My $.02...I have a sneaking suspicion the 'elephant in the room' might be wearing headsets. It seems the stars aligned and dropped a legit D1A offense at TU the past 2 years. That offense (with at least four going to NFL camps), masked a multitude of problems through dominant TOP and massive point totals. The defense always seemed suspect but usually just had to keep teams below 35 points to win. In other words, talent made up for mediocre coaching. There is absolutely no excuse for the complete drop-off and lack of production in a program ranked #2 in the nation at the end of last year if the staff knows what they're doing. Did they overestimate these players that badly? We were scheduled to play this season too. If the proper level of recruiting and game planning is going on, 62-7 to a .500 team and the other embarrassing losses don't happen. I see teams in this area - App.State, Wofford, Coastal, G-W and even Charlotte play competitively and score plenty with the same type players (maybe not even as good) that Towson has against similar competition. Losing an O-lineman or two and a lack of transfers are poor excuses for this collapse. I know there are more 'winnable' games left this season but don't bet on it.

(10-13-2014 07:13 PM)Cartboosh Wrote:  My $.02...I have a sneaking suspicion the 'elephant in the room' might be wearing headsets. It seems the stars aligned and dropped a legit D1A offense at TU the past 2 years. That offense (with at least four going to NFL camps), masked a multitude of problems through dominant TOP and massive point totals. The defense always seemed suspect but usually just had to keep teams below 35 points to win. In other words, talent made up for mediocre coaching. There is absolutely no excuse for the complete drop-off and lack of production in a program ranked #2 in the nation at the end of last year if the staff knows what they're doing. Did they overestimate these players that badly? We were scheduled to play this season too. If the proper level of recruiting and game planning is going on, 62-7 to a .500 team and the other embarrassing losses don't happen. I see teams in this area - App.State, Wofford, Coastal, G-W and even Charlotte play competitively and score plenty with the same type players (maybe not even as good) that Towson has against similar competition. Losing an O-lineman or two and a lack of transfers are poor excuses for this collapse. I know there are more 'winnable' games left this season but don't bet on it.

Welcome. You can't win without players. Period. It starts with the OL and goes to QB. Recruiting more than coaching. Sure there are some moves I'd make but you can only do so much when they can't block . Everybody called for Joe Brennan. That didn't work out too well as he holds the ball too long and isn't going to get a lot of time behind that line. The talent is subpar at all positions save for RB, the offensive line lost FIVE starters (two more this year to injury) and elite coaching isn't going to change this offense that much, now the defense....

(10-13-2014 07:41 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 07:13 PM)Cartboosh Wrote:  My $.02...I have a sneaking suspicion the 'elephant in the room' might be wearing headsets. It seems the stars aligned and dropped a legit D1A offense at TU the past 2 years. That offense (with at least four going to NFL camps), masked a multitude of problems through dominant TOP and massive point totals. The defense always seemed suspect but usually just had to keep teams below 35 points to win. In other words, talent made up for mediocre coaching. There is absolutely no excuse for the complete drop-off and lack of production in a program ranked #2 in the nation at the end of last year if the staff knows what they're doing. Did they overestimate these players that badly? We were scheduled to play this season too. If the proper level of recruiting and game planning is going on, 62-7 to a .500 team and the other embarrassing losses don't happen. I see teams in this area - App.State, Wofford, Coastal, G-W and even Charlotte play competitively and score plenty with the same type players (maybe not even as good) that Towson has against similar competition. Losing an O-lineman or two and a lack of transfers are poor excuses for this collapse. I know there are more 'winnable' games left this season but don't bet on it.

Welcome. You can't win without players. Period. It starts with the OL and goes to QB. Recruiting more than coaching. Sure there are some moves I'd make but you can only do so much when they can't block . Everybody called for Joe Brennan. That didn't work out too well as he holds the ball too long and isn't going to get a lot of time behind that line. The talent is subpar at all positions save for RB, the offensive line lost FIVE starters (two more this year to injury) and elite coaching isn't going to change this offense that much, now the defense....

Thanks. You can't win without players but who recruits the players? They can't block or pass because they're weak recruits or they're young or why? Lots of teams do just fine with underclassmen manning the O-line and QB positions. You reinforced my point in saying there's subpar talent except for RB. WHY? An elite staff doesn't let it slip this far. These losses aren't just the player's learning curve. It's mind boggling.

(10-13-2014 08:17 PM)Cartboosh Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 07:41 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 07:13 PM)Cartboosh Wrote:  My $.02...I have a sneaking suspicion the 'elephant in the room' might be wearing headsets. It seems the stars aligned and dropped a legit D1A offense at TU the past 2 years. That offense (with at least four going to NFL camps), masked a multitude of problems through dominant TOP and massive point totals. The defense always seemed suspect but usually just had to keep teams below 35 points to win. In other words, talent made up for mediocre coaching. There is absolutely no excuse for the complete drop-off and lack of production in a program ranked #2 in the nation at the end of last year if the staff knows what they're doing. Did they overestimate these players that badly? We were scheduled to play this season too. If the proper level of recruiting and game planning is going on, 62-7 to a .500 team and the other embarrassing losses don't happen. I see teams in this area - App.State, Wofford, Coastal, G-W and even Charlotte play competitively and score plenty with the same type players (maybe not even as good) that Towson has against similar competition. Losing an O-lineman or two and a lack of transfers are poor excuses for this collapse. I know there are more 'winnable' games left this season but don't bet on it.

Welcome. You can't win without players. Period. It starts with the OL and goes to QB. Recruiting more than coaching. Sure there are some moves I'd make but you can only do so much when they can't block . Everybody called for Joe Brennan. That didn't work out too well as he holds the ball too long and isn't going to get a lot of time behind that line. The talent is subpar at all positions save for RB, the offensive line lost FIVE starters (two more this year to injury) and elite coaching isn't going to change this offense that much, now the defense....

Thanks. You can't win without players but who recruits the players? They can't block or pass because they're weak recruits or they're young or why? Lots of teams do just fine with underclassmen manning the O-line and QB positions. You reinforced my point in saying there's subpar talent except for RB. WHY? An elite staff doesn't let it slip this far. These losses aren't just the player's learning curve. It's mind boggling.

I never said recruiting wasn't an issue. It obviously is. We have three freshmen on the offensive line right now. I think they'll be ok in the future and we would have had four if Shawn Flaherty (center) was healty. The problem is the guys who are sophomores and juniors who aren't good enough or doing the job. In 2010, we had five redshirt freshmen that played in some form or fashion and we finished 1-10. The next year, those freshman matured and we won the CAA.

Thankfully, we're talking about Towson football after one of the worst losses in the program history. We wouldn't have cared before 2011 when Ambrose turned the program around. You can't just say guys fell in his lap and he luck-boxed his way to three straight winning seasons. It took three years to get the program turned around. But we've come to the point where it shouldn't get this bad even though realistically, we knew it was going to be a struggle this year. You don't lose that kind of talent on offense and not have a serious regression. The only team that seems to be able to reload year-after-year in the CAA is UNH. They are a machine. Let's see how Nova does when John Robertson leaves.

I do have faith that they will get this back next season because they know they screwed up. Even RA said on his conference call that they could compete for a playoff spot if everything went right in terms of injuries. We lost FB Holder, LB Barr, OC Flaherty, FB Dreon Johnson, now OG/T Jake Schunke, WR Brian Dowling, TE Sean Mooney off the top of my head to injuries but that shouldn't mean 4-8. The lack of a solid QB has ultimately cost us this season.

(10-13-2014 06:42 PM)omniland Wrote:  That game was just hard to watch. I watched the entire thing however after a while I was just watching in amazement at how bad this college football team is. Right now they are not a good division III team. You add this level of play with the debacles of the schools tailgating policy and you just want to give up. It is too hard of work to be a fan of TSU Football.
I actually think the Students, given that first week turnout against CCSU, may have continued to show support. Perhaps it would have mainly been to participate in the tailgating. I’m not sure many students all over the country do not look forward to the partying and tailgating for a football game. No I fear, with the team looking so bad and the idiotic tailgating classes and so forth, that the administration may have doomed the season where we get some of the lowest attendance turnouts in years.
Back to the team play. Yes we need a QB but the line is just bad. Connor actually can escape the rush as good as any but he just doesn’t make great throws. He misses and we have no room for error. The offense is just terrible. You can’t miss an open receiver or you can’t make a throw where the receiver can’t run after the catch. Victor is a nice player. Just seems to give it all he has. He runs hard and I feel he would really hurt some teams if we had any type of pass protection and passing production. He is all you have to worry about. Just stack the line and stop him.
As for the defense. I’m not sure they are as bad as the score. I just have always felt that to win in the FCS, especially the CAA you just have to outscore everyone. Year after year it just seems that offense dominates with high scoring shootouts. Not to mention, when your offense is as bad as this year’s team, it is going to effect the defense’s moral. I thought they played well against JMU for an extended time but just no help from the offense.
I just don’t see how you can go to the national championship and then get blown out by a mediocre JMU 62 – 7. This just does not make sense. Should we have expected to win a game like this, this year? I can’t totally dismiss it. Successful programs have good players waiting for their chance. JMU did not look like a great team from my perspective. Just demoralizing from a fan's point of view.

We'll find out soon enough how "mediocre" JMU is this year. My suspicion is your blowout loss won't seem quite as bad as it feels come season end if JMU continues to improve (as it has each week) running its new O and D system. Bottom line, JMU has the athletes, especially at QB and along both the OL and DL, that Towson is missing this year.