Bulldogs Visit FIU for Friday Night Showdown - latechsports.com

[Dowty]

He had a full offseason this year, minus the time he spent at TT preparing for their bowl game. You think letting him have that time was a mistake?

I mean that more of having a full recruiting period. We already had many commitments, including Lyddy’s, before Cumbie was hired. He basically had 5 weeks after the TT bowl game to lock up recruits potentially in limbo because of Skip’s firing, find some of his own, and build an entire coaching staff, who then had even less time of their own on the trail.

Add on that many of these kids are getting their first offers in their junior years of HS, and it’s pretty easy to see that replacing a completely bare cupboard left behind by Skippy is no quick or easy task.

[Dowty]

You might be overestimated any talent wanting to come to such a downtrodden program. This coaching staff is going to have to recruit their asses off to get any good players to come to Tech. And for the lesser talent that we are able to bring in those same coaches are going to have to coach their asses off to make them better. It’s not like we get any 5 stars, 4s or even 3s. This whole thing could be brutal if even salvageable.

Yep, no 3 star commits. Let’s just burn the whole thing to the ground. https://247sports.com/college/louisi...tball/Commits/

[FriscoDawg]

A big example of coaching inconsistency last night.

Why do you decide to go for a 1st down on 4th and 2 at your own 39 with over 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter down only 21-17? Lyddy gets sacked and leads to an FIU FG that makes it 24-17 FIU.

And then with the game on the line when a first down can win it, on 4th and 2 at the FIU 45 and 2:14 left up 27-24 you decide to punt? Punt goes into the endzone, so it only gained 25 yards of field position after the touchback.

If Tech punts from its own territory in the 3rd quarter, FIU might have needed a TD on its last drive. At a minimum it would have forced FIU to drive more than the 10 yards it gained to get the 45-yard FG.

[Bone_afide_Dawg]

There are other similar instances of rather bizarre decisions that Cumbie has made seemingly in every game. It’s true that clever coaches can make some strange calls that catch people off guard and work. I wouldn’t say that Cumbie’s strange calls are working.

[FriscoDawg]

Why is Barnes still kicking at all? No matter the distance, his kicks come out too low.

He's had way too many blocked or almost blocked this year. Even though there is a clear issue with place kick protection that hasn't been addressed by the "special teams" coach, Buchanan needs to take over all place kicks.

[FriscoDawg]

We haven’t had much for talent in 3 years. Going to take some time for Cumbie to get some back here. Having a full offseason should help with that.

Exactly right. Why did you think Grubbs was able to go from obscurity to a starting spot in nothing flat two years ago.

Tech has some decent frontline talent, but when the injury bug strikes like it has this year it is obvious that quality depth is a big issue. Lots of young talent is getting plenty of playing time this year. If those players improve and stick around, that will be good for the future. Just makes for lots of pain this year.

[PawDawg]

Is Judy dragging some old farts out of retirement to call our games? CUSA refs have always been bad, but the inconsistency is worse than ever. PI calls are at the whim of the goof balls in stripes.

[Bone_afide_Dawg]

For one thing I guess there’s no such thing as uncatchable anymore.

[FriscoDawg]

Is Judy dragging some old farts out of retirement to call our games? CUSA refs have always been bad, but the inconsistency is worse than ever. PI calls are at the whim of the goof balls in stripes.

Actually no.

Nine different white hats worked C-USA conference games last year.

Two 2021 regulars moved to other conferences this year--Jon Noli to the MWC and Kevin Randall to the AAC. Between them they worked 17 of the 57 conference regular season and championship games in 2021, and Noli had a bowl assignment. Six of the other seven 2021 regulars are back in 2022. And there is one new white hat in the mix in 2022 to replace the other ref who did not work any C-USA games after 2021 Week 4.

Pass interference is one of the worst officiated plays in college football. One of the most common sense parts of the rules added in the 1980s to determine if a pass is catchable before pass interference can be called is now almost ignored. The rule is now enforced in a way that basically calls any pass catchable unless it is 10 yards out of bounds.

One of the worst calls I have seen all year was in last night's Middle Tennessee at UTEP game, and it totally changed the momentum of the game. UTEP threw what should have been a game-tying TD pass with about six minutes left, but the play was nullified by a horrible offensive pass interference call that was clearly defensive holding. The outside receiver was trying to run an inside route and was not blocking or setting a pick, and he was clearly held by the defender before the pass was caught by another receiver who scored. But the deep official who couldn't see the hold called it a pick and nullified the TD. UTEP had to settle for a FG, and the Blue Raiders threw a 75-yard TD pass on the first play after the kickoff to seal the win.

The ability to challenge pass interference calls (both offensive and defensive) like is allowed in the CFL is a change that needs to be made in college football. And challenges need to be increased to 2 unsuccessful challenges per game and should be allowed even if a team has no timeouts left. A team should be able to choose either a delay of game penalty or a timeout if a challenge is not successful.

[Bone_afide_Dawg]

Bad officiating can not only affect the outcomes of games it can also cost players and coaches their careers or at least contribute to it. There is far and away not enough scrutiny and the accountability of officials.