Saturday, September 16, 2006

Two Directions

Falcon fans are struggling with the question of what we are seeing on the field right now.

Are we a young, rebuilding team, with the talent base on the field that can compete with the talent we had from the UM classes? Are the struggles merely a young team looking to build itself up well enough to compete? Will Coach Brandon eventually build what we see on the field today into a MAC Championship.


OR

Is our program in a decline? Is the narrow win over Buffalo, matched with last year's underachieving team proof that once that UM influence on the program left, what we had was a team run by the latest incarnation of Gary Blackney?

I lean about 70% to the first one, based on what we know now. This question is part of why Falcon fans watch everything so closely. For example, a loss to Florida International today--a team we should beat--would be evidence on the second claim. A close win could fuel either fire, depending on your outlook.

A big win helps convince us it's the first.

This is why the close win over Buffalo was not good enough--because we are looking to see we are better than bad teams. Also, we have tough games coming up on the road---we play at OU and at CMU--and need to get wins in at least one to stay in the race.

I've adjusted a little bit. I'll be happy just to win today. But I will be relieved if we can get a comfortable win.

No comments:

Post a Comment