sWiley said:

Going to be a long year. I was hoping to find some positives coming out of this game considering we all knew it would be a predictable loss.

I can’t find any. We have a few good players but not nearly enough to be a good team. I’m also highly suspect of these coordinators. I think both are a clear downgrade over Mitch Stewart and Scott shafer thus far. Predictable play calling on offense, no identity or strength on defense. In both games it feels like we have let the opposing offense totally dictate the terms of the game. We put up some resistance in first half against TTU but havnt seen any since then. Shafers cover 0 and cover 1 used to drive us insane when we gave up the big play but when we played well and executed we could hang with most teams in the country.

Gonna be a long season.

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I'd say being able to move the ball down the field all second half against a top-5 team in the country was a positive. Holden had a good game and they put in plays to get him the ball in space. Being able to get home a couple times in the backfield was also good to see. Need to finish drives and do several things better but they had a lot of good flashes against a top-5 team. The real tests start that matter now however

Hop45 said:

Hot knife thru butter. DLine non-existent.

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That & LBers reacting late, running up to blockers and grabbing for air. Safety staying back in no man’s land rarely coming up to pop somebody. Yes, it’s SEC top ranked team but at some point as defensive player does it not enter the mind to fight like he$$ even if you get a penalty. We were padding them too many yards all day & what offensive skill player doesn’t find that open area with defense so soft! We were even late reacting to the play at that. One play our starting safety is literally in the back of the end zone never coming up. Might have well been sitting on the sideline. LBers are a puzzle. Where is Parker Hughes & Drew Francis????? They showed the last 2 years they could have put for more effort than what was on the field Saturday. #27 made a great play defending end zone pass from safety. Maybe we need to see more of him. I know some coaches don’t like to do this, but go watch some film from last year to at least see what field performance looked like from these players. I don’t care who you brought in as your guy, or what your previous relationship was with any of these players. Film will show you what did work & what didn’t work. No way they have watched film & started out with personnel & play calling thus far overall. I think they surely have figured out Willis stays in game as much as possible, OL has to give Vattiato time to run the offense & execute play. May have to roll him out more until we fix it. We have weapons!!!!!!!!! Receivers going over the middle can’t be scared. Take one for the team! Catch the darn ball, take a lick or make a miss….something. Some looked deer in headlights, or lost, or not up to challenge. Kelly has to step up and consistently play harder against tough teams….gotta make hard catches. #5 Butler showing some consistency as well as #19 Stewart. Good hands to compliment Willis. Peel your ears back & attack. Defense needs ripped, chewed up & ripped again. Fix the OL & offense goes off! Where’s this blue collar physicality? A few show it, many aren’t. Playing an SEC team is zero excuse for lack of effort. If that was best effort, then perhaps there is someone else on the sideline whose effort and abilities would result in better outcome. Nothing like losing your job like competition. Fix these things and the team will look night and day different & so will the W column.

BRaiderDave said:

Have to keep in mind that we won only four games last year. We had very little talent coming back outside of Vattiato and Willis. It’s going to take a while. Offense has looked better this second half because they started flinging it around. Got away from trying to run straight ahead against an SEC DL. I like what I see out of Gagliano.

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The fact we were able to keep Vattiato & Willis was absolutely crucial to this offense! With one year left and the numbers Willis put up & his body of work for MTSU and what he showed yesterday vs a top SEC team with all the OL struggles this guy had options….but he stayed & thank God he did. Many wouldn’t and didn’t.

going into this one with some more optimism than I thought I would. Should someone smack me?

mtfblue said:

UTEP has a ton of FCS kids, scotty took from the portal....lol

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They are essentially Austin Peay. He brought several kids with him. He may be the guy for them, but not this year.

MidTennMtneer said:

UTEP lost to FCS Southern Utah

24-27 in OT

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UTEP has a ton of FCS kids, scotty took from the portal....lol

sWiley said:

Gonna be a pillow fight next week imo. WKU looks very weak and beatable, like us. G5 teams in general look weaker than ever in my opinion. Outside of a few quality programs it's been an absolute blood letting in the OOC games pitting G5 vs. P4. Much more so than before the transfer portal era.

It's so depressing to see the direction we are headed. G5 glorified junior colleges now. Many G5 coaches now approaching recruiting with the idea of getting players "to the next level." It's hard to imagine such a thing. No coach ever would have been agreeable to such a thing 5 years ago. "Hey, come be great at Middle Tennessee for a year or two and we'll get you that SEC money!".....There's no way the coaches are enjoying this, but I guess they have zero options at this point. Either embrace it or be labeled a dinosaur and lose your job.

Sickening

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Wow I’ve never felt this sentiment from you before.

JohnDavidBlue said:

We received our 1.6 million.

Ready to move on to game 3.

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Yep, thank you for the cash Ole Miss.

Write this one off.

Real season starts next week.

MT01 said:

DM has two choices. One is to stick with his philosophy to instill what he wants it to be going forward even if it means 1-11. Or two try to win as many games as you can this year with what he has. And that second option is going to mean he’s going to have to modify philosophy to fit the roster that he has. In my opinion the best coaches do the latter because you’re not always going to have all the exact pieces of the puzzle you want in each year.

What this means offensively is it’s going to need to look a lot like it looked under the Stockstill tenure with spread formation, WR screens, bubbles screens, quick hitters on the hashes, and throwing to the RB out of the backfield. If he tries to establish the run game between the tackles every week this team is going to get destroyed more often than not this season. The short passing game is going to have to compliment what little we run the ball.

On defense it’s going to have to be soft in the secondary, bend and don’t break and hopefully shorten the games. This is the only way we get close to .500 this year. Or like I said he can try to instill Derek ball now, win one or two games, and hope that decision pays off in the out years.

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If I were CDM, I'd spend more time in 11/12/21 personnel & find ways to get the athletes the ball in space.

He can be faithful to physical / tough / intelligent without abandoning the offensive scheme. In 12 personnel groupings, split Holden Willis out like a big WR & suddenly, the defense has to decide : Do I play nickel & put a CB against him or do I play base & split out a LB/roll down a safety. Either one presents a matchup advantage for MT.

In 21 personnel, you can do RPO Inside Zone right and rocket the other back to the left on a swing. You're still physical (IZ / downhill rush attack), but the RPO element forces defense to decide HOW to play. Better chance of getting a numbers advantage in the box (or getting someone like Bretton / Middlebrook out in space)

Use quick game with constraints off the quick game. Slant converts to sluggo when defense bites. Tunnel screen converts to tuggo (inside WR bluffs the block & goes deep when defense bites).

We received our 1.6 million.

Ready to move on to game 3.

SpaceRaider said:

Flames TD with a minute left 30-24

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That's the Final

Flames TD with a minute left 30-24

1:40 left, LU trails 24-22 and has the ball on the 49

SpaceRaider said:

NMSU leads Liberty 17-9 at the halftime

ESPN2

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NMSU now leads 24-15 4th qtr 7:42

UTEP lost to FCS Southern Utah

24-27 in OT

NMSU leads Liberty 17-9 at the halftime

ESPN2

Volunteer fans must be thrilled Tim Banks stayed in Knoxville to coach their defense instead of taking over at MT. Some of the
best defense I've seen from Tennessee since the days of Reggie White & company.

MidTennMtneer said:

It's a double edged sword. Your thoughts are spot on and how a lot feel. At the same time, using what I bolded is exactly what they do and can help us with the right people in place.

Same as I've said before about coaches getting plucked. Do it enough and players will want to come here because they will know they can get noticed. Especially with the scholarship changes that may happen if the NCAA case is ever settled. They may not be PWOs anymore, but they'll ride the bench at Power schools. Come here and play. I'll gladly let them use us to prove the Power schools wrong. Let em go and bring in the next guy with a chip on his shoulder.

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Glorified JUCO's it is then

mtfblue said:

I'm at the WKU game, of middle can zone read them, it's will be a W for MT. EKU had a 93 drive, just running zome read. Came up.short the kicker hit the upright

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I agree WKU looks very beatable.

Actually, everyone in this conference is looking beatable and weak to be honest. Even Liberty, who will be lucky to leave Las Cruces tonight with a W.

Bad year to not be good....