I just wanted to check in and say I'm extremely disappointed with Cameron Collins, Anthony Watkins, and Lance Mitchell. These guys have not stepped up at all this season. Collins looked to have NFL potential at one point. For his sake I wish he accepted Stanford's scholarship offer.
When I predicted a 7-5 season, much if it was based on these three upperclassmen having big seasons.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be doing a Q&A with GoMightyCards, just like we did last year. At some point I'd like to discuss the upcoming basketball season, too. It just hit me today how bad the three aforementioned players have been, and I had to let it out.
Mitchell has made some big plays (he was pretty good the week that he earned defensive PoG), but I think the big thing is his health issues. It definitely slows him down, and he’s not on the field a whole lot either. I won’t throw him under the bus cause I get the feeling he’s doing all he can given the circumstances.
Collins has been very underwhelming and mediocre (injury probably doesn’t help here but Mitchell’s condition is a lot more severe). Watkins has been just plain awful.
Agreed. Especially Cam Collins and Lance Mitchell. But probably neither one of these guys is healthy, and that may explain why they have underperformed….
There performance has been a surprising let down, although I think I predicted early that Collins’ abdominal issues were going to affect his ability to get on the field consistently. That however, does not explain what appears to be a lack of awareness of assignments, a lack of experience really, of these three individuals. They just don’t look like upperclassmen. Experience should mitigate injury issues to some degree – diagnosing and recognizing plays, being in the right place/right time, etc.
In off-season camps, beat writers were talking about Collins being a “monster” this season, and his big-hit ability. Buker reported this secondary was going to pick a lot of passes this year….turns our they were only outperforming a poor Beaver offense.
A major let down for sure. I still think they have Sunday ability, so it may be the injuries. What are the specifics of their injuries? Vague abdominal could be many things.
I think it’s something like this. I’ve heard many times that they both have abdominal and groin pain.
http://www.prolonews.com/sports_hernia_abdominal_muscle_pain.htm
That’s just a guess, of course.
did you mean to say that you predicted mitchell’s abdominal issues would affect his play? or does collins have ab issues as well?
It sounded like both had the same issue, but Collins had surgery in the summer and Mitchell elected to let it heal on its own, which it didn’t do. Now Mitchell will have surgery once the season is over.
there wasn’t a huge group of guys going into the year that i wouldve called good, if not quite elite, bcs conference players on the team. watkins, mitchell and collins were in that group. not only have they been much worse than advertised (god dammit buker) theyve been flat out bad. there have been plays this year for each of them where a player of the same position from a shitty WAC school couldve been put in the same spot and they wouldve faired the same if not better. for mitchell ive gotta think hes playing hurt, isn’t it true that he doesen’t even practice full time? it definitly shows if it is. probably the same for collins too. hes a third year starter whos gone from a safety who made a ton of tackles (for a pretty good team no less) to a clunky, slow linebacker who isn’t particularly good at any one aspect of the postion. has he made one tackle for loss this season? or successfully covered anybody? watkins cant use that excuse though to my knowledge. i think hes more just a case of expanded playing time exposing flaws. he hits hard and seems to respond well to contact, but god damn does he have a bad habit of letting receivers get behind him. id add reynolds to the group of guys im most disapointed in as well, not because i had high expectations, but because hes been that fucking terrible. incedently, im becoming a bigger ryan murphy fan each week, and truly believe sean martin wouldve taken reynolds’ job by now.
*had martin not gotten hurt.
Again it comes back to recruiting. We didn’t have anybody to play outside linebacker, so they moved Collins (also do to the fact that his injury was getting worse while playing that position that was demanding to much) to outside backer to help with the play there. So he has had to try to learn a whole new position instead of thriving in the one position he knows the best. It was thought that we were deep enough at Safety to let him switch. The linebackers have been a major letdown. They have not recruited the necessary talent to establish any depth or to get the necessary qualtiy of play that position demands in Bankers scheme. So often the LB’s have looked out of position when filling the whole, or have not been able to fight off the blocks, have not been able to tackle well in space as they show the speed to stretch the field but often overrunning the play and taking themselves out of the play, or failed to keep up with speedy quicker receivers running across the middle. The mistakes have been there the talent level has not been up to par, and looking at this years LB’s recruits I see more of the same for next year.
Sure wish we had Trent Bray or Keaton Kristick back. Both had limitations but they tackled really well.
Safety has been a problem for years, it had looked like Collins and Mitchell would solidify that position for four years, but that hasn’t happened because of their injuries which sounds like a direct correlation of playing the position. Watkins gave the coaching staff enough confidence to move Collins to Linebacker, but now he has been so bad that they are looking at Zimmerman as being the future at that position? Again, the coaching staff has done little to recruit depth at this position. Watkins has had good moments, but often times he gets beat on long pass plays and misses assignments when coming up on the run primarily not keeping the runner inside the tackles. Some of his mistakes early on I think could be linked to poor DB play, but now I am thinking his reactions are the problem.
Interesting point Angry. I agree with the consensus opinion posted thus far – that mitchell and collins are both “held back” by “nagging injuries.”
We should expand the analysis to all returning starters/contributors from last year. Have any of the players in this category “stepped up” in 2011? I went through the list of returning players from 2010 and in my opinion there are only three “significant contributors” last year that have shown improvement in 2011.
Jordan Poyer – This is the “no-brainer” of the three. He was a return threat last year. This year he is that and more – dangerous cover man and skilled returner.
Kevin Frahm – Some may argue here, but he was mediocre to bad for much 2010 (after being hyped by the beat writers). This year he has been consistent and at times played fairly well.
Marcus Wheaton – I can go either way on him. He’s put up great stats this year but only has one touchdown. And versus WSU and Utah he has had some terrible drops. Mannion’s interception at WSU was on Wheaton – terrible effort on that pass. And given that Wheaton played well last year too, you have to ignore a lot of negative facts to conclude he stepped up in 2011.
Pretty shocking results after I looked at our returners closely. Then again maybe not that shocking.
Thoughts?
Kevin Frahm is in no way a pac 12 player. I have always hated how the media has hyped this guy. He realistically has the talent to play at a D 1AA type school at best.
yeah last year he managed to be okay playing next to an automatic double team in Paea. He might be decent playing alongside a monster hoss be OSU does not have a monster hoss this year.
I agree the seniors have been underwhelming. Even James (can’t really blame him) has looked a step slow and hesitant to initiate contact. It gives you hope though with so many young guys needing to step up that they will eventually be ready to lead. We aren’t really losing a ton next year.
I don’t think James has looked slow or scared. He’s playing a different spot in the offense, and Mannion throws to Wheaton far more than James, so that limits your perception of his effectiveness.
Really, anyone not named Mike Hass will play a bit more cautiously when continually asked to run routes over the middle, so they don’t get decapitated. That is where he is lined up more now.
Finally, he doesn’t run the fly sweep anymore(he ran it once last game I believe, and that was the first I’ve seen) which also limits his impact. So really, the coaching staff has limited James and attempted to force Wheaton.
Plus James gets pulled after every play he completes, so his time on the field is limited. Don’t really understand the substitution pattern they’re using with him. I get it if they’re worried he’ll get injured by playing too many reps, but it’s not like rotating him in and out every other play is helping him any more than playing him for 2 quarters continuously.
I think James pulls himself. I noticed at Utah he was raising his hand after every catch.
I guess we disagree… he still has elite speed no doubt but it is not quite were it was. Also I don’t know that he is scared but he is not fighting for extra yards quite as much as he used to. He is still our best receiver though. A lot of the reason Wheaton gets targeted more than James in the short yardage YAC situations is that if you throw to Wheaton you have James blocking for him and if you throw to James you have Wheaton blocking and he is a below average blocker. Anyway James is on his way back but I don’t feel like he is there and I don’t know if I would call him scared but he is not the borderline reckless player he once was.
I don’t think James has run a flat out fly pattern has he? He looks a little off to me.
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2011/11/canzano_mike_riley_needs_to_co.html
A decent article by Canzano
Glad to see Canzano finally writing that change is needed in the OSU football program. A lot of people seem to pay attention to Canzano (for better or for worse). This should help to ratchet up the pressure, at least a little.
Canzano seems to think that the top priority is to change OSU’s offensive schemes. Reasonable people can and will disagree about that. Personally, I think OSU has other much more urgent problems (e.g., Banker’s ineffective defensive strategies; OSU’s recent failures to recruit top talent, especially on the O-line and D-line; Langsdorf’s predictable and unimaginative play-calling).
But it’s a positive development that Canzano is at least now pushing BDC and Riley, in public, to make changes. Wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of the OSU beat writers follow Canzano and jump on this bandwagon, too. The drumbeat of change appears to be getting a bit louder. About time…..
I’d much rather have James blocking for me, because he’s a fiery fighter. Wheaton handed a TD to the defense last game because he didn’t fight for the ball.
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2011/11/canzano_mike_riley_needs_to_co.html
Excellent article. I understand wanting to run a Pro Style offense, because it’s good for recruiting to tell kids, “You’ll be prepared for the NFL.” But you can still innovate(like the Fly Sweep) and maintain the basics.
While I don’t agree that we need a complete offensive overhaul(and I would hate to see us run a gimmick offense like UO’s) we do need more than a new wrinkle. Somewhere between a new wrinkle and a new system, I think, is ideal.
But this also lets the defense off the hook. And while they have been put in really bad situations by the kickers(shanked punts, out of bounds kicks) and the offense not moving the ball(allows opposing offense to start too close to the endzone) they STILL run a base 4-3 in almost every situation. It is entirely too predictable, and is thus continually defeated, despite awesome individual performances by Poyer, Crichton, and Wynn. The defense needs some innovation as well.
I’m going to spend the night researching the most interesting high school and college offensive and defensive systems, and will post my results here.
“He runs a conservative, pro-style offense. The only thing resembling innovation in recent years has been creative use of the fly sweep. You can win that way if you’re Alabama or LSU, with stifling defenses and NFL talent all over the field. But Oregon State has to win by outsmarting its opponents, not by overpowering them.
Riley seems reluctant to admit that.”
Perfectly said. I think this goes back to what we are constantly talking about with Riley and his coaches not making game plans that minimize their players’ weaknesses. Hopefully we continue to see articles like this in the Oregonian that put pressure on Riley.
I think the playcalling inside the scheme is what needs to change. You don’t have to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Three offenses so far have stood out to me:
First, I’v always admired the early 2000s “Greatest Show on Turf.” In particular, the crazy formation-shifting that the Rams did; they would bring their RB out of the backfield, or bring another player into the backfield, or completely rearrange their receivers. It created a measure of deception and, more importantly, mismatches, that a base Pro Style offense can’t. The threat of both the Fly Sweep and emptying the backfield could create a lot of mismatches.
Second, the “Emory and Henry” formation. It’s used mostly as a trick formation, but why couldn’t it be used 5-8 times a game like the Wildcat or Fly Sweep? Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqFuXEbWOcI
Basically, 3 down linemen, and 3 “Receivers” on each side of the formation(although you can only have 5 receivers eligible to catch a pass, so 1 on each side is really just a blocker). It looks similar to the infamous “A-11” high school offense, except the QB is not required to be in the punter’s position, they can be under center. It allows for both great WR screen passes(an extra blocker on each side) as well as runs up the middle(so many players outside that gaps are easier to see and hit).
Finally, the Wing-T has seen some success in high school. It is a 2-back system that relies on deception by generally faking a handoff on every play. Here’s a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rocom5BGatA
The reason I like this offense so much is that it gives the team the chance to trick the opponent(like UO’s spread option) without being reliant on the QB’s speed or ability to read the defense and make a good decision. The play is pre-determined, like normal running plays, but is difficult to read due to the fakes and motion. This would give OSU some excitement and tricks that we haven’t had since we brought in the Fly Sweep, and could be utilized with it pretty easily.
Defensively, there are both far less restrictions, and less real options. My biggest question is this: if our safeties are so bad, and our rush defense is porous, why not run one safety and employ something like a 4-4? We both remove one of our weakest players(a safety) and help against the run. Again, high schools employ one-safety defenses very often, because high school passing is generally very bad. While college is a step up in passing, many teams still do not have a legitimate passer(Utah, UO).
Regarding the 4-4, you say we remove a weak safety, which I agree with, but who replaces him? Do we have 4 starting LBs? I suppose I’d rather have Welch than Watkins. Welch, Doctor, Unga, Collins…yeah, that is not bad.
Banker is a dinosaur. He won’t do it. The biggest adjustment he ever made was employing the Wide-9 versus the Ducks. It actually worked okay at times since they like the edge. I mean, at least he was thinking rather than doing his best Jack Nicholson ala the end of Cuckoo’s Nest…
Agreed.
And what the hell happened to Akuna? He was our biggest recruit a year or two back. I think I remember reading that he was hurt, and dealing with it poorly, but he should be a beast. If he isn’t hurt, we could at least take a risk with him, rather than knowingly playing a bad player(not naming any names).
Also, instead of starting another LB, we could move Wynn or Fernando back to a linebacker position, similar to the talk of them playing OLB in a 3-4. that way we have our best players on the field at all times. And Wynn would have even more options for wrecking on the blitz.
Most importantly these offenses need to have solid offensive lines, often time this year we have been forced to go with TE sets to help against the pass rush. Riley’s offense would be far more dynamic when they play well. Just look at WSU game, ran for 100 + and Mannion threw to 11 different receivers, and he never got sacked. Utah he got sacked 6 times, threw 3 picks, and rushed for less than 100. We could get an offense that hides our defecancies on the offensive line and go for the quick throws, but that will only really work against average teams, and you won’t be able to beat the top teams consistently.
I am not so much concerned with changing the offensive scheme as much as we need to overhaul the OL, and start running the ball successfully. If that means Coach Cav needs to go then he needs to go. I hear how great he is but I don’t see it on the field and I don’t see it in the recruiting. He had some good lines with guys that he didn’t recruit. He screams alot and keeps asking week after week for meaness that never seems to develop.
Having said that, I think the first thing I would want to change is the Defense. I am not sold on the 4-3, especailly sense we can’t seem to recruit enough DL as is for it? The LB’s talent has gone down hill, and so has the DB’s. Although the corners have improved over the year. But we need that shut down corner for this defense to really thrive, and they have not recruited those athletes. I would much rather see us overhaul the defense first. Get a good defense and they will at least keep you in the game longer and give you a shot at winning in the end.
Agreed. Improving OSU’s defense should be the top priority. Banker can’t or won’t make the necessary changes. Fire Banker and hire a new defensive coordinator after this season. With the PAC-12 TV money, we can afford to get a hotshot DC, and that’s what BDC and MR need to do.
What I liked about the “greatest show on turf” was also that receivers seemed to frequently come BACK towards the line of scrimmage to get separation, and they had the moves and speed to then turn the catch into a bigger gain. I think OSU has the receivers to do that more often, but what it lacks is the disciplined urgency to play quickly as a team, that includes an offensive line that doesn’t get false starts and set you back after progress.
I like the 4-4 idea. Getting Welch out there instead of Watkins, particularly against the upcoming slate of opponents. This season is over anyway. That’s not to say “give up,” but rather get some development time for these fast young linebackers and experiment with some scheme in order to prep for the next couple of seasons, when OSU will have lot of fast young linebackers.
I’d like to see if Welch, Akuna, or Doctor can become a Doggett-like player, particularly against the Ducks. Doggett was one of my favorite defenders, fast, two CW TD’s if I recall correctly, and energetic without being a stupid hothead.
When you’ve been a successful coach for 30+ years it would seem that you would have the knowledge and insight to keep your team playing at its maximum potential consistently. The difference in performance between AZ and WSU and BYU and Utah indicate that the leadership is out of sync with reality. Is Coach Riley burned-out and depressed and is this affecting his ability to lead? He may well need to take himself out of the game.
He should at least take a temporary leave of absence. The 2009 Civil War was his peak (and by definition, subsequent decline).
I found it interesting that Canzano only went back 13 games to illustrate the decline. I believe the 22 game record is 7-15 which amounts to the equivalent of two full seasons with a whopping three and a half wins. As usual the Oregon media is late to the party.
I don’t know that we need to completely ditch the pro style offense. What we need to do is find ways to be creative with it and adapt the schemes to match the strengths of our personnel. I also I agree if anything the D needs just as much if not more work.
Or just a new offensive playcaller. The thing about being “Predictable” is that the situation that a play or type of play is being called is predictable, not the offensive system itself. A different playcaller, a younger, hungrier caller, would reduce that predictability.
On defense, you can blame a lack-of-talent, but it’s still a bland, predictable defense. That gets shredded by every mobile QB or decent RB. That’s scheme, not players.
I think you have to consider that the program has been getting stale for awhile, but having an offense that did not turn the ball over before this season masked a lot of stench. How many coaches can count on damn near ZERO fumbles (I think McCants fumbled a time or two before becoming friends with the bench) from the running back position for three years?
And I think you can look at it two ways, there may have been more losses with a mere mortal at RB or the teams could have been really special if Banker’s defenses had improved and adapted, not regressed. I look at it as a very unique time period that should have delivered more, but was pissed away by bland coaching. Now with that same unimaginative coaching and a boatload of turnovers you get yourself a 2 win season.
Four of the best defensive players for the Beavers are defensive ends. And the depth behind them is pretty good too. But under the curent thinking, only two and sometimes three can play at once. Why is that? We are told that on offense you can’t play two tight ends at once. Why not? Why can’t you play with three tight ends on the field or no tight ends since the Beavers have little depth at te? One of the tight ends with an 80’s number is really the Beavers best left tackle candidate this year. But he can’t be used to stop the opponents speed rusher on pass plays because he wears a jersey that starts with 8, and is taken out in pass situations so the pass catching te can get his one play per series. Play them both at the same time. The existing left tackle is too slow to pick up the speed rusher. That is partially why he is penalized for false starts and holding so much.
Although Robinson still needs to produce on the court, there are things he says that Riley could learn from; about setting goals, about not excepting a losing mentality, about recognizing assistants who are successful in recruiting, and adjusting your scheme based on the players you have:
http://angrybeavs.com/football/7419#comment-30728
You make a good point, Robinson has said good things, but I hope he understands that it is time for the talk to transalate into more wins than losses.
You write as if Robinson has been saying these good things over the whole of his stay in Corvallis. Last year, he was the lone voice on the team who dampened the players’ statements about wanting to go to the Tourney. And he didn’t do it in a demeaning way. He simply said that he didn’t know about their ability to where they really wanted to go… that they needed to prove it on the court by winning the games they should win first.
This is the first year he is really talking up his team beyond the “We have good players, let’s see how they mesh” platitudes. So I’m a little confused when people say he “finally” has to back up what he says. He’s been proven correct in just about everything up to now.
I have to laugh at some of the blogs and mainstream articles that pass as analysis of the Beavs. Some base it all on last year’s stats plus pay site recruiting class rankings. Well, the pay sites do nothing (and I really mean nothing) for ratings. The AAU machine is so established that those yahoos need only talk to two or three 10 year-olds who have seen the summer circuit, and they know instantly who their “Top” whatever are. But it looks like some of these people don’t know hoops from jai alai.
One of the things nobody wants to admit is that a team game like hoops, in a small playing area and with only five pieces moving at any one time, is most successful when the players know each other. Unless a school gets every blue chip player (Paytucky), that school can’t expect to win with new blood every year. The established powers add one or two to established cores, and they know how to play. Watching Harrison Barnes last year, everyone was disappointed with his play in the first half of the year. But he was still meshing with the system and the team. Once he “got it” he was off to the races.
We know Coach Rob can coach. He has done it here. He came into a situation where the players had been playing with each other, but they were playing a crap system. He made them play within a system that works, and a bunch of D2 talent surprised some people.
Nikegon was the same last year. Altman had only to take players who had a rapport with each other and make them play within a system. But the talent there last year was better than what the previous ass-hole coach left Coach Rob. And now he has to get half his roster to mesh with another half of newcomers. Listen to what Altman says compared to what the “analysts” are saying. He says there’s a lot of work to do to get this team playing like a team. He’s not saying what the media or fans are saying, that Nikegon will be a bubble team.
Hell, Sean Miller emphatically stated that his Zonies were not a top three team in the Pac 12 “right now” during media day. The media laughed it off because they lost their exhibition opener to Seattle Pacific, and they thought that was an anomaly. It likely was, but Miller knows it means the players have to work a little harder than they think they do to be winners. They can’t just be highly rated recruits. They have to be team players.
This is the first year Coach Rob has had a solid core of players who have played with one another for a full year previously. None of the incoming frosh are needed, let alone expected to contribute in order for the team to be competitive. If one or both do contribute, that’s just gravy. I don’t expect this team to win the league, but I expect them to be in the conversation at the turning point. And I expect them to get better after that… just not good enough to take the league.
If you are addressing me, I am just talking about this season. My head explodes when I try to make sense of the decisions he made concerning old vs. new players last year. You have always been bullish on Robinson,which is fine. I’m more of a bear. It will be fun watching what transpires.
I’m not addressing you specifically. I’m addressing the sentiment that he is required to win immediately based on having moderate success his first year with players who were established with each other. I’ve not been so bullish on Robinson as much as I’ve been bullish on the talent he’s brought in. Last year was a disappointment for me not because we lost the season, but because we lost it by sticking with less talented, more experienced players who were never going to get us over the hump. The previous year should have been a wake-up to that fact, but coach Rob thought he could help those slow, ineffective seniors become something they weren’t. That’s on him for trying. But I at least give him credit for trying. And I give him more credit for abandoning that project before the season ended. I quietly wonder if he needed a tangible reason to move in that direction, because I still hear (within the analyses I read this preseason) that losing those seniors will be a big hit. And I heard all last year from Beavs fans how they were the best players we had, or how Beavs fans hoped they could become some imaginary stars they were supposedly destined to be. There was a lot of infighting in the program and within the fan base because of these sentiments. And i just have to wonder how much the strange personnel moves were due to the pressure put on the coach to stick with a plan not his own. Marginalizing those players would have created an unnecessary shit storm worse than losing. It seems in hindsight that it was a “lesser of two evils” situation that was turned on its ear once one of the evils outdid itself.
I’ve not attacked Coach Rob out of a sense of history and tradition. Instead of berating him based on unreasonable expectations (which I did have have last year), I consider it more a chance to just give him more rope. If he hangs himself, so be it. But if he succeeds, then history will have been proven right once again.
Our best coaches began their careers at OSU in the same manner, not breaking into elite status as a team until their fifth year. By today’s standards, the fourth year should be the benchmark year. So this Beavs team needs to make some noise. But I can even make a case for a fifth year benchmark if the fourth shows improvement based on the true youth of the team. I wouldn’t like it, but I can make that case.
The thing I dislike is not the general grumbling toward the program and the coach himself. That happens. And when it’s reasonable, it’s warranted. What I dislike is the out of hand dismissal of the coach as some spectacular “name” hire and the venom attached to that… or the unwarranted, over the top criticism based on imagined failure beyond the actual performance and expected future performance of the program. Many people have found a reason during Coach Rob’s tenure to exile themselves from Beavs fandom. And a lot of them have done so loudly and irrationally.
Well those people can kiss my ass. And if Coach Rob succeeds, I have to wonder if he’ll be as nice to those pricks as I am. I wouldn’t blame him if he wasn’t, but I don’t see that demeanor in him. If one chooses to alienate their own program at the outset of a new era, then one can stay in the shadows when that era is clicking on all cylinders.
Here’s a good read for anyone who wants to know why I think how I think.
http://www.lostlettermen.com/feature-now-coaching-royalty-coach-k-was-once-public-enemy-no-1-in-durham/
Now, I’m not saying Coach Rob will be the next Coach K. NOBODY knows how Coach Rob will turn out as a coach, at OSU or in this modern era. But there are so many parallels within the story itself that we can at least learn from history. I remember the irrational venom spewed at Coach K from his own fans. You couldn’t get through a hoops conversation without hearing some dirty Polish jokes (UNC fans didn’t help). My innocent teen ears heard a lot about Coach K that was just not nice in those days. But I don’t remember those same dick-heads being around in the 1985-86 season. Fair disclosure: I was rooting for Louisville in that championship game because I loved Never Nervous Pervis, and they were the underdogs.
Since we’re relating this to the current feelings in the football program, I think we can take something else from that article.
“No. Here’s to never forgetting tonight.”
When I hear some pollyanna try to remind of of 28 consecutive losing seasons, I don’t want it to be remembered as an “it could be worse” reminder. NO SHIT SHERLOCK! It can always be worse. How do you think I made it through those years and remained a Beavs fan?
Those 28 years should be looked upon as the disease we never want to catch again. You don’t tell someone whose cancer has returned, “Well, it could be worse. It isn’t as bad as the first time you had it.”
Yeah… thanks loser.
I agree with these statements… not sure who gave you the thumbs down. To say Robinson finally needs to back up his talk is dumb because this is the first year he has really talked much. Although I do think the NIT is a minimum goal.
I think the puzzling non-conference losses need to stop this season (that’s the bellweather) and to me that is on the coaches. You get those wins, it makes the post-season so much easier.
no doubt.
I just had to post this – so funny:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7922855/oregon-car-flags
This article about Alabama’s ‘mental conditioning’ consultant seems to be exactly what’s been discussed/recommended on these boards for some time now:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/11/03/alabama-mental-conditioning-coach/
Will our staff/administration see the light? Nope.