Life Post-Idaho

[champion110]

Believe it or not, there is life after a W in Idaho. Who ever thought that there would be so much negativity after a victory. Yes, I know the reasons it is this way. We should have put this game away in the third quarter. Instead we let them back in the game.

There are many negatives that we could dwell on. I know that we need a new coach. I know that we should have demolished the Ho's. I know that our special teams did not perform. I know that we made some REALLY stupid mistakes (the biggest was the fumble in the last minute of the game).

There were a few positives, as well:
We had a season high 499 yards on offense. Those yards were well balanced at 284 through the air and 215 on the ground.
We pulled out a close victory - something that we haven't done well in past years.
We WON - which is the ONLY stat that matters at the end of the game.

Don't be confused. I think we have a lousy coach and that is what makes me nervous about Boise in 2 weeks. Saying that, though, the Dawgs have really shown that they can play some great football at home this year. I feared Nevada, Utah and Idaho more than any games on our schedule this year. The reason being that we have done horrible in road games. Those of you that are so frustrated should have been prepared for this. This is Tech on the road this year. We have pulled out the last 2 road games, though, and THAT makes me happy. We have won 6 of our last 7 games and won 4 straight. What other years have we said that? They are few and far between.

Even though our schedule has partly been the reason for this streak, we would not have done this the last 2 years - no matter what the schedule was.

You can say that I am trying to put a positive spin on this, if you would like. YES, I am doing that. There is no use wallowing in a pity pool right now. We won the game and our bowl hopes are still alive. We have a HUGE home game next on the schedule and it is time that we start building some excitement around it. We have dominated teams at home this year. Doesn't matter what caliber teams they were, we executed and did things right in those games. Time for another one of those games in two weeks.

MY biggest problem right now is how to wait for 2 weeks of sitting idle. I HATE bye weeks.

So, complain if you wish. I hope you think that does something to help. I will, as always, get pumped up for the next game. I can't fire the coach, but I can control my emotions and concentrate on the next game.

[TECH88]

Champion, we need this bye week. We've got a lot of nagging injuries, especially our O-line and LB's. We basically limped through the second half of this game and somehow came away with a victory. Talent won this game for us, not coaching.

[champion110]

Champion, we need this bye week. We've got a lot of nagging injuries, especially our O-line and LB's. We basically limped through the second half of this game and somehow came away with a victory. Talent won this game for us, not coaching.

I agree with everything you just stated. I just hate bye weeks for ME. It seems like a year between games. Yes, our talent is all we have to depend on. Let's just hope it pulls us through.

[Dawgpix]

Players, coaches and fans need to stay focused on these last two games.
Fans? Yes. We've got a stadium to fill up for Boise State. Let's US start promoting it here.

Last year at Boise, our team took their fans out of the game in the first half with good plays and a close score. After the Bronco fans got some more firewater in 'em and as the temps lowered in the second half (during halftime the sun set on the Tech sideline bringing the temperature drastically down into the 20s) the 'Dogs never warmed up to the second half.

Let's make this year different. Send Boise packing, while Fresneck gets heavily bruised and bumped by their SoCal brothers.

[champion110]

Players, coaches and fans need to stay focused on these last two games.
Fans? Yes. We've got a stadium to fill up for Boise State. Let's US start promoting it here.

Last year at Boise, our team took their fans out of the game in the first half with good plays and a close score. After the Bronco fans got some more firewater in 'em and as the temps lowered in the second half (during halftime the sun set on the Tech sideline bringing the temperature drastically down into the 20s) the 'Dogs never warmed up to the second half.

Let's make this year different. Send Boise packing, while Fresneck gets heavily bruised and bumped by their SoCal brothers.

Exactly. I hope that USC batters up the other Dogs, but I hope Fresno gives them a great game too.

[george]

i'm going to post here because this is the only thread that even comes close to saying something positive. hey everybody, WE WON! and that is the goal. winning road games in conference late in the year is always good, no matter how badly you play. i know we have beaten bad teams thus far (except hawaii is decent), but this is really the first game we've won and looked bad doing it. and it was really only three plays that almost got us beat: 1. passing deep in our own territory at the end of the first half was a terrible play call, 2. the blocked field goal and return for a touchdown and, 3. dillard's fumble at the end.
plus we played a team in their last home game of the year (senior day and all that) who had a week off. i know some of you think this is a lame excuse, but we also traveled a long way two weeks in a row. everybody talks about the travel problems for hawaii in this conference; ours is just as bad. plus we won both games, however sloppy we looked. i think bye weeks do help THIS TIME OF YEAR because you get banged up. hopefully those two things will now help us vs. boise in two weeks.
if we win out, we are obviously in a bowl because they have to let us in as conference champs. if we lose out, no way, and we'll probably be coach shopping for christmas. if we split, i'd say its a 50-50% chance, depending on what shakes down in other conferences and how we look in these two games. and as far as us being unworthy of a bowl, check around at some of the teams from cusa and mac that get bowl bids this year with 7-4 rercords. a lot of them will have no quality wins at all. plus bowls = money (especially one close by with less travel expense). we played bad, we should have probably lost and we didn't. look around the country yesterday in the top 25...four ranked road favorites lost to unranked teams. home dogs beat road favorites in conference (especially late season) all the time, and we just survived that twice.
and, except for the horrible interception at the end of the first half, how good was kubik today? the guy was really sharp. remember early in the year how everybody wanted to play allen or champion - well look at him now. he is really in control of the team out there. speaking of people playing well, we need to get wheeler out there a lot more.
however disappointed many of you are now, when you're eating thanksgiving dinner, you'll be thinking about the boise game...la tech will play games that matter at the end of november and beginning of december. nothing wrong with that.

[dawg80]

You guys need to STOP talking about Kubic's "horrible" interception at the end of the 1st half. Watch the replay of it. King was the intended target and he was blatantly interfered with....that LB, Snyder? literally shoved King in the back with both hands when the ball was in the air, then with King shoved out of the way, the LB stepped into the path of the ball as if he was the intended target. A horrible non-call by a crew of lousy refs.

And, I tip my hat to Bick for actually NOT going conservative at the end of the half. I have been known to criticize Bicknell from time to time :icon_wink , but he and Kubic don't deserve any criticism for that play-call. It was a good call and was well-executed. But, when the opposing team is allowed to blatantly violate the rules, well, bad things may happen.

[champion110]

I am SO READY FOR BOISE! I need to find something to occupy my time for 2 weeks, because this is going to be the slowest 2 weeks of the year. It is sort of like waiting for Christmas morning as a 7 year old.

I can't wait to put a whooping on them worse than Fresno did to them.

[dawg80]

however disappointed many of you are now, when you're eating thanksgiving dinner, you'll be thinking about the boise game...la tech will play games that matter at the end of november and beginning of december. nothing wrong with that.

First, the disappointment stems from an understanding that in order to beat Boise and Fresno, a football team has got to play a LOT better than we played last night. Many of us have been quietly hoping, that maybe this year's team is better than what it has shown (sans Hawaii) and that surprise! Bam! A good team would show up and hammer the Broncos!

This kind of reminds of the 1998 season though. We had a ranked Tulane on Turkey Day, and then that week the Vegas Bowl announced we were on their short list of possible invitees...if we could only knock off the Green Wave. Hmmmmm.

But, you are right about Tech still being alive late in the season. It beats the alternative, already mathematically eliminated with nothing to play for. This upcoming weekend and then through Thanksgiving with the traditional games on TV, the excitement will slowly build. I will be at Aillet on the 26th, full of hope that our guys will play their best game of the season and beat Boazzy! I plan to be on the South 40 standing with Dogswin and getting hoarse cheering for the Dawgs!

[altadawg]

You guys need to STOP talking about Kubic's "horrible" interception at the end of the 1st half. Watch the replay of it. King was the intended target and he was blatantly interfered with....that LB, Snyder? literally shoved King in the back with both hands when the ball was in the air, then with King shoved out of the way, the LB stepped into the path of the ball as if he was the intended target. A horrible non-call by a crew of lousy refs.

And, I tip my hat to Bick for actually NOT going conservative at the end of the half. I have been known to criticize Bicknell from time to time :icon_wink , but he and Kubic don't deserve any criticism for that play-call. It was a good call and was well-executed. But, when the opposing team is allowed to blatantly violate the rules, well, bad things may happen.

Totally disagree with you on this one.

Remember, we attempted a pass on 1st down and it was incomplete. Now, Idaho knows we are going to pass. They dropped ALL their linebackers on that play I believe and what do we do? Throw a short pass right into coverage.

Dillard was on FIRE the first half. With them expecting us to pass, I bet he could have ripped off 10 yards + easily. I sure wish we could have found out. IF he doesnt, which is entirely possible, so what? Its 3rd down and there is almost no time on the clock! We run another play and the first half is OVER. Maybe most importantly, we get the ball at the start of the 2nd half.

If he does rip one off to the 45 or 50, THEN you take your shot.

We pumped life back into Idaho and it almost got us beat. Down 28-6 with no TD's at half......they would have had no life. Instead, down 28-14? Fired up!!

Its not like we have had ANY success with 2 minute drives anyway. In fact, there was just over a minute left, right?

Somebody point out to me more than 1 drive with less than 90 seconds left Kubik has engineered from deep in our own territory that has resulted in points?

I cant think of 1. Maybe Im wrong. Its just not our strength. Sure, if we are up 14-6, or even 21-6, I can MAYBE justify it. But up 3 scores on the road? I hated the call. I think it almost cost us the game.

[dawg80]

And if Dillard fumbles, as he is now known to do with regularity, you would be saying, Kubic should have taken a knee.

Of course you can disagree, and you have. I understand your point. Just keep in mind that a blatant pass interference was the real reason the turnover occurred.

By the way, I can't think of any last minute drives engineered by Kubic either. But, as Bick said afterwards, the offense was hot in the 2nd qtr and he was trying to ride that horse to a 31-6 lead at the half. Bick understands that we always lose the 2nd half of games, so he was trying to build a bigger cushion.

Water under the bridge now. Except, this will probably influence Bick to return to his conservative ways again, which might bite us later this season.

[glm47]

Totally disagree with you on this one.

Remember, we attempted a pass on 1st down and it was incomplete. Now, Idaho knows we are going to pass. They dropped ALL their linebackers on that play I believe and what do we do? Throw a short pass right into coverage.

Dillard was on FIRE the first half. With them expecting us to pass, I bet he could have ripped off 10 yards + easily. I sure wish we could have found out. IF he doesnt, which is entirely possible, so what? Its 3rd down and there is almost no time on the clock! We run another play and the first half is OVER. Maybe most importantly, we get the ball at the start of the 2nd half.

If he does rip one off to the 45 or 50, THEN you take your shot.

We pumped life back into Idaho and it almost got us beat. Down 28-6 with no TD's at half......they would have had no life. Instead, down 28-14? Fired up!!

Its not like we have had ANY success with 2 minute drives anyway. In fact, there was just over a minute left, right?

Somebody point out to me more than 1 drive with less than 90 seconds left Kubik has engineered from deep in our own territory that has resulted in points?

I cant think of 1. Maybe Im wrong. Its just not our strength. Sure, if we are up 14-6, or even 21-6, I can MAYBE justify it. But up 3 scores on the road? I hated the call. I think it almost cost us the game.

The problem was not that we passed, but the type pass. Why throw a 5 yard pass? Why take that risk to gain 5 yards? I agree with being aggressive and trying to move down the field, but you have to understand risk/reward concept. IF you're only going to throw 5 yards you might as well run. That is the problem with a lot of our passing offense, its too short. BAd things can happen when you pass so why pass to gain 4 or 5 yards when you could run and gain almost as much. THROW THE DAMN BALL DOWN THE FIELD.

[shrevedog]

[quote=dawg80]You guys need to STOP talking about Kubic's "horrible" interception at the end of the 1st half.

“It was totally my fault,” Kubik said. “The linebacker looked like he was running with Freddie (King) and as soon as I brought my hand back to throw, he stopped and dropped into his zone. It was a great play by him. I threw it right to his chest. It was a terrible play by me.”

I didn't see the play, but I have to agree that I can't be hard on him about turnovers. Kubik may not have the arm of some qb's but he sure seems to avoid forcing plays that kill us with int's the way some of our qb's have. So, I can't be too critical of that int. We used to have two or three of those a game.

[TECH88]

[quote=shrevedog]

You guys need to STOP talking about Kubic's "horrible" interception at the end of the 1st half.

“It was totally my fault,” Kubik said. “The linebacker looked like he was running with Freddie (King) and as soon as I brought my hand back to throw, he stopped and dropped into his zone. It was a great play by him. I threw it right to his chest. It was a terrible play by me.”

I didn't see the play, but I have to agree that I can't be hard on him about turnovers. Kubik may not have the arm of some qb's but he sure seems to avoid forcing plays that kill us with int's the way some of our qb's have. So, I can't be too critical of that int. We used to have two or three of those a game.

Kubik made a bad play because the coaching staff made a bone-head call. They never should have put him in that situation to begin with. Not very smart football, especially when you're playing on the road.

[OkieDawg]

... and we'll probably be coach shopping for christmas. ...

We couldn't be so lucky. I'll be sitting in the car warming it up and waiting for the shopping to begin!