11/17: @ Southern Miss

[SouthernMiss3613]

I agree with Rafe. That said, we missed an easy FG and lost by 1.

I hate how we play with a lead, but Holtz is who he is. He ain’t getting fired anytime soon.

And he shouldn't be fired. Going to a bowl every year is great and competing for the conference championship every 3 or 4 years is the best we (C-USA teams) can expect. Y'all seem to think Holtz should be competing for the conference championship every year. That just isn't realistic. We thought we should be Boise State and fired Jeff Bower and we are still trying to recover. I have learned to be realistic of what to expect.

[PawDawg]

And he shouldn't be fired. Going to a bowl every year is great and competing for the conference championship every 3 or 4 years is the best we (C-USA teams) can expect. Y'all seem to think Holtz should be competing for the conference championship every year. That just isn't realistic. We thought we should be Boise State and fired Jeff Bower and we are still trying to recover. I have learned to be realistic of what to expect.

USM and C-USA were at a higher level of football back then. So were we when we were in the WAC. The Bower/Holtz comparison is only coincidental. The quality of football Bower faced and won against is MUCH higher than what Holtz has won against since his ECU years.

I agree that he will not and should not be fired.

[techman05]

USM and C-USA were at a higher level of football back then. So were we when we were in the WAC. The Bower/Holtz comparison is only coincidental. The quality of football Bower faced and won against is MUCH higher than what Holtz has won against since his ECU years.

I agree that he will not and should not be fired.

Exactly! I would like to know how many games Bower’s teams should have won that they didn’t. Feels like it should be considerably less than Holtz.

[johnnylightnin]

Exactly! I would like to know how many games Bower’s teams should have won that they didn’t. Feels like it should be considerably less than Holtz.

This year, for Holtz, that number is 1. Until this weekend, his issue was ugly wins.

[T1]

I have learned to be realistic of what to expect.

How did you do that? What is realistic? Why?

[SouthernMiss3613]

How did you do that? What is realistic? Why?

Realistic is going to a bowl every year with a record of 6-6 to say 8-4 and then competing for the conference championship every 3 or 4 years with 9 wins or more. Winning 10 games + every year and competing for the conference championship is not realistic. We lost to Charlotte this year. I expect a loss like that every year to a team we should destroy. Losing a game like that every year has been so consistent that I expect it now.

[Rama Jama]

Another example is that ULM beat Saban at Alabama before he got his elite players there. Saban is a great coach, but at least half the reason why is that he recruits great players.

And I seem to hear "great players" said by Saban at every press conference. Tech, IMO, is getting better players overall. More from South Louisiana. And let's hope more from Texas with our impressive win last year in the Frisco Bowl. (Although we have Jimbo @ A&M and Tom Herman @ UT to fight with now).

And although some have minimized the new narrative of Tech going to so many bowls in so many years, imagine how POSITIVE this sounds to a recruit and his family when a Tech coach is sitting with them? Some of the players have not even been on a plane before flying with their teammates.

[T1]

Realistic is going to a bowl every year with a record of 6-6 to say 8-4 and then competing for the conference championship every 3 or 4 years with 9 wins or more. Winning 10 games + every year and competing for the conference championship is not realistic. We lost to Charlotte this year. I expect a loss like that every year to a team we should destroy. Losing a game like that every year has been so consistent that I expect it now.

That's not how we think here. If we win the West, but lose the championship game, we might as well have finished 0-12 because we suck. The assumption is that we are better than everyone in this conference by a mile, but the coach prevents the rest of the world from realizing this fact. This year, our coach has even dropped to the level of barely beating these conference teams in the regular season instead of blowing them out like a good Tech coach should. It's like we are a mid level SEC team trapped in CUSA and this crappy coach can't even win a championship in this crappy league. To most Tech fans, this was a 2 game season (LSU and Miss St)... the other 10 were probable wins with many blowouts and a couple of WTF games that could go either way because our coach sucks. We needed to beat LSU and Miss State to see if our coach was decent or crappy. I don't know where this pride comes from (certainly not Tech's traditional football teams), but it's been this way since I've been a Tech fan (1989). It cause a ton of butthurt every year, but the expectation never changes.

[PawDawg]

And although some have minimized the new narrative of Tech going to so many bowls in so many years, imagine how POSITIVE this sounds to a recruit and his family when a Tech coach is sitting with them?

I don't minimize the narrative, but apparently good high school QBs do.

[The Historian]

And he shouldn't be fired. Going to a bowl every year is great and competing for the conference championship every 3 or 4 years is the best we (C-USA teams) can expect. Y'all seem to think Holtz should be competing for the conference championship every year. That just isn't realistic. We thought we should be Boise State and fired Jeff Bower and we are still trying to recover. I have learned to be realistic of what to expect.

As a bystander, I'll try to give you the 50 cent tour to all of this. An honest view. Very few people on this board or in the fanbase want a coaching change. Skip is a good guy who has built a solid G5 program. We have depth at most positions and have had solid recruiting classes. But most of us know Skip - at some point - is going to have to change the offensive philosophy he's adopted in the past few years.

The frustration is two-fold.

First, we have had in-game decisions from 2014 through last season that have cost us P5 wins and either conference championship game opportunities or a shot at hosting a conference championship game. We had 4th quarter leads over Marshall in the championship game in 2014; at Kansas State in 2015; at Arkansas in 2016; and at South Carolina in 2017. And blew them all. We have a history of going into a shell. Where the players actually look like they're playing not to lose late in the game. Then last season we had a series of coaching mistakes that cost us a number of conference games. We were easily a 9 or 10 win team that struggled to post a winning record because of those blunders.

Then beginning in 2017 we adopted a philosophy on offense of going conservative in an attempt to limit turnovers. We are now so conservative that we only run a handful of formations on offense each game. Against FAU we ran the run option roughly 28 times on 33 called running plays. That isn't going to beat good football teams. Many in our fanbase, including some close to our program, wonder if our head coach realizes how conservative and predictable his game plans and play calling have become. While he is not the offensive coordinator, he insists on calling his own plays.

Winning ugly is one thing. But losing the way we've lost at times during his tenure is something entirely different.

[Rama Jama]

I don't minimize the narrative, but apparently good high school QBs do.

But wouldn't we take a new Jeff Driskel every year? I get Skip's argument of having a multi year QB in the name of "stability", but the main thing is the main thing, WINNING. And exciting wins with lots of points which is what Tech has delivered in recent years (keep thinking about the A&M game in Shreveport)

What's wrong with taking a Jeff Driskel from an SEC team every year, have the other components (WRs, OL, TIGHT ENDS) ready and polished, and just hand that QB the keys to a 1969 Z28/2017 Corvette (insert favorite car here )? Can we agree that if Jeff Driskel had stayed @ Florida, he most likely would have not gotten his shot in the NFL? Tech can be that second chance for 4-5 star QB where circumstances went against him at his first choice. Look at what Joe Burrow is doing at the team from Baton Rouge.

[Gladzilla]

As a bystander, I'll try to give you the 50 cent tour to all of this. An honest view. Very few people on this board or in the fanbase want a coaching change. Skip is a good guy who has built a solid G5 program. We have depth at most positions and have had solid recruiting classes. But most of us know Skip - at some point - is going to have to change the offensive philosophy he's adopted in the past few years.

The frustration is two-fold.

First, we have had in-game decisions from 2014 through last season that have cost us P5 wins and either conference championship game opportunities or a shot at hosting a conference championship game. We had 4th quarter leads over Marshall in the championship game in 2014; at Kansas State in 2015; at Arkansas in 2016; and at South Carolina in 2017. And blew them all. We have a history of going into a shell. Where the players actually look like they're playing not to lose late in the game. Then last season we had a series of coaching mistakes that cost us a number of conference games. We were easily a 9 or 10 win team that struggled to post a winning record because of those blunders.

Then beginning in 2017 we adopted a philosophy on offense of going conservative in an attempt to limit turnovers. We are now so conservative that we only run a handful of formations on offense each game. Against FAU we ran the run option roughly 28 times on 33 called running plays. That isn't going to beat good football teams. Many in our fanbase, including some close to our program, wonder if our head coach realizes how conservative and predictable his game plans and play calling have become. While he is not the offensive coordinator, he insists on calling his own plays.

Winning ugly is one thing. But losing the way we've lost at times during his tenure is something entirely different.

You left out playing conservative @ MS State in 2015 when we had the lead. It's as if he didn't want to even win that game.

[skilldawg]

You left out playing conservative @ MS State in 2015 when we had the lead. It's as if he didn't want to even win that game.

That is when I quit caring. Spent time and money to go out there, we are leading and as soon as MooState scored he went into a shell. I quit showing up last year. I quit spending a penny this year.

[dawg80]

That's not how we think here. If we win the West, but lose the championship game, we might as well have finished 0-12 because we suck. The assumption is that we are better than everyone in this conference by a mile, but the coach prevents the rest of the world from realizing this fact. This year, our coach has even dropped to the level of barely beating these conference teams in the regular season instead of blowing them out like a good Tech coach should. It's like we are a mid level SEC team trapped in CUSA and this crappy coach can't even win a championship in this crappy league. To most Tech fans, this was a 2 game season (LSU and Miss St)... the other 10 were probable wins with many blowouts and a couple of WTF games that could go either way because our coach sucks. We needed to beat LSU and Miss State to see if our coach was decent or crappy. I don't know where this pride comes from (certainly not Tech's traditional football teams), but it's been this way since I've been a Tech fan (1989). It cause a ton of butthurt every year, but the expectation never changes.

Your expectations can be better served by the school 30 miles to the east...

[StrongBad]

How did you do that? What is realistic? Why?

Don't feed the trolls.