When a football team loses, the blame ultimately rests on the coaching staff. Toledo's 20-15 lost to Wyoming last night was a game Toledo should have won. There were plenty of opportunities. However, our problem last night was not coaching.
If it was coaching, we would have never put Owens in and we would not have made the adjustments needed to come back from a 20-0 deficit in the 3rd quarter to have a couple of changes to win the game at the end.
I disagree with things I've heard people say, that the coaching staff can't get the team up for a game after a big win. The defense was ready to play last night, and they played well right from the start. Wyoming scored 17 of their 20 points because of either the offense/ST or trick plays. After the fumble they started at our 24 yard line. Can't really blame the defense for that. After the offense couldn't do anything deep in their own end and we had just a 30 yard punt from our own goal line, Wyoming scored on a reverse-pass trick play. Then after the defense gets a stop, Wyoming does a fake punt and gets in position to get a field goal. That's 17 points that you really can't blame the defense on.
Our problem was simply execution on offense. A snap snafu on the offense's opening drive that led to an easy TD is one example. Several dropped passes on throws that were right at the numbers. Penalties up the ying yang. And so on.
Dantin has been too inconsistent, but I would expect that from a young QB. Last night he just was very ineffective. Owens came in and would have led the team to victory if not for 3 or 4 dropped passes that should have been caught. One big one was on 4th down late in the game in Wyoming territory.
As bad as we played last night, we win this game if we just execute a little better on offense. 1 of 14 on 3rd down conversions and dropping a first down pass on a 4th down play in the 4th quarter, along with several other dropped passes. That's not coaching, nor play calling. That's a lack of execution. The coaches can't go out on the field and play the game for the players.
Maybe we've been given inflated aspirations of this team because of the three game winning streak on the road, but the facts remain. This is a young team. We beat three poor teams. We're a year away from being the favorite in the MAC West.
Ball State dominated Central Michigan yesterday. They were winning 31-3 and ended up with a 31-17 victory. I originally thought NIU and CMU were the class of the West Division, with us right behind in similar stature to WMU and maybe BSU. Now I really believe the West is NIU's for the taking, with us, CMU, and BSU in the 2nd tier. That doesn't mean we can't win the West this year, but we're not going to be expected to win it.
But this young Rocket team is going to be awfully good next year. I said it before the season started, I said it after the Ohio game, and I still believe it today. Don't give up on this team and coaching staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment