Second Half Woes

[Just1More]

_ Ok I'll stipulate to your no need for adjustments at halftime argument. Passing the ball worked the whole first half. Why not do it until it fails? But what about adjustments within the context of the third quarter. It was obvious from the second Masson threw that interception that OSU had decided to sit back and dare us to run the ball in the second half. It wasn't a bad play call. That route would have been wide open in the first half, but OSU adjusted at halftime. They saw our quarterback had the best quarter of his life and decided he was not gonna be the one to beat them. I'm seriously just asking your opinion on this issue. By the way, you can call me stupid or a bad fan or whatever else you want;I don't care. The fact is when UL starts announcing attendances of 9,000 or 10,000 at the end of the season and there's really about 5,000 people in the stands. I'll be one of those 5,000 people. _

I'm not calling "you" stupid. I do find the balance of criticism of Friday night a little stupid. If I'm reading you right, you think Chris's single interception told the staff to change the playcalling? We picked OSU twice and Bentley should have gotten a third. The reality is that losing sucks. But... as much as I hated the gameplan and preparation for GA and MT... I find no fault with our play against OSU. If we didn't give programs such a short field to operate with on kickoffs when we do score... things would be a lot better for you, me, the team, the fans, and the coaching staff.

I really felt after losing Streeter... not having Ladarius... still not having McGuire giving us his gutsy play... and an offensive line that trying its best to become a unit...our offense performed well. The biggest difference was that WRs actually hung unto the ball.

I can't see how we can say that our offensive or defensive play going into the half would have warranted adjustments. Let's remember... we didn't just score 3 touchdowns in the first half... we also gave OSU a short field and stopped them in 2Q. OSU hit us with some big plays in the second half and they also threw it into a higher gear from that second quarter. Sometimes... just sometimes... this forum needs to back off and wait for some real opportunities to strike out against poor coaching (or whatever).

Even though we lost the game, I saw more positives in that game than I did in the Ark State and the NT win. There was 20x more horsepower on that OSU team... man for man... than anyone in the SBC has to show us. But, some fans watch a play and think "we did good" as opposed to whether we were disallowed or allowed to do it.

I sometimes think our fanbase is so shallow that they don't know the difference when a guy is running into a 50mph head wind or with a 50mph tail wind. They just see a runner and say one day he's great and the other day he sucks. BS... OSU took that game out of our hands in the second half. Period.

[Cajuns4me]

_ I'm not calling "you" stupid. I do find the balance of criticism of Friday night a little stupid. If I'm reading you right, you think Chris's single interception told the staff to change the playcalling? We picked OSU twice and Bentley should have gotten a third. The reality is that losing sucks. But... as much as I hated the gameplan and preparation for GA and MT... I find no fault with our play against OSU. If we didn't give programs such a short field to operate with on kickoffs when we do score... things would be a lot better for you, me, the team, the fans, and the coaching staff.

I really felt after losing Streeter... not having Ladarius... still not having McGuire giving us his gutsy play... and an offensive line that trying its best to become a unit...our offense performed well. The biggest difference was that WRs actually hung unto the ball.

I can't see how we can say that our offensive or defensive play going into the half would have warranted adjustments. Let's remember... we didn't just score 3 touchdowns in the first half... we also gave OSU a short field and stopped them in 2Q. OSU hit us with some big plays in the second half and they also threw it into a higher gear from that second quarter. Sometimes... just sometimes... this forum needs to back off and wait for some real opportunities to strike out against poor coaching (or whatever).

Even though we lost the game, I saw more positives in that game than I did in the Ark State and the NT win. There was 20x more horsepower on that OSU team... man for man... than anyone in the SBC has to show us. But, some fans watch a play and think "we did good" as opposed to whether we were disallowed or allowed to do it.

I sometimes think our fanbase is so shallow that they don't know the difference when a guy is running into a 50mph head wind or with a 50mph tail wind. They just see a runner and say one day he's great and the other day he sucks. BS... OSU took that game out of our hands in the second half. Period. _

I typically agree with you on most of your posts, but here...not so much. We've been outscored 105-21 in the second half so far this season, but you're saying none of that is our fault?? What do you think OSU went into half-time saying, uh, maybe we should adjust? We must anticipate that to have success. The second half of this game went pretty much like most of the other second halfs so far this season. The other team takes away the pass, we don't have a true up-the-middle runner (a la Fenroy) so we can't run the clock/ keep other O (and our D) off the field, 3 and out after 3 and out, D gets worn down, we lose...basically. How about trying to run the spread option with Gauthier some in the second half. Would OSU have been expecting that? If it doesn't work, then fine, but at least be prepared to try something different. And how about letting Blaine throw the ball in the regular flow of the game once and a while, not just in desperation at the end of the game. (You think teams aren't anticipating the run up the middle when he's in there?)

In regards to Blackmon, I agree he wasn't their whole offense, but 13 catches for 190 yards and 2 TD's is pretty damn impressive. I would much rather see us attempt to shut down the top rated receiver in the country and force another one of their player(s) to step-up than to say he's just too good for us to defend him. Did we dbl team him? Yes, at times, but there should've been safety help over the top on nearly every play. Would that alone have won us the game, of course not. But it sure would've helped.

And to call us "fans" stupid or "shallow"...this isn't rocket science. It's football. And I've watched a hell of a lot of it in my lifetime thus far so I consider myself to be a fair study of the game. Besides, we're all free to state our own "ridiculous" opinions.

Look, I'm proud of our boys for how they played in the first half. And I would've still been o.k. with a 10-14 pt loss, but to be completely demolished in the second half...again...inexcusable.