DRILLED IN BATON ROUGE, NOW READY TO RUN THE TABLE?????
I guess it's actually worse than I thought. Two Saturdays ago, the Fresno State Bulldogs left the Fresno Air Terminal en route to Baton Rouge, La. When they landed the 'Dogs were down by two touchdowns. Which was expected by myself and absolutely nobody else in the Central San Joaquin Valley. Then came an interesting plot twist.
The 'Dogs were able to stop the bleeding and (I can't believe I'm actually saying this in the year 2006) played good defense until halftime. After trading field goals with the Tigers in the second quarter, the halftime score was 17-3. Here's where the Red Wave and I go our separate ways. After having Pat Hill in my face for about a decade telling me we can win these big games on the road, it's a little difficult for me to look at the fact that we're not down by 30 and be happy. But happy the Red Wavers were, and are.
The second half was actually worse for the 'Dogs as they were outscored 21-3 over the final two quarters. Final score - 38-6. My take? We didn't really belong on the field with the number 14 team in the country. The Red Wavers? Oh, I can hardly believe it myself. They think it was a good loss. The team played well. The defense showed up. Sean Norton showed what he can do out there.
I was at a loss to understand the commentary I heard on the TV and post-game Dog Talk that espoused this nonsense. But I felt like Jimi Hendrix on a super-duper load of the most powerful acid known to man when I heard the next epiphany from this bunch.
The first guy I heard say it was Tony D'Addato. Then came Paul Loefler. Next thing I know, it's being treated like a cogent thought. Seemingly coherent people around here were suddenly talking about........get ready for this.........running the table to get bowl-eligible and then winning a bowl game.
I'm absolutely, freakin' stumped. This team just lost its sixth straight and 10th in its last 11 contests. It couldn't find the end zone even once. It is STILL looking for its first interception of the season. But because they didn't give up more than 60 points and the special teams didn't embarass themselves, we're now poised to win five straight? Starting with Boise State, at Boise?
Let's recap the last three games for the 'Dogs. The most recent game was LSU and they were never in the game. Before that was a 68-37 loss to Hawaii at home. (Now, am I the only one that realizes the 'Dogs lost by a wider margin against LSU than vs. Hawaii? Oh, nevermind. Those are just facts and the Red Wave is pretty fast and loose with those.) Then there was the game that set the program back 20 years, a 13-12 loss at Utah State.
Wanna go one more game back? Colorado State manhandled FSU at Bulldog Stadium for a 35-23 victory. That just leaves the two losses to Pac-10 teams and the (gasp!) victory over Nevada in the season opener. But those three competitive matchups are several light years in the past right now. The current trend is more pertinent as it is intact and shows no signs of reversing. It has momentum. This team is taking a beating.
I think FSU will win one more game this season and possibly two. I can't see anymore than that. And I don't believe tomorrow night's tussle on the blue turf in Boise will be one of the victories. This team is in a rough stretch and finds itself overmatched on most Saturdays. It needs a coach that can pull it together, build its confidence and come up with a strategy to outplay a superior team. But it doesn't have such a coach. It's got Pat Hill challenging its manhood and being a drill sergeant.
The impetus for starting this blog was my disbelief in the Red Wave's naive view of the 2006 season as it approached this summer. I was genuinely shocked that no one was seeing that this would be a much different team from the 2005 version and that the 2005 version wasn't anything special. The four-game losing streak wasn't visible to anyone who was blinded by the glow of almost beating USC. The change of personnel seemed to be a non-issue, like FSU is a major national power that just reloads each year. Even after living here all these years and hearing this kind of crap logic applied to the 'Dogs as well as the SF Giants and 49ers, the Oakland Raiders and anybody else these people want to call their own, the blindness of the masses this summer just floored me.
And now, six loses and only one victory later, we're ready to run the table and win a bowl game. Holy shit.
The 'Dogs were able to stop the bleeding and (I can't believe I'm actually saying this in the year 2006) played good defense until halftime. After trading field goals with the Tigers in the second quarter, the halftime score was 17-3. Here's where the Red Wave and I go our separate ways. After having Pat Hill in my face for about a decade telling me we can win these big games on the road, it's a little difficult for me to look at the fact that we're not down by 30 and be happy. But happy the Red Wavers were, and are.
The second half was actually worse for the 'Dogs as they were outscored 21-3 over the final two quarters. Final score - 38-6. My take? We didn't really belong on the field with the number 14 team in the country. The Red Wavers? Oh, I can hardly believe it myself. They think it was a good loss. The team played well. The defense showed up. Sean Norton showed what he can do out there.
I was at a loss to understand the commentary I heard on the TV and post-game Dog Talk that espoused this nonsense. But I felt like Jimi Hendrix on a super-duper load of the most powerful acid known to man when I heard the next epiphany from this bunch.
The first guy I heard say it was Tony D'Addato. Then came Paul Loefler. Next thing I know, it's being treated like a cogent thought. Seemingly coherent people around here were suddenly talking about........get ready for this.........running the table to get bowl-eligible and then winning a bowl game.
I'm absolutely, freakin' stumped. This team just lost its sixth straight and 10th in its last 11 contests. It couldn't find the end zone even once. It is STILL looking for its first interception of the season. But because they didn't give up more than 60 points and the special teams didn't embarass themselves, we're now poised to win five straight? Starting with Boise State, at Boise?
Let's recap the last three games for the 'Dogs. The most recent game was LSU and they were never in the game. Before that was a 68-37 loss to Hawaii at home. (Now, am I the only one that realizes the 'Dogs lost by a wider margin against LSU than vs. Hawaii? Oh, nevermind. Those are just facts and the Red Wave is pretty fast and loose with those.) Then there was the game that set the program back 20 years, a 13-12 loss at Utah State.
Wanna go one more game back? Colorado State manhandled FSU at Bulldog Stadium for a 35-23 victory. That just leaves the two losses to Pac-10 teams and the (gasp!) victory over Nevada in the season opener. But those three competitive matchups are several light years in the past right now. The current trend is more pertinent as it is intact and shows no signs of reversing. It has momentum. This team is taking a beating.
I think FSU will win one more game this season and possibly two. I can't see anymore than that. And I don't believe tomorrow night's tussle on the blue turf in Boise will be one of the victories. This team is in a rough stretch and finds itself overmatched on most Saturdays. It needs a coach that can pull it together, build its confidence and come up with a strategy to outplay a superior team. But it doesn't have such a coach. It's got Pat Hill challenging its manhood and being a drill sergeant.
The impetus for starting this blog was my disbelief in the Red Wave's naive view of the 2006 season as it approached this summer. I was genuinely shocked that no one was seeing that this would be a much different team from the 2005 version and that the 2005 version wasn't anything special. The four-game losing streak wasn't visible to anyone who was blinded by the glow of almost beating USC. The change of personnel seemed to be a non-issue, like FSU is a major national power that just reloads each year. Even after living here all these years and hearing this kind of crap logic applied to the 'Dogs as well as the SF Giants and 49ers, the Oakland Raiders and anybody else these people want to call their own, the blindness of the masses this summer just floored me.
And now, six loses and only one victory later, we're ready to run the table and win a bowl game. Holy shit.
posted by Green V Watchdog | 10:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home