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Post by bucfan on Oct 29, 2023 12:58:50 GMT -6
I think what is most frustrating is that over the last 6-7 years, there has been little to no change in the product we see on the field. Three coaching staffs but what do we have to show for it? Mediocre offense and mediocre defense with an occasional flash. Half of this team is FBS transfers so the talent is as physically gifted as it’s ever been but yet we will still end up around .500. More money for coaching the past two hires but still around .500. Offense has been as vanilla as could be for the past five years. Never a dominant line so winning the line of scrimmage battle is just an occasional thing. We lose players to injury or suspension but rarely does the public ever find that info out, hard to connect to this team with no info ever shared. Tuning in to games not even knowing who is available or who is on the team anymore. It used to be “let’s keep this info private because we don’t want our opponents knowing” to now just realizing we just don’t have a program that’s relevant to report on. I agree that I would like to have seen much more progress with our football program but also feel the need to point out that our level of competition has increased. The WAC was a step up from the Southland and the UAC is even more difficult. I think there have been small improvements but not near enough to compete with the schools in our own conference. I'm nervous about the Tarleton game because we share so much recruiting area. I think we are finding out that just because I player is an FBS dropdown does not mean he is a sure thing. If you drop balls at the FBS level you may still drop them when FCS. I miss Kobe Clark who always seemed to be able to get open and would catch anything thrown near him.
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Post by bucfan on Oct 29, 2023 13:21:40 GMT -6
My saddest moment came today when out of the blue the Past Poet Laureate of Utah (and first runner up choice for Poet Laureate of the USA) and retired SUU professor (who happens to be my cousin) wrote me, in his words, a Tacky Letter (email) boasting of their devastating clobbering of ACU. He now is retired in Oregon. I guess the worst part is he went to college at ACU but now prefers to be associated with SUU more than ACU. I will have to hear about this for the rest of my life. We used to fish in Lake Panguitch Utah together and now he is trying to deny association with ACU. I'll still bet on our physics program and nuclear reactor over theirs! They do have a beautiful view from campus.
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Post by buckeyecat on Oct 29, 2023 14:10:06 GMT -6
I personally did not go to ACU because of its football. ACU football has been good entertainment at times, and a disappointment at others. The undergraduate education I received was top notch, with great caring professors, and got me a free ride for a Ph.D in Molecular Genetics from The Ohio State University 😀, which also happens to be pretty good in football. Even after that, when I decided to pursue medicine, guess whose pre-med committee I used? ACU’s. I knew what their acceptance rate was. This university has accomplished a lot in academics as well as athletics. RC and the rest of you guys probably know the look of wide eyed amazement you get when you tell about the NEXT project. As far as athletics is concerned, two trips to the Big Dance and a victory over UT is nothing to sneeze at. I consider my time at ACU to be one of the great gifts I have received in my life. However, I think the university needs to recruit athletes and maybe coaches who are as proud to be associated with ACU and its uniqueness as we are, and who desire to give their best at all times because of where they are and who they represent.
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Post by rc on Oct 29, 2023 17:20:08 GMT -6
The above is one of the best posts on this site, Thanks. I, too, would not trade my time at ACU, both as a student and a Physics Professor. I had a position offer from Harvard when graduating with my Ph.D. Ray McGlothlin talked to me about returning to my undergraduate university and what could happen if we all pitched in to aspire to higher achievement. He promised to support growing a new department of physics and I was sold on returning to my alma mater. Recently I got a note from a dear friend, even older than I. He simply said one short thing: "You made the right choice." He was right.
Unfortunately, I wear my devotion to ACU on my sleeve and often want to hurry up the rise of the University. It is rising and quickly, and I should sometimes keep my mouth shut.
p.s. I actually originally entered ACU to play basketball and maybe become a coach. An injury on the court ended that life in year one and put me in science labs, albeit on crutches for a bit. I owe the University so much. Sorry to get personal, but Buckeyecat and Bucfan's posts opened me up to reality.
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Post by oldtimecat on Oct 29, 2023 18:51:12 GMT -6
52-14 loss. Lots to criticize and a few positives. I hope KP will reevaluate not only the defensive scheme and players (QB and receivers, etc.) but also his staff. Not bringing your "A" game (not showing up) to perhaps the 2 most important conference games is indicative of a total breakdown and not just the players. How about evaluating him? Talk to people in the program about KP. I’ll leave it at that.
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Post by dallasalum on Oct 30, 2023 8:52:52 GMT -6
52-14 loss. Lots to criticize and a few positives. I hope KP will reevaluate not only the defensive scheme and players (QB and receivers, etc.) but also his staff. Not bringing your "A" game (not showing up) to perhaps the 2 most important conference games is indicative of a total breakdown and not just the players. How about evaluating him? Talk to people in the program about KP. I’ll leave it at that. Who do you mean by: "people in the program"? Am really curious to know.
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Post by acutrackfan on Oct 30, 2023 10:11:46 GMT -6
I was completely out of pocket this past Saturday attending a HS class reunion. I remembered to check the live stats later in the afternoon and saw that we were down 49-14 at the time and I knew things had gone south fast. Reading the notes later in the evening did not particularly make me feel any better about the blowout loss -- 74 yards passing was staggeringly bad.
The next 2 weekends we play home games, both of them winnable games, but neither of them pushovers, particularly Tarleton who always plays above their head against us. There is still a chance to finish above .500 for the season and in a relatively good position in the UAC. I hope that my preseason prediction of 6-5 for the season record does not end up being incredibly generous.
As far as Coach Patterson, my personal interactions with KP have been very positive. He appears to me to be a good fit for ACU. Two years is a very short time to turn things around, particularly as the final year of the previous regime was very bleak. Having a good first season in 2022 might have raised expectations too much for this year, but the opportunity is still there to finish with a decent record.
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Post by jCat on Oct 30, 2023 10:38:09 GMT -6
Checking back in and we are down even more... reminds me of Angelo State a while back. SUU was a 2-5 team. Astonishing we are worse than they are. Had a relative that was on the faculty there and..., well, we will leave it at this point. Though SUU was 2-5, it worth a closer look: L, 21-24 to Arizona State -- in wild weather conditions, they had the ball with a chance to win. L, 16-41 to BYU in Provo L, 21-23 to #16 UC Davis on the road -- comeback falls short W, 37-17 over Western Illinois L, 27-29 to UCA -- and that's a game they should have won, comeback falls short W, 27-26 over a good Tarleton team They could have had a much better record, but how many of these games does ACU win? 1? or 2? I don't what we could have been expecting, but we weren't the favorite. The Thunderbirds played competitively against a UCA team that dominated us. Sadly that what the numbers were pointing towards. Our passing game has flatlined as no one has emerged to be a legitimate #1 receiver. We have a number of players with all the measureables, but they seem lack that spark to finish plays (securing the catch, etc.). At least that seems to be the easiest problem to identify on that side of the ball. Defensively, I have no idea what needs to happen. We have some athletes but they all seem to react a step slow. While I had hopes that a scheme change could create some indecision for offenses that we play, they have no problems with what we're doing. On the flip side, we see teams blitz, cover, and confuse our players regularly.
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Post by rc on Oct 30, 2023 12:06:47 GMT -6
Very accurate analysis of the situation. We have athletes but something is missing. I have no idea what it is. Watching makes it seem like we have players going to locations like robots and not in response to changing movement of our opponents. I watch KC play with Mahomes. They don't seem to be robotic at all. Great plays often seem like major deviations from the static positioning practiced during the week leading up to the game. Innovation and the element of surprise can lead to great plays. We need some of that creativity.
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Post by dallasalum on Oct 30, 2023 12:40:59 GMT -6
I watched the game on ESPN+. It was terrible. If it weren't us, I would have turned it off. The picture just kept jumping every few seconds, both on and between the plays and during the replays. Never experienced that before. Did anyone else have the same experience? Being totally technically ignorant I don't know what would cause that. Would love to hear how others experienced it.
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Post by oldtimecat on Oct 30, 2023 13:23:25 GMT -6
How about evaluating him? Talk to people in the program about KP. I’ll leave it at that. Who do you mean by: "people in the program"? Am really curious to know. Talk to some players and get their honest assessment of KP.
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Post by acumedic on Oct 30, 2023 14:44:39 GMT -6
I watched the game on ESPN+. It was terrible. If it weren't us, I would have turned it off. The picture just kept jumping every few seconds, both on and between the plays and during the replays. Never experienced that before. Did anyone else have the same experience? Being totally technically ignorant I don't know what would cause that. Would love to hear how others experienced it. Watched it on ESPN+ also. Did not experience any other use problems. I wanted to turn it for other obvious reasons…
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Post by bucfan on Oct 30, 2023 15:01:41 GMT -6
I didn't have any video problems watching it. The background wind noise was annoying but sounded about like a game in Abilene. I thought the announcers were very good.
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Post by bucfan on Oct 30, 2023 15:04:28 GMT -6
Who do you mean by: "people in the program"? Am really curious to know. Talk to some players and get their honest assessment of KP. Since the majority of us will never have a chance to talk to any of the players, what are you implying they would say? I'm assuming you think they would be negative comments.
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Post by rc on Oct 30, 2023 15:57:40 GMT -6
I would rather all of us here drop the idea of "talking to the players," about issues, etc. We had a bad down game, the second this year. But KP seems a fine and somewhat lucky for us to have coach. I am very much in favor of giving the head coach time to come up with his own analysis of what we need to do to improve. He knows our team's strengths and weaknesses and can make any adjustments he thinks necessary. Not quite two years in is not enough time to justify being as disappointed as some of us are -- guilty as charged. We are going to improve I believe, so let's give it time. I can imagine the coach being more demanding of his assistants but what do I or anyone else know about what can lie ahead. We are getting some good players I think. I would just like to see some deception and enthusiasm. But if we decide to try the over-power game then that might work as well. Whatever systems are used, we are just not there yet, but let's give it time. I am solidly behind coach Patterson and think he can make the necessary moves.
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