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Post by EastTexasWildcat on Oct 3, 2021 16:46:26 GMT -6
Just one last thought. I don’t think our guys gave up. The bears ran 41 plays in the second half compared to our 26. They just ran out of gas. In a typical game the defense might be on the field for 30 ish plays. No doubt about it IMO. It would have taken something special for our defense to overcome that. Very little time to recover on the bench. I will say, for the first time in a long time, that I believe we won special teams. I thought the kickoff placement and strategy was great…short and long, and most importantly, none out of bounds. Punts got us out of trouble a few times with a 44 yd avg with one return. For what it’s worth.
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Post by bucfan on Oct 3, 2021 17:24:36 GMT -6
I’m okay with the board expressing frustration after a loss that should have much closer and given the Cats a chance to win. And I don’t think we should give the coaches a pass. But Oscar and I never wanted Cat Chat to turn into a forum for calling for coaches to be replaced. Coaches are people too and what we say here does get back to them. So before you post negative stuff about coaches, take a deep breath and review your post and ask yourselves if there is a better way to frame your thoughts. Thanks for making Cat Chat the most civil and thoughtful forum in the country. I honestly still want Dorrel to be successful. We are going to have to pull off some upsets the rest of the way for that to happen.
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Post by PurpleHaze on Oct 3, 2021 17:25:46 GMT -6
I’m okay with the board expressing frustration after a loss that should have much closer and given the Cats a chance to win. And I don’t think we should give the coaches a pass. But Oscar and I never wanted Cat Chat to turn into a forum for calling for coaches to be replaced. Coaches are people too and what we say here does get back to them. So before you post negative stuff about coaches, take a deep breath and review your post and ask yourselves if there is a better way to frame your thoughts. Thanks for making Cat Chat the most civil and thoughtful forum in the country. Agreed. What made last night so tough is it appeared we were continuing our trend of playing good football and, I'll admit, I briefly entertained thoughts of 4-1 and making noise in the WAC. I think we all want success for AD, his staff and the entire program and I'll continue to support them as long as they're donning the purple and white. Speaking of purple and white, check out TCU's fan forum after their last two losses.
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Post by Outsider on Oct 3, 2021 18:25:28 GMT -6
I want success for Dorrel but watching him week in and week out, as well as what he does and doesn't take credit for in his interviews, causes my comment on being done and inept. I am not starting a petition for him being replaced. I have tried to give him the benefit of the doubt over the last few years. Like in most everything else though, that runs out eventually. People may not like my observation, but it is what it is based on several years, last night was just one more nail. If he begins to do things differently and the outcomes improve, then that would be good for him, the team and us fans. Last night, both the players and the coaches got beat, Dorrel didn't take any responsibility for that after the game. Again, he spends his time on the sideline with his head in that big 'ol play board way too much. It's become a crutch. Over-all, this board is way more forgiving on coaches than many others, but conversations will eventually go where they go for given reasons. Again, the loss last night wasn't the problem. A win would have been really nice, but we needed to see continued progression and continued clean play; neither of which happened and it isn't all on the players. Let's see what happens next week...
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Post by kjmike1956 on Oct 3, 2021 18:51:55 GMT -6
I still want to give Coach Dorrel the benefit of the doubt. Give me a winning season and I want him back for next season. Afterall, six weeks ago I would have been happy with five wins and expected probably only four.
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Post by bucfan on Oct 3, 2021 18:55:48 GMT -6
It could be worse. We could be Aggie football fans paying our coach 75 million and dreaming of a national championship at the start of the year. They'll most likely be 3-3 after next week.
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Post by rc on Oct 3, 2021 19:22:01 GMT -6
For the first quarter and 10 minutes or so of the game, I was impressed with our improvement and intensity. I believe the coaches made some real progress with the team. They can play a good team well. It was the weirdest of feelings when that throw back screen imploded for a six yard loss. I was watching the UCA bench all night, and they seems worried to me as we racked up 21 points and were moving the ball so well on them. That play was a celebration for them, an event that seemed to signal to them that things were going to turn around in their favor. Their few fans in the north east seats (a handful at most) suddenly cheered up. It was bluntly obvious that play changed their mindset. Their players seemed relieved and energized. They had imploded those sneaky fast and shifty Wildcats that had been getting by them all night.
I truly want our coaches to be successful and for our players to gain the thrill of winning challenging games. The thrill is memorable and we all know the agony. But just like some other cases where we have tried to snow plow run on short yardage into much bigger but less mobile linemen, I don't understand going against the odds and we do seem to do that a lot. We had the game going our way and I was very happy for the coaches and players. Now it is time to get back up and move forward having learned something. Let's give our very skilled team our support and hope for success ahead. We need a couple of victories as underdogs. At year end, we should know a lot more about things than now.
BTW, not sure our defense being worn out was the big factor since their offense would be worn out as well. It was Moe Momentum changing sides of the field.
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Post by CrazyPurpleCat on Oct 3, 2021 20:38:50 GMT -6
I will say for myself (this is just my own observation/opinion so if there is opposition, I completely get it and that's cool), but we want to be not just a successful academic institution, but we all talk about how much we want to see a successful athletics program, and that's not just football, but all sports. When I think of successful programs at any level, if there isn't high success or even true progress that can be seen week in and week out, there is a lot more vocal pressure towards the job, especially when you are in year 4. I personally feel like if the fanbase of any athletic program isn't vocal about their expectations of building successful programs, then they are bound to be stuck in a mediocre state.
I know I've seen posts from some that want us to be a football school. I personally feel like if we want to be a football school, then being very vocal about the disappointment in the overall lack of progress we've seen over the past 4 years should be pretty out there. Similar to others, I'm not actively going to go out and say that AD should be fired, but I will say that I think he is losing support from the ACU community and he should be very much on the hot seat, and it should be well aware that there is an expectation that change is happening either in gameplan or preparation to put ourselves in better positions week in and week out. If that can't happen, then it could very well be time to move on. I do 10000% want AD to be successful, because if he is successful, then our program is successful, and ultimately that is what everyone wants.
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Post by bucfan on Oct 4, 2021 7:30:56 GMT -6
After having a day to recover from the loss, I don't feel as bad about our team. UCA is good and they were not a game I was expecting to win at the start of the season. I think the early success against them raised our expectations and made the loss harder to accept. LC, UTPB, and Lamar we punched them in the mouth early and they folded. UCA we punched them early and they regrouped (with a little help from us) and showed why they have been successful for a number of years. We are still a fairly young team so the big question is how we will respond. No easy games in this WAC/ASUN season. Even Lamar will be much tougher the second time around.
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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on Oct 4, 2021 7:59:44 GMT -6
I still want to give Coach Dorrel the benefit of the doubt. Give me a winning season and I want him back for next season. Afterall, six weeks ago I would have been happy with five wins and expected probably only four. The Cats have won three and should be favored in two more games- Tarleton and Lamar, part 2. One upset in our remaining games and ACU has a winning season. A six win season probably won’t get him a contract extension but he may get to finish out his current contract and have a chance to show continued improvement.
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Post by kjmike1956 on Oct 4, 2021 8:12:33 GMT -6
I still want to give Coach Dorrel the benefit of the doubt. Give me a winning season and I want him back for next season. Afterall, six weeks ago I would have been happy with five wins and expected probably only four. The Cats have won three and should be favored in two more games- Tarleton and Lamar, part 2. One upset in our remaining games and ACU has a winning season. A six win season probably won’t get him a contract extension but he may get to finish out his current contract and have a chance to show continued improvement. I am in total agreement with you Oscar.
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Post by bogeyman on Oct 4, 2021 9:29:02 GMT -6
A roster question: Is it possible that Jamal Marshall got a number last week and played vs. UCA? I'm still trying to identify #25 who came in and played in the 4th quarter at DB.
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Post by tigercat on Oct 4, 2021 10:24:10 GMT -6
I’m okay with the board expressing frustration after a loss that should have much closer and given the Cats a chance to win. And I don’t think we should give the coaches a pass. But Oscar and I never wanted Cat Chat to turn into a forum for calling for coaches to be replaced. Coaches are people too and what we say here does get back to them. So before you post negative stuff about coaches, take a deep breath and review your post and ask yourselves if there is a better way to frame your thoughts. Thanks for making Cat Chat the most civil and thoughtful forum in the country. Agreed. I hope none of the players read these posts and puts any relevance to some of the negative comments. I do look forward to each of the "know-it-alls" on here putting in their resume when the job is open next. Easy to sit on your couch and criticize. Be better than that and support the program and quit being front runners
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Post by texas48 on Oct 4, 2021 11:47:55 GMT -6
A roster question: Is it possible that Jamal Marshall got a number last week and played vs. UCA? I'm still trying to identify #25 who came in and played in the 4th quarter at DB.
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Post by texas48 on Oct 4, 2021 11:48:33 GMT -6
A roster question: Is it possible that Jamal Marshall got a number last week and played vs. UCA? I'm still trying to identify #25 who came in and played in the 4th quarter at DB. I heard someone say Satterfield was wearing 25 Saturday (had to change number for some reason).
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