Napier: 'Sometimes it takes a crisis' to get attention

[Cajunsmike]

A+

I have read so many stupid comments on the board the last week. It amazes me that people expected this team to be good this year. We do not have a QB on the roster who could start in the Southland, our defense is pieced together with freshmen and duct tape and our OL can blow over in a strong wind. Anyone who looked at the roster and knows football could see we were in trouble this season. Everyone needs to be patient bc this is not happening overnight.

I was disappointed in OL in first half. In The second half they scored TD’s on three of four possessions with the backs having big holes. One possession they did not was when a QB change occurred for that series. Problem was the defense could not get off field. 39 minutes is way too much to allow a team to maintain possession. Teams like Coastal are very frustrating to play against because their offense allows them four downs once they cross midfield. Simply put, there are not enough athletes on defense to play winning football.

[DieHard1280]

I was disappointed in OL in first half. In The second half they scored TD’s on three of four possessions with the backs having big holes. One possession they did not was when a QB change occurred for that series. Problem was the defense could not get off field. 39 minutes is way too much to allow a team to maintain possession. Teams like Coastal are very frustrating to play against because their offense allows them four downs once they cross midfield. Simply put, there are not enough athletes on defense to play winning football.

Every offense this year allows them to go for it once they cross midfield. And so far, they usually make it.

[CajunProud]

A+

I have read so many stupid comments on the board the last week. It amazes me that people expected this team to be good this year. We do not have a QB on the roster who could start in the Southland, our defense is pieced together with freshmen and duct tape and our OL can blow over in a strong wind. Anyone who looked at the roster and knows football could see we were in trouble this season. Everyone needs to be patient bc this is not happening overnight.

Agreed on all accounts.

[zephyr]

A+

I have read so many stupid comments on the board the last week. It amazes me that people expected this team to be good this year. We do not have a QB on the roster who could start in the Southland, our defense is pieced together with freshmen and duct tape and our OL can blow over in a strong wind. Anyone who looked at the roster and knows football could see we were in trouble this season. Everyone needs to be patient bc this is not happening overnight.

Perspective is important and I agree Napier needs time to make things right. As many "stupid" comments as I've seen with people saying we'd beat CC by multiple touchdowns, I've also seen as many comments suggesting how great Napier will be without having coached one game in his career. The only thing we have to go by is what we've seen thus far and in comparison to last year since the core of last year's team is still here. What I've seen are similarities on both offense and defense that I was hoping would be eliminated. You noted the OL. That was supposed to be one of the strengths of our team, now its a major weakness? I predicted 5 wins. I think we'll be there or maybe slightly under. However, I was hoping to see a lot of the crap we saw on both sides of the ball cleaned up. A good coaching staff can do that with the same players as before. I understand we are not very talented.

That doesn't mean that we have to continue throwing jump balls up on offense. What happened to our improved passing attack with more defined routes? What happened to working the middle of the field with our TE's and slot receivers? We did it at times the last couple of games but we can't do it against CCU?

We suck on defense. Where is the blitz? We are not good enough to continuously run base defense, even against CCU. I was just hoping to see improvements in the things we do with the players we have had from both staffs and I haven't seen a whole lot of a difference. Those are things we should be able to see now.

[Clutch0364]

Perspective is important and I agree Napier needs time to make things right. As many "stupid" comments as I've seen with people saying we'd beat CC by multiple touchdowns, I've also seen as many comments suggesting how great Napier will be without having coached one game in his career. The only thing we have to go by is what we've seen thus far and in comparison to last year since the core of last year's team is still here. What I've seen are similarities on both offense and defense that I was hoping would be eliminated. You noted the OL. That was supposed to be one of the strengths of our team, now its a major weakness? I predicted 5 wins. I think we'll be there or maybe slightly under. However, I was hoping to see a lot of the crap we saw on both sides of the ball cleaned up. A good coaching staff can do that with the same players as before. I understand we are not very talented.

That doesn't mean that we have to continue throwing jump balls up on offense. What happened to our improved passing attack with more defined routes? What happened to working the middle of the field with our TE's and slot receivers? We did it at times the last couple of games but we can't do it against CCU?

We suck on defense. Where is the blitz? We are not good enough to continuously run base defense, even against CCU. I was just hoping to see improvements in the things we do with the players we have had from both staffs and I haven't seen a whole lot of a difference. Those are things we should be able to see now.

I agree that there are a few things that bothered me with the way the game flowed. I went into the season expecting 4ish wins because I looked at our team and seen 10 guys who I felt can make a difference at the FBS level. A lot of freshmen are also playing which leads to bad things happening during the learning process.

Watching the first drive, I figured our game plan would be to pound their DL early with the run game and when it didn't happen, I feel it screwed up the game plan. Adjustments needed to be made and that's why I think the 2nd half offense looked a lot better.

I'm not anointing Napier the savoir of our program but the guy will need 2-3 years to fix our talent problems. That would have been for any coach coming into this situation. Typically the first year of a rebuild does not go very well so unless our fan base has patience they will just keep feeling like ____ every week.

[Cajunsmike]

Every offense this year allows them to go for it once they cross midfield. And so far, they usually make it.

True. In Coastal’s case that is especially so since it turned out to be less than fourth and a yard in every case last night.

[zephyr]

I agree that there are a few things that bothered me with the way the game flowed. I went into the season expecting 4ish wins because I looked at our team and seen 10 guys who I felt can make a difference at the FBS level. A lot of freshmen are also playing which leads to bad things happening during the learning process.

Watching the first drive, I figured our game plan would be to pound their DL early with the run game and when it didn't happen, I feel it screwed up the game plan. Adjustments needed to be made and that's why I think the 2nd half offense looked a lot better.

I'm not anointing Napier the savoir of our program but the guy will need 2-3 years to fix our talent problems. That would have been for any coach coming into this situation. Typically the first year of a rebuild does not go very well so unless our fan base has patience they will just keep feeling like ____ every week.

Perspective is paramount and needs to be practiced on both sides of the spectrum. I'm just tired of people telling me how great he is gonna be with no HC experience and I want to give him the ability to go prove it. All while paying him a record amount for this university. I get the talent and recruiting thing but I was really hoping to see improvements in scheme and at times they've been there but not consistently.

[CajunJeaux]

Perspective is paramount and needs to be practiced on both sides of the spectrum. I'm just tired of people telling me how great he is gonna be with no HC experience and I want to give him the ability to go prove it. All while paying him a record amount for this university. I get the talent and recruiting thing but I was really hoping to see improvements in scheme and at times they've been there but not consistently.

You need to get over that annointing issue....CajunNation made a single post stating Napier can achieve excellence elsewhere or stay here and be a legend...it’s not like 50 posters said the same...

[CrazyCajun]

Perspective is paramount and needs to be practiced on both sides of the spectrum. I'm just tired of people telling me how great he is gonna be with no HC experience and I want to give him the ability to go prove it. All while paying him a record amount for this university. I get the talent and recruiting thing but I was really hoping to see improvements in scheme and at times they've been there but not consistently.

It’s the same people who are “done already” and screaming we suck and the world is ending. They are just irrational people, all the time..every minute of everyday is “a big deal” or “always something”

[zephyr]

You need to get over that annointing issue....CajunNation made a single post stating Napier can achieve excellence elsewhere or stay here and be a legend...it’s not like 50 posters said the same...

He did but its the countless other posts I saw with things proclaiming that things would be so different now that a real coach is in the drivers seat. It was the win prediction poll where there were so many predicting 7-8 wins. While CN was the one to label him a "legend", its all the others who are saying that this program will be reaching new heights in the next couple years but are the first to claim perspective when we lose.