Narron re-signed

The Reds re-signed Jerry Narron for 2006, with a mutual option for 2007. Like JD @ Red Reporter, I'm largely ambivalent.

I was hapy with the team in the second half, and I thought they played well and improved, but I don't know anyone did that with managing. They were healthy, and the pitching came around a little. Having said that, I like that the contract is short-term, and I'm not sure anyone better was hanging around. Mostly, I think its good it got done before the ownership issues were resolved.

Falcons ink hoops commit

Via the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Marc Larson, Mattawan High School's 6-foot-9 frontliner, won't have to deal with all the distractions he was expected to face his senior year of basketball.

Larson, who will be in his fourth year as a starter this season, averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds his junior year, helping Mattawan to a 17-5 record and first place in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference's Central Division.

We need a big man, and he appears to be big, and somebody who scores and rebound. Prediction: the naysayers will want to know why we took him when Western obviously didn't want him!

Killer with former Rocket Butt-Buddy Sean Baligian on WDFN

Some edited highlights from the Killer appearence....boldface is my emphasis

• Killer says if Garcia was healthy, you probably would've seen him against the Bears. It might not have taken through the bye. These games are huge for Joey Harrington -- he has to prove he can run the offense and make plays. Killer says "he's just not accurate." Points out how Kyle Orton can hit Muhsin Muhammed on the post, but Harrington throws it just behind Roy Williams.
  
• One of the biggest things to come out of the Bears game is the complete meltdown of the defensive coaching staff. They totally out-thought himself. Dick Jauron was disingenous (???) when he said you always get criticism when you lose, and praise when you win. All you need is one of the corners or safeties at 100 mph a couple of times. If they can get a rookie to start wondering if he's about to get ear-holed then you've gained an edge.
  
• Sean says no more talk about the "weapons" this offense has. Killer concurs, saying Kevin Johnson leads the team in receptions. "That's a farce."
  
• Charles Rogers is still moping, and his head isn't in the game. Killer says he's just going through the motions.
  
• Why hasn't Jones played better? Killer says you can't pinpoint it on one thing. The offensive line is better at pass protection than blowing guys off the ball. They need to be creative with that line, like spreading out the WRs. The 2-back set isn't working out. They should go to 1-back. Pollard on the outside could also be effective. "It's not going to happen."

Lions lose starting CB for year

Fernando Bryant will miss the season. We added another WR to fill the roster slot. We did keep a number of DBs, and it may be the last chance for Goodman to thrive. On that subject, Killer Kowalski had this great article on a persistent Goodman.

Brian At Red Leg Nation Writes on Reds Historic Offensive Season

On pace to score 800 runs...even bad pitching would have gotten us a .500 season. But atrocious pitching...well, there you go. Its an utter tragedy.

Brandon Presser

Typical, really strong Brandon presser today. Here's the link, and here are some snippets, with my own peanut gallery commentary.

Brandon:

Erique Dozier is a kid who we are going to move to linebacker. He will play at the Sam position. Terrel White is playing at the Will position, and Teddy (Piepkow) and Jamien (Johnson) are splitting time. Neither of them have been 100 percent healthy, so we have been reluctant to have a starter, per se, at that (middle linebacker) position.

This is another shot, probably relatively desperate, to help out at that LB position. We already tried two safeties there, and it obviously didn't work. With Piepkow and Johnson healthy, that should help, but LB remains a weakness.

Brandon:

It was a game where we just got out-hit, in all phases. So, we got after it pretty aggressively on the weekend. Saturday, we did a three-on-three `hamburger' drill where we just blocked and tackled; basically pounded on each other for an hour, to send a message that `hey, that's not Bowling Green football.' When we go into any place, especially on national TV, we need to be the hitters, not the hittees. That was the thing that really showed up, I thought, after watching the Boise film a couple times. We are not anticipating defensively. We're catching too many guys, and not striking. Offensively, we were not sharp, for whatever reason. I mean, we can analyze it until we're blue in the face, but Omar Jacobs has had 14 or 15 starts here, and he's had one bad game. If I can get 14 or 15 more, with one bad start, I'll take it. He'll be the first to tell you that it was by far his worst game. You're dealing with 18- to 22-year-old kids, and they're going to have a bad day. It's hard to win every game in college football; you only see a handful of teams run the table. Where we are right now is about where we were last year. You look at the stats; we went into Oklahoma (last year) and gave up 500 yards and 40 points, and we went to Wisconsin and gave up 56 (points) and 500 yards. We went to Northern (Illinois in 2004), and Garrett Wolfe rushed all over the field against us. We went to Boise, and couldn't stop the run. The one huge difference is that we are 1-0 in the MAC East.

This says a lot. Not much to add, I guess. Problems need to be addressed--its a test to our program.

Brandon:

Q: Have the injuries to P.J. Pope and B.J. Lane been a big part of the problems with establishing the running game?

GB: Absolutely. That's where we're struggling right now; we're missing the one-two punch together. P.J. has not been himself, and we are struggling to run the football. Bobby Thomas has given us a boost, but he's a young guy. But, he is going to be a great player for us before he is through.

Amen. We have to run the ball in our offense...yet, Coach feels good about our line play.

Brandon:

They are doing a nice job. Jon Culp is really playing well at center. He's a fifth-year kid, who has never really had an opportunity to start, and he is stepping up and doing a good job. (Derrick) Markray is a beast in there at right guard. He's doing a heck of a job, and Drew (Nystrom) keeps getting better and better. We're protecting Omar, the problem is not protection.

I'm not sure this isn't a little optimistic, but I could be wrong.

Brandon:

I think Omar is overanalyzing a little bit, instead of taking what they are giving us. I told him after the (Boise State) game that it was the first game where he didn't manage our offense. That's the number-one thing we talk about with our quarterbacks, manage the offense. Omar has put a lot of pressure on himself, and that's natural. He has gotten a lot of pub and a lot of hype, and he's got to deal with the good and the bad. Right now, he's dealing with the bad.

Omar will rally. I don't really doubt that. I don't think, today, that he has the supporting cast he had last year, anywhere--RB, line, or WR.

Brandon:

We wanted to be able to keep the ball like they did, to keep their offense off the field like they did to us. So, we wanted to run the clock a little bit. I think that was mistake number one, because, when we have been successful over the past couple years, we're moving at a fast tempo. That's a double-edged sword, because if you are moving at a fast tempo and you are not having success, your defense is back out on the field. So, my whole thing was, `let's use the clock; let's settle in there.' Everybody that we talked to said that, when you go to Boise, you have got to survive the first quarter. If you can survive the first quarter, you'll be all right. Well, we did survive the first quarter, but we didn't survive the rest of the game. We used that information, and it backfired, and it was my mistake. We should have gone in there and used what we call `fastball,' our up-tempo offense, and tried to tire them out. They did get tired when we went to some fastball later in the game, to try to get back in it. But, none of that matters if we aren't sharp. We were dropping passes, we weren't throwing to the right guy, and we were struggling to run the football when we lost P.J.

This is a very interesting quote. So, our strategy was to cling on in the first and control the ball, and then win from there. Our normal strategy, as he mentioned, is to just run right over them. He's right--we didn't execute. Having said that, we need to stick with what works, which he admits, to his credit. I'm not sure we haven't sold ourselves short in other big road games, too.

Here's too unleashing fastball with fury Saturday. Oh, there was lots in the presser about how Temple doesn't suck as bad as everyone says they do. Which they may not. BG needs a solid win to wash away some doubts and fears about 1995, and give us some confidence with OU coming to town.

CBS Sportsline Story on players who have led trying lives BEFORE they start playing college ball as Freshmen

#7 is Dusan Radivojevic, our Serbian recruit.

Here's what it said:

After averaging 35 ppg last year as a high school senior in Cacak, Serbia & Montenegro, the 6-5 Radivojevic wanted to play college basketball this season. An overseas talent scout sent an email detailing Radivojevic's qualifications to scores of colleges, and Bowling Green's Dan Dakich bit. He requested video of Radivojevic, and after checking with his contacts -- Dakich's grandfather was born in Serbia -- he offered Radivojevic a scholarship. Dakich says Radivojevic amazes teammates with stories from Serbia, like the time a bomb dropped about 500 meters from a gym where he was playing.