And not just any bus. This team, the band & the fans should have all taken school buses over to MM Roberts field yesterday for that game. And not just any modern day school bus with air conditioning, but the ones with a hundred windows you have to put up & down to get any air. Why? It's been umpteen years since UL played USM in a football game. But that is still the kind of OLD TYME ass whipping I'm familiar with both as a follower of USM & UL. Looking at that game, I wonder did this coaching staff manage to read Ragin Dave's scouting report? Did they manage to read any scouting report?
It was all right there in black & white. I wasn't a bit surprised to see Gore fall back & crank up rip it out there for that long pass. So why was this team so surprised? When I saw Ben's first pick, my first thought was he didn't respect them enough. He won't make that mistake again. But the whole team didn't respect USM. And that is why they kicked our behinds all over the field before we could catch our breath. Was USM a better team? Hell YES! Were their players more talented than ours? Hell NO! But we weren't prepared for an old fashioned down right dirty dog fight & they were. And a down right mean & dirty dog fight was what they gave.
We can talk about who should be the starter at QB until we're all dead from asphyxia, but that isn't going to change anything. This team was obviously destined to get it's butt stomped in an epic butt stomping because from top to bottom, form the head coach to the lowest trainer, to a person, this team was not mentally, or emotionally ready to play this game. The fans were more ready to play this game than the team was. Is there hope for this team? I believe there's a lot of hope for this team. But being prepared isn't about strutting onto a field & acting like because you showed up, you're gonna just whip ass & take names.
I hate to point out individual performances in a game like this where it seems like everybody stunk it up & there is plenty of finger pointing to go all the way around. But Jordan Quibodeax in my opinion was the only player on the whole UL roster who was mentally prepared for this game. And in a game full of stinch, his personal performance was the only one that didn't smell like skunk road kill. Thanks Jordan for playing like you should have had the other team's jersey on because you were the only one who played like they played, play in & play out. What Mike & this coaching staff needs to do is figure out how to take Quibodeaux's mind set & transplant it into every other single player on this team. Because it isn't lack of talent that is killing this team nearly as much as it is lack of mental toughness. That is what Billy ball teams had that this one doesn't.