How would we know

Charles Rogers will be suspended four games for substance abuse. My guess is, had they not announced it, no one would have noticed.

Prep stand-out inks at BG

Ryan Sims of Fort Wayne has signed at BG.

Here's an excerpt:

“They had a coach at just about every game he played this summer. They followed him around the country,” Ray Sims said. “Dan Dakich made a home visit a couple of weeks ago. He was very to the point. He let Ryan know right away what to expect. He did not pull any punches. My wife fell in love with him right away. Matter of fact, my wife prepared a meal that day and I knew something was up because I was able to get a home-cooked meal that day.”

Here's what hoopfactor.com said about Sims a little while ago:

Wed September 14, 2005 Ryan Sims Update -- Ft Wayne guard Ryan Sims has a chance to be a very, very good D-1 player. Potential on this kid is unlimited given his freakish athleticism. Several schools backed off of Sims because he didn't play as hard as they would've liked during the recruiting period in July -- but like I said, he has skills.

Hoopfactor.com on Larson

Hoopfactor.com on BG recruit Marc Larsen.

BG got a good player in Marc Larsen, 6-8 Big out of Mattawan, Michigan. I’m very interested to watch him this season as a high school senior. I heard one expert opine that there’s 30 other Larsens in the MAC right now. I don’t know about that. I’ve seen this legit 6-8 make post-moves with either hand out to 6-7 feet. That right there puts him on a level higher than most MAC bigs were a year before coming in to the league. With Dan Dakich coaching him and, God forgive me, his “length”… the kid has a chance – a chance – to be an all-conference type by his sophomore/junior year.

Well, its over

The Reds season ended today, at 73-89. A fifth straight losing season, and three games worse than last year, while putting 820 runs on the board. I will do some more analysis on this in the coming weeks, but for now, suffice it to say that this boat was sunk on pitching. We finished 27 games behind St. Louis--can we really expect to compete next year?

I had some hope when the season started, but it was over quickly. On Redszone, I predicted a 78 win season, so I was just slightly over-optimistic. Danny Graves alone cost us that many games.

Well, warm up the hot stove. We'll do some analysis on what I still contend was, in many ways, a tragic waste of talent.

Lions lose again

Remember the team with the great offense, that was going to light the board up? Welcome to the defensive oriented Detroit Lions.

And did the final minutes provide a glimmer of what could be--a passing offense picking its way down the field with multiple weapons and a competent, if not spectacular QB? Or was it a team moving the ball on a defense playing for time?

The Lions defense was outstanding today, forcing turnovers, but most importantly, shutting down the run. Cory Redding was an absolute beast, and Kalimba, Holt, Bailey and others made plays. The defense kept the team in the game--all the Lions points came off turnovers.

If anyone has to see themselves as causing the problem, it has to be the offense. Charles Rogers continues to be a non-factor. Kevin Jones is a major disappointment in his sophomore season, and is considerably less effective than Artose Pinner is. The O-Line is poor--no running room, and four man rushes crowding in on Joey.

The offense was horrid on 3rd down, and their redzone failure which ended in their final points cost them the game. On the final drive, Pollard may have been in or out, but the offense was living off the defense. The offense could neither run nor pass--Joey's numbers through three quarters were abysmal. Finally, Eddie Drummond is largely a non-factor this season, too.

Its just so close. If the defense can continue to perform, and the offense can do just a little--A LITTLE--this team is close to competing. Alas, I fear that is not to be.

Falcons Destroy Temple 70-7

I suppose it was one of those things that felt good, but wasn't actually as good as it felt. It was a stunning day with a great crowd at the Doyt, and we had a vastly superior team and we destroyed them. Not only is Temple bad, but they had the misfortune the last two seasons of playing us after losses.

Anyway, they are hopeless, so its hard to draw much out of it. I thought we were intense, and more disciplined than in other games, so maybe those things have been corrected. Omar seemed sharp, but then again, his receivers were generally wide open. A few thoughts:

• Temple still had a rusher get 100 yards on us.
• We worked hard to get Steve Sanders back into the flow, with passes, a reverse (TD), and even a pass (sack).
• Corey Partridge was a factor again, apparently being healthy for the first time in a while. He is a third WR threat we really need. He had a 79 punt return for a TD, too (per The Blade, we had 10 men on the field when it happened.)
  
• Antonio Smith had his second TD on an INT return this year.
• PJ Pope isn't healthy. He ran poorly, although he did score twice. In big games, his lack of productivity could be a serious problem. Let's hope he can get healthy, although I am starting to sense that this injury will not get better until after the season.
• Omar was 26 out of 30--his updated season stats are above. He seemed to have his game back, but as mentioned above, there wasn't much on the other side.
• Temple is a dirty team. I hope no one was hurt on our side--it seemed OK.
• The Falcons played with no names on the jersies as a motivational technique after the Boise game. Coach says the seniors will decide whether they go back next week--my bet is no.
• The Blade this AM says that an excessive celebration penalty was due to "saluting" after a TD. They even have a picture. (Yeah, we gotta put a stop to that.)
  

So, on we go. It was fun--almost a guilty pleasure. The next game is huge. Akron, Miami and Buffalo already have one loss in the MAC East, and Miami has to play at NIU Wednesday. OU and BG are the only teams with no losses--the winner controls their own destiny. On the other hand, if we lose, we will have to hope for OU to lose twice coming home. While that's possible, it is also possible that our entire season could end on Saturday. Let's hope for a big, rocking crowd, and let's hope we bring our A game. We'll look at OU more in depth later in the week, but I think they are a work in progress and we can take them. Their win over Pitt--while laudable--was probably more than it seemed, as Pitt has continued to be awful all year.

One Game Left....

Reds have 815 runs scored.