The Positives

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Originally Posted by RealityCheck

C-USA teams on Tech's schedule that lost by similar scores to teams close but not quite in the same class as Oklahoma...

Rice lost 17-48 to Notre Dame
USM lost 0-49 to Mississippi State
North Texas lost 7-38 to Texas

What that says is that other than Auburn, Tech should be able to compete with the rest of its schedule. Still have to get better though to win 6 or 7 of those 10 games.

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Of course, reality is that you can tell who a team is based on their body bag game performances.

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Originally Posted by maddawg

FNB Postgame Call In show (free listen to all fans) has two Tech fans hosting. That's a positive for sure.

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what are the call in numbers for FNB Post Game show?

Why does this thread feel like people are OKAY with us settling for average at best? The POSITIVES?! You're really taking a large bag of limes and trying to make lemonade here. I mean how bad does it have to get for some of you to realize that it's BAD??? Yes, this was a top 5team we were playing tonight but the "highlights" that are being spotlit in this thread aren't anything worth being proud of. I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but damnit the Romans didn't settle for below than average to make it happen.

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Originally Posted by RunwayDawg55

Why does this thread feel like people are OKAY with us settling for average at best? The POSITIVES?! You're really taking a large bag of limes and trying to make lemonade here. I mean how bad does it have to get for some of you to realize that it's BAD??? Yes, this was a top 5team we were playing tonight but the "highlights" that are being spotlit in this thread aren't anything worth being proud of. I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but damnit the Romans didn't settle for below than average to make it happen.

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Everybody give $1,000,000 to Tech athletics and let's go get Saban and turn this thing around damnit. We are not an average program! Never have been. What's wrong with you people? You act like Oklahoma has a rich tradition and won a bunch of national championships or something. They are mediocre compared to us. Come on people. We are La Tech! 85,000 in attendance... pssh

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Originally Posted by T1

Everybody give $1,000,000 to Tech athletics and let's go get Saban and turn this thing around damnit. We are not an average program! Never have been. What's wrong with you people? You act like Oklahoma has a rich tradition and won a bunch of national championships or something. They are mediocre compared to us. Come on people. We are La Tech! 85,000 in attendance... pssh

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I sure hope I don't regret asking this...

What is the very best you expect Louisiana Tech Football to ever be?

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Originally Posted by ChipDog

I sure hope I don't regret asking this...

What is the very best you expect Louisiana Tech Football to ever be?

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#1 baby. With our facilities and our 18,000 fans and playing in CUSA, there's nothing holding us back. Hell, we paid our coach $850,000 one year! And we've been known to have recruiting classes with as many as eight 3-star players in a single class!!!

I don't like losing. I don't like money games. I don't really care for Holtz's style of play. However, this is where we are as a program. We could fire Holtz and hire an "up and comer", hey, just like Monken. You know, the guy whose team lost 45-0 to Miss St tonight. You see, there are no easy answers to the situation we find ourselves in. My personal opinion is we can't get rid of Holtz until after the season is over. If you do, you better be 100% sure the guy you hire next is THE MAN. If he ain't, you're stuck paying 2 coaches with no added benefit. Maybe, just maybe we get better. Who knows.

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Originally Posted by Dixonfor6

First series the snap hits hunter lee in the arm while in motion. It's plays like this that makes losing teams.

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That play got me in trouble with my wife, and I wish my kids had ear plugs.

Also, while I don't agree with T1's opinion of Holtz I think you use your common sense a little here. If someone starts a thread called "The Positives" it's generally understood that the game was rough and there are tons of negatives. When you start a thread like this, that goes without saying.

So it doesn't mean he's satisfied with where our team stands right now. It means despite how incredibly crappy we played overall, there were a few things that we did right, that deserve being mentioned.

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Originally Posted by T1

Come off the ledge guys, we are not close to a Top 5 team and it showed. They were much, much better than us,( like that kind of team always is) and we all predicted this kind of outcome. It's tough to watch it happen, but everyone in the country knew it was going to happen.

Now for the positives and what we can build on:

- Upgrade at QB. I like Sokol. He will stand in there with enormous pressure and still deliver a strike. He has good composure. That last one to Hunter on 4th down was very nice. That being said, he did underthrow an easy TD to Dixon in the 1st half and he made a bad throw that got picked off. It was his first Division 1 start in a hostile environment against a great defense, I think he did well and will improve as the season goes on.

- The OL looks much better. I think we only gave up 1 sack. Sokol got hit a few times, but only the 1 sack. The run blocking was bad, but I think that was because OU's DL is incredible.

- Receivers looked about the same. Turner got shutdown. Only made 1 catch, but it was a nice catch. Sterling looked much better to me. Trent Taylor is going to be a player for us. But I didn't see much of an upgrade from last year's group. I think Sokol will do a better job of finding open receivers than Higgins/Young did.

- DBs played pretty well. Their QB made some nice throws into good coverage. I didn't think either of the Pass Interference calls were really pass interference. Once they played their 2nd team receivers, they didn't do much.

- DL got zero pressure. I'm sure that's because OU's OL is incredible. I didn't notice much blitzing, but if there was any, it didn't work. OU's QB had all day. I thought they did OK at times with the up the middle stuff. But they were dominated most of the time.

- LB were too slow for that kind of offense.

- We didn't tire with the up-tempo offense. We looked better conditioned and tougher on D. They didn't steal our will or make us quit. We competed 'til the end.

- They crushed us in the 1st quarter 21-0. They played their starters until the 4th. The score in the 2nd and 3rd quarter was 20-3. We beat their subs in the 4th quarter 13-7. Their subs were still high school studs if they signed with OU.

- Special Teams needs some work: Blocked FG, Blocked EP, and the big KO return.

- I think we only had 1 turnover. That's a positive against a defense like that.

- I look at that game as a scrimmage to prepare us for the conference games. I think we learned from it and we will get better by playing that kind of talent.

Fire away! :) (I'm ducking)

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And . . . . didn't we beat the spread . . . again?

I think everyone just witnessed the difference between 5* players and 3-2* players competing!
Our only other match up like that will be against Auburn and we should expect the same results...
It sounded like the team was fired up and givening the effert, that should result in some "W's" against similar atheletes and next weekend will be a good of time to prove it, as any!

The biggest bright spot tonight was the OL. They played pretty good in pass pro against a very good defensive front. Had this been last year, it would have been like water meeting a colander. I think if they can continue to play well in that area, we will be fine. Against CUSA teams we will have a lot more success running the football than we did tonight.

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Originally Posted by ChipDog

I sure hope I don't regret asking this...

What is the very best you expect Louisiana Tech Football to ever be?

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Like 2012 without the lazy finish but with a defense.

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Originally Posted by ChipDog

I sure hope I don't regret asking this...

What is the very best you expect Louisiana Tech Football to ever be?

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"Ever" is a long time. I'd like to be a Top 5 football program that competes year-in, year-out for a National Title. I'd like to play in a P-5 Conference where they get a bazillion dollars just for being there. I'd like to be able to say "money's NO object" and be able to pay any coach we want, whatever we want. I'd like to be able to walk into virtually any high school in the state and say, "I want YOU. And YOU. And YOU" and handpick my 5* recruits at will. I'd like to have a 90,000 seat on-campus stadium and sell it out every week. I'd like to be so "good" my school has a NATIONAL fan base.

Wait...I just described Oklahoma.

It's very. very. VERY hard for us to compete with that at this time. You and I want to get THERE? Start giving mega mega $$$. If Tech could somehow magically strike oil and have, ohhh, say a BILLION $$ dropped into the athletic kitty, you'd see things you never dreamed of.

I'll throw one more thought out there. I LIVE in the HEART of north Louisiana. I deal with our folks daily. Here's a profound question...do people in OUR AREA even WANT another "lsu"-caliber team in this state? I honestly don't think the rank and file do. It would force them to choose, and they don't want anyone to compete with their beloved tigers. My 2-cents.

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Originally Posted by HogDawg

The only "positive" I can see is that we don't have to play Oklahoma again.

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Best post of the day