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FOOTBALL Middle Tennessee (5-6, 3-4) vs ODU (5-6, 3-4)(ESPN3), 2PM, Saturday, November 25, 2017

How was the crowd today? Is getting bowl eligible but not sure you are making a bowl generate interest to get people to games?
 
If there is a Middle Tennessee team taking the field, I want them to win. So I'm happy for the win today. You can be happy about winning a single game but obviously that doesn't remove the sting of the season overall or anything to address the overall state of the program.
 
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Happy for the players as well. I do think this was our last game of the year. We blew our chance to guarantee a bowl last week. There will be too many teams "bowl eligible" and CUSA is going to be the first conference to get stung because it has too many teams eligible without enough tie-ins.

Anyway, some players stepped up today. Salter had a big catch for a TD and Windham caught some nice balls. Still turning the ball over too much which will have to get corrected if we are ever to be a championship contender. Terelle West was a very welcoming surprise. RB position looks like it's finally developing some depth with Brad Anderson, T. West, and T. Thomas. Should be all healthy and ready to roll next year.

The defense did their usual thing. Jordan Ferguson has been a huge contributor for us as a freshman which was desperately needed as our DL was the weakest unit last year. It's amazing how a stronger DL and a more aggressive style defense turns things around.

Off season-wise, we'll need to hang on to Shafer. Hopefully some offensive shake-ups will occur, specifically with an eye on the OL. We've got to get better there. There was no excuse for our OL play in our key games, injuries or not, and I hope Stockstill doesn't forget about those piss poor performances when we needed to shine. (Vanderbilt, Marshall, FAU in particular were bad).

Seems like we've got all the pieces in place for next year. Senior QB, a stable of RB's, a few all conference WR's, and of course an amazing defense. Once again, next year will be determined by our OL play. We are set everywhere else. (Replacing Rooker won't be easy, but hopefully we won't need to kick many FG's). Marshall & FAU return almost all of their talent as well though, so even with all the pieces in place I'm very skeptical of anything meaningful happening next year. Sad to say it, and I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see Brent Stockstill leaving Murfreesboro with anything but a bunch of meaningless passing records.
 
Rick Mallory needs to go. Franklin leaving wouldn't upset me either. We need a different offensive philosophy that uses the talent we have properly. Jimmy Marshall was extremely under utilized along with Salter. No excuse not to use a 6'5 receiver who is more than capable at WR. We went vertical today and was extremely effective and it opened up the run game as well. It's not hard but our staff has made it that way. Mallory's job coaching the line for the last 2 years was bad at best. His talent assessment skills there is just as bad as his ability to prep. I also question Silvoy's job at WR coach as well. Our last WR coach was a lot better. Austin has not impressed me this year.
 
Lot of injurys, blah blah blah, boys will get I pads and all sorts of good swag! On pace to get our second bowl victory of all time.

#secondbestseasonever!!!!!
 
Rick Mallory needs to go. Franklin leaving wouldn't upset me either. We need a different offensive philosophy that uses the talent we have properly. Jimmy Marshall was extremely under utilized along with Salter. No excuse not to use a 6'5 receiver who is more than capable at WR. We went vertical today and was extremely effective and it opened up the run game as well. It's not hard but our staff has made it that way. Mallory's job coaching the line for the last 2 years was bad at best. His talent assessment skills there is just as bad as his ability to prep. I also question Silvoy's job at WR coach as well. Our last WR coach was a lot better. Austin has not impressed me this year.

Some of the inability to go vertical can be blamed on the OL. You can’t effectively (or consistently) look deep if your QB is under duress.

Given the circumstances, I’m satisfied with the work TF did this season. Was it perfect? No. But I’d like to see another OC work through the injuries AND underperforming play.
 
OL was pretty much a disaster from the word go this season...if we get to go to a bowl and play a team that is not a complete fraud, I expect Brent will be running for his life the whole game and ending most plays on his back.
 
We need either better O-linemen or a better O-line coach. Or both. If we can improve there like the defense improved, we'll have a chance. If we don't improve, we'll be talking next Thanksgiving about how good we would have been if Brent hadn't got hurt again.

And we need a D1 punter. There has to be one out there SOMEWHERE.
 
It’s hard to believe we won 6 games with the TO margin of -12.

Our biggest challenge as others have noted is O-line play. What’s crazy is fo r the most part we have had a good O line thru the years.
 
And we need a D1 punter. There has to be one out there SOMEWHERE.

Amen. What is the deal? There has to be some kid out there who wants to a free ride to college who can actually, you know, punt the ball.
 
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