GP1

All I saw was a giant green light pole!

Louisville won by passing the ball. WVU couldn't stop the pass. With 5 db's stopping the pass, they should have had more success. The linebackers were getting destroyed covering the middle and deep middle. They would allow the catch and then attempt a tackle. WVU put a lot more pressure on the QB than we have been able to, but the play action froze the defense. The pound the ball claim didn't happen. Louisville had 127 yards on 29 attempts for a respectable 4.4 yards per attempt. I don't think Slaton hurt the team by not being in there. His inability to hold onto the ball cost his team two touchdowns and any momentum they may have had. That and the pass defense is what hurt the team. If he can't hold the ball, why would anyone want him to play? Both teams have good offenses but neither has any semblance of defense and they will be overmatched against the elite Big 10 competition. I think we agree. In fact, I think in your first paragraph you could substitute the word Akron for WVU and you described our season perfectly. They didn't have a huge night running, but they did run the ball effectively when they needed to do so.Where we disagree is Slaton. He is one of the top players in the country and should be out on the field late regardless of how he played early. With the season on the line, he has to perform.

I remembered reading your comment when I was watching the game last night.Did you notice how many WV players were on the line of scrimmage during predicted running plays? Yes I did. Did you also notice how throwing on first down across the middle 5-10 yards exposes all of the blitzing players? UL did everything to WVU that teams have been beating us with all season. Think of the Can't game and the Toledo game. Both did to us what UL did last night. The 3-3-5 relies on blitzing, which is basically guessing. Nobody really wants to blitz. In a battle of Reason vs. Guessing, Reason will win every time. It's too hard to guess right all the time.The halftime score was 16-14 in favor of Louisville. UL went on four scoring drives to WVU's two. If you and I know how to beat the 3-3-5, then everyone else in college football knows also. This defense is a gimmick that has run out of shelf life. There is no reason for a team to score as many points as WVU did and lose the game. turnovers also killed WVU.Another thing that was amazing to me last night that I have to get off of my chest is how Slaton let his team down with his little boo boo on his wrist. Rodriguez should have taken him aside and said, "Look, we are playing for the national championship here. Quit squeezing your stress ball and get your ass in the game." Jack Youngblood once played a playoff game with a broken leg. Chris Sims played a game with a ruptured spleen. I think Slaton could have carried the ball with his other hand in a game of that magnitude.Man, all of this typing has made me thirsty. I could sure use a Yuengling.

I wonder if 100 sacks gets you into the Hall of Fame similar to 3,000 hits in baseball.

Looks like Patty and Selma are still posting.

Very interesting! If we gave out awards for board members, DrZ would easily win the most underrated poster. Always good stuff. MSU would be making a big mistake though and not because the guy at UC is a bad coach. I think they have an even better candidate right up the Rt. 127 at Central Michigan. I haven't had the chance to look it up, but I believe CMU is in first place in the MAC West. If they win the MAC West and win the MACC and then win a bowl game, what else does the guy have to shoot for at CMU? He would have had a successful career at Grand Valley State outside of Grand Rapids and a successful short career at CMU. He should make a hard run at MSU.

Anyone have a clue? Johnson averaged 27.2 attempts per game in his run offense and Charlie averaged 29.0 in his first two years and 33.3 his last two. Those pesky facts always getting in the way.................................... You can use all the statistics you want, but I still think MJ was just as good as Frye and would have been just as successful if not more successful than Frye on Frye's teams. In defense of MJ, teams tend to throw the ball a lot in the fourth quarter when they are behind. MJ was always playing from behind and throwing late in the game to try to come from behind.Dancing around the calf is an internet term that I don't have time to explain right now. It's Biblical in nature.

I'll still take MJ.I'll give you the last word.

He did that already, leaving Pitt for Akron.Why do you see JD as such a quitter? What...three years into his rebuilding @ Akron...with a new stadium on the way...great facilities...two top recruiting classes...and he's off to be offensive coordinator at Colorado or Missuri? No chance.What makes him such a hot offensive coordinator commodity? His one bowl loss in a 7-6 season? The fact that his teams score in one or two quarters each game and disappear for the other two or three? Maybe it is his mastery of the red zone? Come on.He needs to prove himself at Akron and that will take a couple more years. .500 coaches at Akron who can't score points aren't on any "big time" school's hot list - be it a head coch position or as a coordinator. If Akron ultimately turns into a "coaches graveyard" for JD, he only has himself to blame. He'll have done no better than a Lee Owens, but with better facilities and recruiting tools. That's not so hot.I like JD. He's in year 3 of his program. The vast majority of the players he has recruited are Freshmen - either redshirt or 1st year. Thus he's still playing with a lot of the cards Lee Owens left him (And, Owens final few recruiting classes weren't all that stellar). Thus he should be judged accordingly. I want to, and likely will see what JD can do once the players are fully "his." I'm guessing Mack Rhodes does/will too. I don't see JD as a quitter. In fact, I think he is a real good coach. You must have been typing while I was typing my second post on this topic.Capt., you are an intelligent and logical man and you should not apply the two to college athletics. You'll drive yourself crazy doing so. Having a good enough name and reputation can get you a good job as an offensive coordinator regardless of the results. People can explain a lot in job interviews.The other thing is that these coaches have friends all over college football. There are only so many schools with so many coaches with so many coaching positions in college football. If the right coach fell in the right spot at the right time, JD could easily get another job as an offensive coordinator at the end of this year if he wanted to do so. A reputation at Akron has nothing to do with getting a job. My oldest brother coached at Maryland and he got the job because he knew someone on staff, not because of his coaching genius. All the coaches know the same things and it really is not what you know, but who you know. Really it is not different than any other job.I just tried to test myself in naming offensive coordinators around college football and I could only name two, Akron's and Buffalo's (coach Carr was the QB coach at Akron in the late 80s). The point is that nobody knows or really cares who these guys are or where they come from. I had been to several Pitt games the year before JD came to Akron and I had no idea who he was when they named him as coach. I just assumed Walt Harris called all the plays.

What exactly is your point? You're so results oriented. These are their respective stats at the qb position. Your statements are absurd. Mike was a good qb, Charlie has been our best qb to date by a country mile. Faust ran the ball continually as it was a different time in college football and he had a offense that was running back centered. Frye had QB centered offense, especially his junior year so he could more easily run up the statistics (with the exception of wins of course). Frye had way better players around him than Johnson did. In the end, neither won anything. I appreciate your statistics, but I'll stick with MJ as they don't tell the whole story.I just like to break up the party when everyone starts dancing arond the calf. Charlie is a starting QB in the NFL. Mike Johnson's skills never got him anywhere but the CFL and NFL Europe. 'nuff said. Cleveland is the only place in the NFL he could start.

I see your point. I should have been more clear.The gravitational pull of The Graveyard of Coaches is much greater than the gravitational pull of Cincinnati. The mass that creates the gravitational pull for Akron is lack of community support and alumni support. In fact, if the mass of our lack of community support and alumni support was actually real, a gram of it could create a black hole.If you look at the history of our coaches, the future was limited for them after Akron. For all the talk about Dennison being a great coach, he went nowhere after Akron, Faust....enough said, Owens.......Division II.I don't want to see JD leave, but I'm trying to put myself in his position. He is a young man with a young family he is responsible for supporting to the best of his ability. I don't know if I would be willing to take that risk.

What exactly is your point? You're so results oriented. These are their respective stats at the qb position. Your statements are absurd. Mike was a good qb, Charlie has been our best qb to date by a country mile. Faust ran the ball continually as it was a different time in college football and he had a offense that was running back centered. Frye had QB centered offense, especially his junior year so he could more easily run up the statistics (with the exception of wins of course). Frye had way better players around him than Johnson did. In the end, neither won anything. I appreciate your statistics, but I'll stick with MJ as they don't tell the whole story.I just like to break up the party when everyone starts dancing arond the calf.

That's right, he did it all himself. You are deluding yourself and I think it's really quite funny. How long did it take you to come up with the two girls crack? Truly one for the ages. Well done! Thank you! My pleasure.

I agree with a lot of your post, but if a coach doesn't have good players (talent), it doesn't matter how good they are.JD has an interesting choice to make in the next few months or 18 months. Does he stay at Akron and get sucked into The Graveyard of Coaches, or does he leave to be an assistant at a big time program? At this point, I don't see any reason for him to take the risk of staying. With little community and alumni financial support, he is going to be in a revolving door of replacing assistant after assistant. This is a very time consuming process. Mintier (sp?) had a similar problem at Cincinnati and it ended up hurting the entire program and getting him fired. He is doing a good job now at Norte Dame as defensive coordinator and if thing continue to go well for them he could get another chance at possibly a bigger school than Cincinnati.I think the smart move for JD at this point would be to cash in his chips and become a coordinator at a big time program or assistant in the NFL. Either way, there will be more money in it for him and probably more exposure.

How many other pearls of wisdom could we repost? You two girls can post whatever you want while taking breaks from your praying toward Cincinnati, but Luke is still the only QB in school history to win a championship. I'll take that any day. Results are the only things that matter.Mike Johnson played with absolute crap at Akron. He actually transfered from a JC that he went to after transfering from Arizona State after a family situation. The guy was a rock solid QB on a horrible team.Have a nice day girls.

Let's hope CJ has been working on that whole running thing since the last time we saw him.

Someone should come up with a ten excuses for Frye key to save people time typing. Each excuse could just have a number that people would place into their post when they feel the never ending desire to make an excuse for his lack of winning.Everyone remembers the passes people drop, but do they remember the fourth quarter interceptions in the end zone two weeks in a row, poorly thrown deep passes, taking too many sacks. I was at the game and the crowd groaned when the Browns ran on third and forever late in the fourth quarter. Romeo was not going to put the ball in Frye's hands late. Charlie is a big boy now and needs to be held accountable for the mistakes he makes. There is plenty of blame to go around for the Browns season so far and Frye needs to take some of the blame also.

Good post CK.These two points go hand in hand. Stay tuned for a year end post on why this defense is so bad.Watch Louisville pound the ball down WVU's throat this Thursday with a back up tailback and you will see why this defense is starting to become exposed around the country by good running games. Gimmicks have a very short shelf live. Remember the run & shoot?

Good point. Where is it written in stone that we have to play that defense on every down or in every game?Can't we look at film and say "hey this team has a very weak passing game, maybe this game we play the 4-3 and get some more big guys in there" Maybe we can adjust at half time and switch defenses, or a few series to seehow the offense reacts. I know I'm in the minority, but I thought our defense played bad last week.I know the stats and score looked great, but I saw too many bad defense plays. Thank you!Good question as to why we don't change midgame. It's not as easy as it may seem. This change has to happen in the off season and I don't think it will take a lot to do. Jim Flemming is a good coach and has been around the block. I'm sure he can do it if he stays at Akron. Stay tuned for my season ending post on this topic.

Good points. However, the longest streak of winning seasons Frye had was two. His first and second seasons were losing records. His junior year they went 7-5 but two of those wins were against I-AA teams and his senior season (6-5) was saved by Brett Biggs.Like all bad high school coaches, Lee Owens hung his career on one player. How did that work out for him?

It all works together. The defense we currently deploy is not working. I'll save wear and tear on my fingers until the end of the year on this topic as I am gearing up for a rather large post on this issue.

Are you old enought to remember Mike Johnson in the late 80's? Many fans have blocked out the Faust years, but there were some great players who played for him here.

100% correct.In my opinion, there is one more topic that nobody touches upon that is the most critical in our problems this year. I will post about it after the season because during the season it is too late to make the change. As a hint, the topic will be the 3-3-5 defense and how and why everyone plays well against this gimmick now.You can tune into ESPN this Thursday to watch Louisville expose the 3-3-5 for being a bad defense when they destroy West Virginia with a very good running game.

And you think Frye would be playing well otherwise? Many of his mistakes have been when he's had plenty of time...you can only blame the o-line for so much...You are wrong. Without an offensive line what can happen other than mistakes, injuries and losses? It is impossible to blame the o-line enough! So you think with a decent line Frye wouldn't be doing as poorly as he is? Honestly? sgm405,You are absolutely right. Frye is what he is. Don't waste your time. These guys spent four years while he was at Akron making excuses for the guy. Nothing is ever his fault. If it's not play calling, it's the o-line or it's the defense or the receivers can't catch or there is no running game. The excuses go on and on and on and on.

Trust me, you are! Thank you for your support. I ask for your vote on November 7.