Elton Alexander story in yesterday's PD

[ewbrooman1]

I thought this was a pretty tough, but fair, article by Elton Alexander in the PD yesterday. A little surprised he took such a direct stance considering he covers the entire MAC, too. What are your thoughts?

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2014/11/northern_illinois_vs_bowling_g.html#incart_river

[Big Zip]

I read this article yesterday and thought Elton laid out the facts the same way many of us on this board have done too. I only wish Elton would have taken it a step further and taken a look at next year, what he thinks needs to be done in the offseason and if he believes this team can flip to a bowl team next year.

There are a lot of review articles that can be done on this team and I hope GT and Elton address them.

[Dr Z]

Elton laid out the facts the same way many of us on this board have done too.

[Balsy]

I think it's rather unfair. Many of our expectations (EA's expectations) were based on emotion, rather than critical analysis (I'm guilty of that).

Many of us had lofty expectations, EA freakin picked Akron to be No. 1 in the MAC east. These analysis were based, though somewhat reasonable, on the expectations set by the end of the season last year (Ignoring that the worst teams on that schedule were those teams). I know hindsight is 20/20, but we all made a huge mistake when looking at this team. All of the problems that we faced last year, were the same problems we faced this year. The same lack of talent that existed last year, was the same lack of talent we had this year. Even with the exchange of several players for several others (transfers, graduations etc...) this was largely the EXACT same team we had last year, that beat pretty much the exact same competition this year as it did last year. These problems presented themselves in the spring game, summer camp as well as the game against Howard. The play calling was a problem last year, it was again this year. Some members warned about this in the pre-season chatter, which subsided after going 4-2 in the first 6.

Going forward I think we need to assess this team for what it is, and align our expectations to whether or not the problems are being fixed or not. The metrics I will be looking at are:

1. Play calling/game management

2. QB Play (yes this is an issue).

3. Other Offensive weapons

4. Does the defense regress or stay relative the same

If all of these are addressed in the off season, I will set high expectations for this team. 6-6 was probably an appropriate expectation for this team this year, not 7-5...or 8-4. Eventually those will become expectations if we can continue to grow.

[ZippyRulz]

Again, no questioning of the coach(es) for any explanations...is he afraid to talk to TB?

[Lee Adams]

This article was referred to earlier under the Kyle Pohl thread. It was very fair for Alexander to say what he said. He like all of us have no idea what the hell is going to happen next season. And, it doesn't matter what we or the media think anyway! Why doesn't he talk to Bowden? Somebody else addressed that earlier. I believe that person said something to the effect that you wouldn't get a straight answer from Bowden anyway. He is a lawyer.