Great game and people who left probably are kicking themselves, but we looked bad in the first three quarters. I did like that Healy was going off on the refs in the second half on some late hits. He is trying to keep the energy up to help overcome the lack of talent. Our DBs look lost sometimes which is scary this far into the season. The first or second TD we were not even covering the their receiver.
Our offense finally got going in the second half for the first time in a few games so hopefully we can keep it a few more weeks. MTSU blew out FIU yesterday so we have to bring it next week and not fall behind early.
Great comeback win.Now we have to follow it up with a win at home against Middle Tenn. (3-5) and 0-4 on the road this season. With UTEP (1-6) Marshall (5-3) and Old Dominion (1-7) left after this week who knows. With our remaining schedule a 6-6 record is still possible.
I think we missed an opportunity with this game and marketing to students. I know we canāt pick kick times but this should have been a night game with a Halloween theme especially with students. Years ago I went to a FSU game for a Halloween game and they did Halloween costume contests for all the students, group costumes, single costumes for men and women and then another for non students. Really play up that side of things - Iām going to share those thoughts with AD.
Besides that, the student Turn out was a let down. One of the awesome things about us is the city is a great resource. The negative is if we arenāt winning there is plenty of other stuff to do. With zero past success in football and no recent success in basketball either Iām not sure why we expect students or other fans to turn out in big numbers.
The tailgate is what has kept me coming back, I have a blast and get to hang out with great folks. The football is secondary at this point.
If I were a student and my options were Halloween football game or one of the biggest Halloween events in the countryā¦Iām not going to the game. Halloween week games will always be tough for us unless we become a great program some day.
Iāll put it this way - the costumes at that FSU game didnāt have much clothing and they were all drunk. If I was a student that is exactly where I would have been.
There are more half naked women in uptown. Charlotte, weirdly enough, is a Halloween powerhouse. Gravediggers ball and the bar crawl are massive events. We will never be able to compete with that unless we are in a better conference playing a meaningful opponent in a meaningful game.
Right so whatās the pointā¦ just close up this shop and be done with it.
My point was if you do nothing you arenāt going to get the students out on a night like Saturday. If you work with the Greeks and other groups you can try to create something unique and different and maybe get them out. One is a defeatist attitude and the other is a opportunistic attitude.
We canāt make the wins come and we canāt make the conference change happen on our own. All we can do is control that which is in our sphere - for the AD that means being creative in a crowded market place. For me that means supporting this program both financially and physically by being there.
I will say for everyone that wants the wins and the facilities to improve and the conference change - we arenāt doing those things with people sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone else to do it. We need people putting in their money and coming to things to make those other things happen.
Believe it or not, but The Price Is Right once had a trip to Charlotte and tickets to the Gravediggers Ball as part of one of their final showcase prizes. As it turned out, the person who bid on it did not win.
The PIR episode was in 2009 and had a prize of a trip to Charlotte for the Gravediggers Ball, to Salem, Mass and to London for some Jack the Ripper tours.
Does anyone realistically expect big crowds to come out to see a 2-5 football team play North Texas? Yes, do things to get students out, make next year a big Halloween gathering etc. I am all improving the game experience and we have an AD that is receptive to new ideas which is AWESOME. With that said, winning games will fix A LOT.