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Tough breaks this game

Jun 2, 2017
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Moffett out most of half. Brent hurt.... Anderson hurt with looks to be a serious injury... on the road... some of y’all need to back off. Would you have taken 2-1 with wins over Marshall and FAU at beginning of season? Played basically whole game with back up QB. Lost heartbreaker at the end. Just have to win out. This team of healthy can do that. I’m relatively new to this board ..... the negativity is unreal
 
You must be a new fan as well. Have you ever seen Groundhog Day?

There's negativity because we've all read this book, seen this movie, danced to this song, and suffered through this nightmare for the last 13 years. Same old song & dance with this team and program.

You are right though, at least we made it to 2-0 before we started worrying about other teams beating other teams to benefit us.
 
Moffett out most of half. Brent hurt.... Anderson hurt with looks to be a serious injury... on the road... some of y’all need to back off. Would you have taken 2-1 with wins over Marshall and FAU at beginning of season? Played basically whole game with back up QB. Lost heartbreaker at the end. Just have to win out. This team of healthy can do that. I’m relatively new to this board ..... the negativity is unreal

Excuse after excuse after excuse for more than 12 years.

In the micro, you're right - tough loss to a decent opponent with a lot of bad breaks.

But the macro - just another time with Middle and Stockstill coming up small again with opportunity there for the taking.

At some point, if you want to be a good program, you've just got to overcome bad breaks.
 
Excuse after excuse after excuse for more than 12 years.

In the micro, you're right - tough loss to a decent opponent with a lot of bad breaks.

But the macro - just another time with Middle and Stockstill coming up small again with opportunity there for the taking.

At some point, if you want to be a good program, you've just got to overcome bad breaks.

Quoted for emphasis.
 
Only 12 G5 teams have longer active bowl streaks than we do right now and only 38 teams overall.
 
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That is why less than half have gone to as many consecutive ones that we have. So easy you would think everyone makes a bowl every year.
 
That is why less than half have gone to as many consecutive ones that we have. So easy you would think everyone makes a bowl every year.

We play one of the weakest schedules in the country year in, year out. Getting to a bowl is not hard when you play 1 or 2 powerhouses a year and the rest a bunch of nobodies.
 
Only 12 G5 teams have longer active bowl streaks than we do right now and only 38 teams overall.


Who cares about bowls when all you have to do is win 5 D1 games to get one? I would think you would care about conference championships. I would gladly give up our "active bowl streak" (which we mostly lose anyway) for 1 conference championship.
 
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Who cares about bowls when all you have to do is win 5 D1 games to get one? I would think you would care about conference championships. I would gladly give up our "active bowl streak" (which we mostly lose anyway) for 1 conference championship.

But going 6-6 is so very special!!!!!
 
People really need to F off with the view that bowl games are special these days. Stop living in the past. This isn't 20 years ago where bowl invites were actually difficult to come by.

Wanna know how many bowl's MT would have gone to with Stock under the rules McCollum had? Back under McCollum in the SBC, you had to be the best team in your conference to get a bowl. Guess how many bowl games MT would have gone to under those rules with Stockstill?

Let me help you. A BIG FAT ZERO. 13 years. Zero bowl games.

Bowl games used to be special. They used to be difficult to attain.

Now they're a joke participation trophy for the most part unless you are playing in one of the more prestigious ones, which will never happen to us.
 
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Moffett out most of half. Brent hurt.... Anderson hurt with looks to be a serious injury... on the road... some of y’all need to back off. Would you have taken 2-1 with wins over Marshall and FAU at beginning of season? Played basically whole game with back up QB. Lost heartbreaker at the end. Just have to win out. This team of healthy can do that. I’m relatively new to this board ..... the negativity is unreal

The negativity is not based on a single season.

No coach deserves 13 seasons without a conference or division championship. His 1 tie for a conference was with Andy Mac’s players and included the worst choke job I ever saw.

That’s the problem. Even with the injuries we led by 7 in the 4th and got outscored 11-0. Missed opportunities. There’s always reasons / excuses and we are sick of 13 years of it.
 
I feel all your pain...but until they are out of it this year can we at least not be so negative. A few of you started as soon as Brent went down.
 
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No one in the east will be undefeated.

With that said, we did blow it last night. No question. That OHara play call was stupid as stupid can get. You are on their 15 or so on a 1st down play. Just run the ball. They are spread out anticipating the pass. You still have time outs to burn at that point. If the run doesn't work. Call the time out. Instead, they go pass happy. No need for that. The kid was burning them with his legs. Even with all of the other crap, we had their throats in our hands and let them slip out.

Can we move forward? Hell yes. Is OHara good enough to play. Yup. Better than Urzua ever was. FIU is a good team. We'll be fine. Just need to design a system around him and get him the reps this week.
 
Only 12 G5 teams have longer active bowl streaks than we do right now and only 38 teams overall.

That's great if the ultimate goal of the entire program is simply to go 6-6 and go to a bowl. Mission Accomplished!

I want this program to win a title. That needs to be the goal every year.

Going to a bowl is nice - it means your season wasn't a total failure, but we need to aim higher.
 
People really need to F off with the view that bowl games are special these days. Stop living in the past. This isn't 20 years ago where bowl invites were actually difficult to come by.

Wanna know how many bowl's MT would have gone to with Stock under the rules McCollum had? Back under McCollum in the SBC, you had to be the best team in your conference to get a bowl. Guess how many bowl games MT would have gone to under those rules with Stockstill?

Let me help you. A BIG FAT ZERO. 13 years. Zero bowl games.

Bowl games used to be special. They used to be difficult to attain.

Now they're a joke participation trophy for the most part unless you are playing in one of the more prestigious ones, which will never happen to us.

Comparing things to the SBC 1.0 days is a bit dramatic. Your general point is not unfounded, but the Sun Belt was the only conference that got one bowl invite and that was only during the first five or six years of the conference's existence.

Continuing to reach the admittedly bloated postseason should not be dismissed altogether, but no program is going to celebrate annual 7-5 seasons with occasional 8-4 mixed in, especially without so much as the occasional division.

Realistically the entire Stock era is defined by just being a game or two away from being really good.

2006 vs Troy is perhaps most notable as not only would that have given us an outright title, but we would have met Rice in New Orleans and probably won, as opposed to the CMU buzzsaw we ran into in Detroit. 9-3 with a conference championship and New Orleans Bowl win in year one could have changed Stock's trajectory altogether.

2007 and 2008 we're both 5-7 seasons, though both had a P5 game that very nearly went our way, the 2007 Virginia game that we got a bum spot on and didn't go for it on fourth and the 2008 Kentucky game that ended with a shoestring tackle.

The 2009 Troy game, I think we all know what happened there...

2012 was bookended by the headscratcher against McNeese and the drubbing by the Howl Yeahs and capped off with Benson screwing us out of a bowl(something I don't blame him for)

2015 Illinois and Vandy in back to back weeks.

2016 Western

As we all know, there are no asterisks, pictures, or stories in the record book, but a fan's memory is a different story.
 
zreed,

Great post...and its all true regardless if your blue shades are on or your a negative nellie.

This is our history...I want to move away from complaining about it and be a part of a solution moving forward...what can we do, maybe all we can do is wait it all out.

To the collective board - what is a "realistic" way out or forward? I ask this in light of where we are at this moment...I am in the camp that this season isn't over and we are still in it, I acknowledge we are down one of the few players that can score (Anderson) and possible our QB. I do believe we can win our next 3 games with O'hara if the D can step up.
 
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zreed,

Great post...and its all true regardless if your blue shades are on or your a negative nellie.

This is our history...I want to move away from complaining about it and be a part of a solution moving forward...what can we do, maybe all we can do is wait it all out.

To the collective board - what is a "realistic" way out or forward? I ask this in light of where we are at this moment...I am in the camp that this season isn't over and we are still in it, I acknowledge we are down one of the few players that can score (Anderson) and possible our QB. I do believe we can win our next 3 games with O'hara if the D can step up.

If Stock is out, we are looking at best 7-5, 6-2. Maybe we sneak in the conference championship through a tiebreaker with FIU and FAU/Marshall. That’s best case.

Realistically, we probably go 6-6 with AOH, simply because he is bound to have a dud game or make mistakes that get us beat another time. Nature of the beast with a 1st time starter.

If Stock comes back, I still see 7-5 as most probable because I’m not sure we beat UAB or that we don’t have a clunker game along the way.
 
Pretty much went down about like I expected. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when we had a chance to supplant ourselves as the top team. The Middle Way.

I hate to say it, but the FIU game this year? Here's what it feels like to me...

The North Texas game in 2001
The Troy game in 2006
The Troy game in 2009
The Troy game in 2010
The Arkansas St game in 2012
The ECU game in 2013

What do all these games have in common? If you don't want to look it up...

Win those games and we win the conference or the C-USA eastern division. Caveat to the ECU game as Marshall technically won the east that year, but we actually beat Marshall and would have won the tiebreaker if not for the ECU loss. Regardless, there is always someone better than us. Even when we think we sleighed the giant. Look up only to find out it was somebody else and most certainly not MT. This game feels a lot like that. This game feels like the game where FIU will supplant itself as the best team in the east ala North Texas in '01 or Troy on '09 no matter how good we thought we were.
 
I've been pretty negative this year, which makes me feel weird saying this. I don't think AOH changes our results that dramatically, because it hasn't been our offense out there getting us wins. I'm hoping with a week of 1st team reps, his passing will improve some and make the drop in production less like past backup QBs.
 
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You never know. The offense could be better with him being more mobile since our OL is so awful and can’t really protect very well (especially a not as mobile QB like Brent).
 
You never know. The offense could be better with him being more mobile since our OL is so awful and can’t really protect very well (especially a not as mobile QB like Brent).


I wonder about this. MT’s OL and my other school’s OL looked like trash for a lot of the season. When AOH came in & when my other school basically quit trying to pass, the line play seemed to go way up. I wonder if our lineman can get after it when they fire off the ball for running plays, but sorta suck in pass blocking stance. Maybe we can introduce true RPOs into the offense (since refs rarely call ineligible receiver downfield). I think AOH’s style helps our OL.
 
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I wonder about this. MT’s OL and my other school’s OL looked like trash for a lot of the season. When AOH came in & when my other school basically quit trying to pass, the line play seemed to go way up. I wonder if our lineman can get after it when they fire off the ball for running plays, but sorta suck in pass blocking stance. Maybe we can introduce true RPOs into the offense (since refs rarely call ineligible receiver downfield). I think AOH’s style helps our OL.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
 
Yeah..lemme break this post down. I'll give you the 411 on this message.

MT - Middle Tennessee
OL - Offensive Line
AOH - Asher O'Hara
RPO - Run Pass Offense

I AWaIT (Agree WIth This) Post

I wonder about this. MT’s OL and my other school’s OL looked like trash for a lot of the season. When AOH came in & when my other school basically quit trying to pass, the line play seemed to go way up. I wonder if our lineman can get after it when they fire off the ball for running plays, but sorta suck in pass blocking stance. Maybe we can introduce true RPOs into the offense (since refs rarely call ineligible receiver downfield). I think AOH’s style helps our OL.
 
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I noticed when Brent rolled out the protection appeared to be a bit better. When AOH came in he didn't need as much time because he didn't seem to go through his progression. Primary receiver not open, just tuck it and run for the 1st down. On the flip side, FIU had plenty of time to convert some ridiculous number 3 down situations. I lost count. Was it their OL or our pass rush?
 
It seems that on here you people consider you happy with 6-8 wins per year making bowl games when you point out it is not as easy as it would seem to do that every year. Just because I point that out does not mean I am satisfied. I am also not going to overreact and claim this season is over because we lost one game to a good team on the road without our starting QB for most of it. We have a really good shot at going 6-2 or 7-1 in conference and that would give us a chance to go to the championship game.

On another note about bowl games meaning nothing. What does a CUSA championship get you? An essentially meaningless ring, a banner to hang up, and a slightly better (maybe) bowl game. Unfortunately those things will not help with attendance as the casual fan does not care about G5 conference championships when most of them will pay more attention to UT, Bama, etc. This does not mean I do not want to win them, but I think we need to consider this when judging our season. UCF has won 19 straight games from a better conference. If they go undefeated again this year it would be 27 straight and they won't even sniff the playoff. What did the undefeated season get them last year? A win in the Peach Bowl (which is big) that comes along with people saying they only won because Auburn did not care about that game and a claimed national championship that very few people take seriously.

Again someone can point out that Stock's 13 years have been better than many teams and also think we should have done more and want a change. If bowl games are meaningless than CUSA championships that get you no higher than one of those meaningless games are also pretty meaningless. I do not think bowl games or conference championships are meaningless because they are all about half of all FBS teams have to play for in today's game.
 
Yeah..lemme break this post down. I'll give you the 411 on this message.

MT - Middle Tennessee
OL - Offensive Line
AOH - Asher O'Hara
RPO - Run Pass Offense

I AWaIT (Agree WIth This) Post

Ha! I forget sometimes that we don't all speak the same language.

I was going to go with a breakdown of a typical Blue 96 Z Post playcall for Stockstill versus a Deuce Zin Pink Saint call for AOH that we can now use.
 
It seems that on here you people consider you happy with 6-8 wins per year making bowl games when you point out it is not as easy as it would seem to do that every year. Just because I point that out does not mean I am satisfied. I am also not going to overreact and claim this season is over because we lost one game to a good team on the road without our starting QB for most of it. We have a really good shot at going 6-2 or 7-1 in conference and that would give us a chance to go to the championship game.

On another note about bowl games meaning nothing. What does a CUSA championship get you? An essentially meaningless ring, a banner to hang up, and a slightly better (maybe) bowl game. Unfortunately those things will not help with attendance as the casual fan does not care about G5 conference championships when most of them will pay more attention to UT, Bama, etc. This does not mean I do not want to win them, but I think we need to consider this when judging our season. UCF has won 19 straight games from a better conference. If they go undefeated again this year it would be 27 straight and they won't even sniff the playoff. What did the undefeated season get them last year? A win in the Peach Bowl (which is big) that comes along with people saying they only won because Auburn did not care about that game and a claimed national championship that very few people take seriously.

Again someone can point out that Stock's 13 years have been better than many teams and also think we should have done more and want a change. If bowl games are meaningless than CUSA championships that get you no higher than one of those meaningless games are also pretty meaningless. I do not think bowl games or conference championships are meaningless because they are all about half of all FBS teams have to play for in today's game.


Hold on. Is your argument supporting coach stock despite no championships and lack of better bowls is because conference championships and bowls really don't matter due to a lack of interest in College Football outside of the NCAA playoffs?

Conference championships do not help with attendance? What has UCF gotten? I'm not sure what point you are really trying to make, but it sounds like mental or logical gymnastics to excuse or rationalize mediocrity on the football field for over a decade. In the meantime, crowds, money, and recruiting are dwindling.

Just a few points:

A conference championship is significant and emblematic of so much more. Usually, teams achieving conf championships are winning more than just those conf games. I'd say that does help with attendance. It may not sellout Floyd right away, but even a 10% in attendance over a season would be a good thing these days. Championships and success over a few seasons will see wonderful attendance increases and interest.


Success breeds success.

Conference championships typically helps with improved recruiting. Conf championships are a selling point on the recruiting trail. Plus, winning like that attracts players who want to win. I imagine explaining how better recruiting helps a team would not be necessary here.

More winning = better tv coverage which typically means more exposure which helps with fan interest and recruiting.

More winning = better bowls. Who knows, maybe better bowls might just pay a little more.

Regarding UCF and success, look at all the benefits. Sold out stadiums for home games and bigger interest on the road. Sure UCF may not have made the playoffs, but UCF is not to blame. It is a rigged system that is to blame. Regardless, you want to take a guess how much they were paid for their big bowl game. I haven't checked in the last few years, but those type of bowls payout in the $10-15 million range if not more these days. That is one heck of a benefit and incentive. UCF is even getting games on broadcast tv and not just cable. I know broadcast tv is not the same as 10-20 years ago, but when has MT ever made national broadcast TV with the typical resultant viewers? Maybe basketball in the NCAA tourney....which all started a few years earlier with a conference championship.
 
Hold on. Is your argument supporting coach stock despite no championships and lack of better bowls is because conference championships and bowls really don't matter due to a lack of interest in College Football outside of the NCAA playoffs?

Conference championships do not help with attendance? What has UCF gotten? I'm not sure what point you are really trying to make, but it sounds like mental or logical gymnastics to excuse or rationalize mediocrity on the football field for over a decade. In the meantime, crowds, money, and recruiting are dwindling.

Just a few points:

A conference championship is significant and emblematic of so much more. Usually, teams achieving conf championships are winning more than just those conf games. I'd say that does help with attendance. It may not sellout Floyd right away, but even a 10% in attendance over a season would be a good thing these days. Championships and success over a few seasons will see wonderful attendance increases and interest.


Success breeds success.

Conference championships typically helps with improved recruiting. Conf championships are a selling point on the recruiting trail. Plus, winning like that attracts players who want to win. I imagine explaining how better recruiting helps a team would not be necessar
More winning = better bowls. Who knows, maybe better bowls might just pay a little more.

Regarding UCF and success, look at all the benefits. Sold out stadiums for home games and bigger interest on the road. Sure UCF may not have made the playoffs, but UCF is not to blame. It is a rigged system that is to blame. Regardless, you want to take a guess how much they were paid for their big bowl game. I haven't checked in the last few years, but those type of bowls payout in the $10-15 million range if not more these days. That is one heck of a benefit and incentive. UCF is even getting games on broadcast tv and not just cable. I know broadcast tv is not the same as 10-20 years ago, but when has MT ever made national broadcast TV with the typical resultant viewers? Maybe basketball in the NCAA tourney....which all started a few years earlier with a conference championship.
Pretty sure I said just because I say that winning 6-8 games a year is harder than people on here make it seem does not mean I do not think it is time for a change.

I am saying that a bowl game and conference championship is all we have to play for. We can win the CUSA title every single year and our TV package will still suck because of our conference. I want to win every bowl game and conference championship. I am responding to the thought process that 6-8 wins per year over the last however many years is not good enough. Of course I would love to have a conference championship, but going to bowl games every year is still better than many teams can say.

Yes NY6 bowl games do have a huge payout and it would be amazing for our team and conference. As far as bringing in more fans UCF averaged 26,000 fans when they went 0-12. We go 0-12 and we would be lucky to have 26 fans (obvious exaggeration). All winning would do is bring in the fair-weather "fans" who give up on the season after a couple losses to SEC teams and a conference loss on the road without our starting QB.

I know some of you would not mind having a young coach come in here and go 4-8 first year, get 6-8 wins the second year, then 10-12 wins the next year, and then get hired away and we start the cycle over again. If you are okay with that it is fine. We are not going to do what UCF, WMU, etc. did because we play teams like Georgia, Bama, Michigan, Va Tech, etc. 2-3 times per year. UCF's best team they played last year before Auburn was Memphis and WMU's their undefeated season was Northwestern in the first game (before WI obviously). That year NW went 7-6.

If we did not play 2-3 very difficult games usually on the road every year we may have more 9-10 win seasons. It would also help if we had a starting QB that would stay healthy.

My entire point is we can realize that 6-8 wins per year with playing some of the teams we played and dealing with the injuries the past few years is not a terrible job and still want to see a change. Sometimes teams and coaches need to part ways and I think a new direction would be nice right now.
 
Pretty sure I said just because I say that winning 6-8 games a year is harder than people on here make it seem does not mean I do not think it is time for a change.

I am saying that a bowl game and conference championship is all we have to play for. We can win the CUSA title every single year and our TV package will still suck because of our conference. I want to win every bowl game and conference championship. I am responding to the thought process that 6-8 wins per year over the last however many years is not good enough. Of course I would love to have a conference championship, but going to bowl games every year is still better than many teams can say.

Yes NY6 bowl games do have a huge payout and it would be amazing for our team and conference. As far as bringing in more fans UCF averaged 26,000 fans when they went 0-12. We go 0-12 and we would be lucky to have 26 fans (obvious exaggeration). All winning would do is bring in the fair-weather "fans" who give up on the season after a couple losses to SEC teams and a conference loss on the road without our starting QB.

I know some of you would not mind having a young coach come in here and go 4-8 first year, get 6-8 wins the second year, then 10-12 wins the next year, and then get hired away and we start the cycle over again. If you are okay with that it is fine. We are not going to do what UCF, WMU, etc. did because we play teams like Georgia, Bama, Michigan, Va Tech, etc. 2-3 times per year. UCF's best team they played last year before Auburn was Memphis and WMU's their undefeated season was Northwestern in the first game (before WI obviously). That year NW went 7-6.

If we did not play 2-3 very difficult games usually on the road every year we may have more 9-10 win seasons. It would also help if we had a starting QB that would stay healthy.

My entire point is we can realize that 6-8 wins per year with playing some of the teams we played and dealing with the injuries the past few years is not a terrible job and still want to see a change. Sometimes teams and coaches need to part ways and I think a new direction would be nice right now.

No one is asking this program to go toe to toe and beat the likes of Bama, Georgia, Va Tech, etc.

No one is demanding them to win 12 games every year and knock on the door of the playoffs or a New Year's Day bowl.

But winning a conference title every now and then is not some outlandish demand.

Like you said in another post - at our level, one bowl game is as good as the next - so really, the conference title is the only real thing to play for. It's our Holy Grail. Yet we continually fail to not only win one, we really don't even come close (I think we last came close back in 2012 and pooped the field in a 45-0 stinker at Arkansas State).

So, no 6-8 wins is not enough when you are not actually competing for the one thing that the program is capable of actually winning - a conference title.
 
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I agree, but this year will still be a success if we go 8-4 (7-1) and do not make CUSA championship because FIU finishes 8-0 or 7-1 in conference.
 
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I think we’ve lost a ton of opportunities by MT being merely aiming to be “bowl eligible”. More often than not we lose our bowl game to finish 7-6 or so forth. Last years Camilla Bowl win was good. Certainly not disparaging it. But, let’s put the game in perspective: this was a Sun Belt Conference Game of the Week matchup about 8-10 years ago. Our win erased pain seeing us lose 0-45 to the Red Wolves in December, 2012. We checked the box and mission accomplished to close out a season successfully.

But, what does it take to get fan engagement that shifts from “Go Big Orange” or “Roll Tide”? Championships, national rankings, and schedule P5 home games every year. In FBS era, we have yet to defeat a top 25 team, be in the AP or Coaches Poll, or win an outright title in our conference. It’s been 20 years since the transition, we have two championships that we ruined ourselves. One was in 2006 against Troy lost on a 4th and 17 play from the 22 with under a minute left. Lost 20-21. NT Game was an upset to a team with a losing record overall and their coach,IIRC, was about an eyelash away in getting fired. Our win sparked his team to win 26 straight in conference. NT won four consecutive Sun Belt titles from 2001-2004. And never forget Boots Donnelly’s final home game as head coach where we lost to Eastern Illinois 32-35 with an 11 point lead with 1:25 left...and blew it. That would have given MT an OVC Title in 1998 (TSU won it that year) and our swan song in 1-AA. What a way to inaugurate our newly refurbished stadium!

Oh, well better luck next time...that’s been said for a generation now. We are always starting over and progressing little. MT now have college graduates celebrating their first five year reunion that wasn’t born when we won our last outright football championship in 1992 (OVC). Year 26 and our chances took a severe bruise last Saturday. Do we need to wait until year 30? 35? 40? Half century to expect any better as fans?

What has helped us with bowl eligibility is a favorable conference schedule of teams in the bottom half of the conference: FAU (before Kiffin), Charlotte, UTSA (though they did beat us good one year), UTEP (same, lost 21-24 one year). WKU has had a fantastic run in a shorter time in FBS. Marshall has been ranked #11 and #23 to close seasons, just 3 years more than we’ve been FBS. In all, we have precious little to show for 20-25 years of gridiron success and it’s not just our head coach. It’s appearing more as our AD and executive leadership.

Culture. Is an important word. We have to earn our stripes better if we want to see banners, more fans, better television/media options, and importantly more educational opportunities for our athletes and students. Hopefully, our law school will be approved by THEC, it’s really needed for our credibility as a research and graduate level university. That credibility gets us large gifts and bequeaths to make us better for 2036, our 125th and 2061, our 150th. It’s what we are leaving behind to the next generation that should be and is the most important consideration.
 
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If Brent stays out, and MT does go 8-4(7-1) that would be a pretty good success this season. Maybe even if Brent returns quickly.

Regarding the money road games vs top teams, that is a factor this year. In years past for coach stock, it has not been the case. While not going back at this moment to look at all the past schedules, off the top of my head it seems this is one of the few years when the schedule has become tougher for coach stock MT teams. Matter of fact, I suspect the multiple tough games out of conference are because of a need for an infusion of money into the program since crowds and support have been decreasing for years. At the risk of backing up Wiley on here, his contrasts of coach stock from the coach mac era goes beyond just the bowl games he may have specifically been referencing. Back then, MT couldn't get hardly any teams to come play here. Financially, MT was playing 3 body bag games a year. Sometimes all in Sept. Coach Stock has had the benefit of the growing athletic dept with getting teams to come play here and not demanding as many big money games each season. Sadly, coach stock could not capitalize on that to the point that money is a big problem again, hence the big money games.

Point of clarification: Not all P5 games with payouts are the same. I'd argue that there is a pretty big advantage to playing at Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, or even Vandy instead of Bama, Florida, or UGA in the case of this season. While coach stock certainly has played his fair share of P5 programs, this year stands out as different for the aforementioned reasons. Particularly with Kentucky this year. In years past they would have been a more favorable matchup, but right now they are a much better $EC team that will likely be one of the better Top 25 teams.

Combine those more difficult out of conference games with FAU and FIU hiring good coaches, and suddenly MT's schedule has become substantially more difficult this year. With that in mind, 8 wins might be a decent outcome. Sadly at this point, more is still needed i.e. Conf championships etc. I know this is just one opinion, but I would like to see coach stock retire or otherwise move on to other opportunities at the end of this season. Having good success at MT can be achieved. It takes hard work, dedication, and the right combo of a HC and AD to fight through some of the difficulties that come with such a situated G5 program.

Except for the hardcore dedicated Blue Raider fans and supporters, not many thought MT could become a nationally recognized basketball program. Not only did MT achieve that great success, MT was able to keep that head coach and success around a few years longer than most expected as well.
 
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