning more than 7 games overall once in that time and never winning more than 5 in the MAC? Maybe we give up on beating the top teams in the conference. That's what we have now. We are set up for that. With our funding level, maybe that's all we can be.
I don't think that's what we want. Cast into the wilderness when Mike Elko was not hired to replace Clawson, we are now in year 8 and have not found our way again.
Posts
6 comments :
As usual, the orangeandbrown blogspot is right on target. How can we have enough talent to beat Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Buffalo, and Toledo (twice) during this regime, and yet we are still not competitive in the MAC? Very perplexing and frustrating for loyal Falcon fans.
It seems to me two things can potentially be true: (1) This football team is playing better football than it did last year. (2) This football team is 2-4, 0-2 MAC.
Loeffler's point about our losses being to teams that are collectively 21-2 is fair. Michigan may win the so-called national championship, and we still managed to show some fight in Ann Arbor (at least until our second-string quarterback was knocked out of the game). Liberty has a shot to run the table in the regular season and play in a New Year's Day bowl game. And Ohio and Miami are both *good*. Massey has them as the two best teams in the MAC, in the 50s, substantially better than Toledo or anyone else.
Bowling Green is a proud program that has gone too long without winning a division title. We should not accept Eastern Michigan's definition of success. And yet -- I honestly think this team may be a bit better than last year, even if that isn't reflected in wins and losses.
I want to see more of this season before I consider hitting the panic button.
Agree, Orange - Bottom line is that we are a full tier below the top tier of our own conference in year 5. That's unacceptable. I believe Loeffler has risen us to a healthier position than we were under Jinks, but it's time to actually have a coach who can take a step beyond "not ESPN Bottom 10 anymore."
I was curious so I looked it up: Bowling Green's final Massey rating in 2012 was 65. There is a case to be made that Ohio and Miami are both better right now than Dave Clawson's championship team. (For what that's worth. Obviously, these numbers are only a very rough gauge of where teams are. Football teams aren't algorithms. The balls take funny bounces. Etc.)
I had hoped for a division winner in Year 5, and it appears that we won't be getting one. But if the program is continuing to improve under Scot Loeffler, however slowly, that would still be something. I would hate to penalize the guy because two other programs in our division happen to be really good right now.
My take on this assumes that the arc of the Falcon football program is long, but still bending toward a championship. My hunch is that Bowling Green will win Saturday and get on a Wayne Fontes-type run here to redeem some of the season. If it doesn't, well -- I reserve the right to change my mind.
An interesting discussion would be why the program is not quite where we want it to be yet. I'm not an expert. This is why we pay Loeffler the big bucks. My sense is that the guy is smart on Xs and Os. He usually seems to come up with good game plans. He's good at dealing with young men. It's easy to imagine that parents like the idea of their kids playing for him.
Perhaps we are still hurting from Loeffler's initial reluctance to fully embrace the portal transfer. We may be a year behind in terms of talent because he didn't see what that was going to turn into.
If so, perhaps that's understandable. To Loeffler's credit, he has challenged his assumptions and changed course. He hit the portal hard last offseason.
On the other hand, perhaps recruiting is a bigger issue than this one hiccup. I don't know.
I do know that I'm glad we have a football guy making decisions for the athletic department. I think he can watch what Loeffler is doing with insights that a lot of other ADs might lack.
This is why scheduling is so important. Imagine if we played 3 non-conference games where we were the favorites and only 1 buy game, then opened with Kent and Akron. Now we're talking about 5-1 and the momentum, confidence and positive vibes that come with it. We don't control the conference schedule and were dealt a bad hand, but previous athletic directors compounded the burden with 2 P5 road games plus the best, most well funded G5 for good measure. Self-inflicted wounds.
Schad, I do respect you and your long-time unwavering fandom for your school. Let's just agree we see this one differently....and that we do agree that we'd love to see Loeffler succeed (which I would).
Post a Comment