[Liberty22]

If not for a miracle blocked field goal we lose to Indiana St at home. They are 0-9 right now meaning had we not had that miracle block, we are their lone win.

[Purple Haize]

If not for a miracle blocked field goal we lose to Indiana St at home. They are 0-9 right now meaning had we not had that miracle block, we are their lone win.

If If’s and But’s were Candy and Nuts.....

[Cider Jim]

Thank God for miracles!
One wise coach once said he would rather be "lucky" than "good."

[Purple Haize]

Finally, as I have said before, (I am old but not totally senile YET), a much more relevant set of data, is what we have accomplished in the six years since TG has arrived. Overall, I don't know of anyone, of the many people that I have spoken to, that think we are better off as a football team/program than when he came to the mountain. By any set of objective evidence, I don't know how anyone, with a modicum of football knowledge, can come to that decision.
I am reminded of a very recent political analogy. For the last year, everyone has been talking about the Dim-o-crats being in the toilet, they hadn't won any special elections since Trump became president, etc. Today however, because of some expected, easy wins by the Dim-o-crats, now some are predicting a complete turnover of the Congress in 2018. Likewise, after laying at least 3 big fat turds, we won two games we should have easily won, and some are climbing back on the TG broken-down bandwagon. My hope is that, regardless of the outcome of the last two games, that the administration does what is best for the program and the university and makes a change that includes the entire coaching staff. No need to delay the inevitable. Six years of mediocrity, with no continuous improvement, is more than enough.

I’ll take ad populum for $100. And an order of nachos to go with the Gish Gallop.

[Ewglenn]

What about Skip Holtz at Louisiana Tech? Idk much about him but has a decent track record and his base salary is 500k. Thoughts?

[ballcoach15]

Since beating JMU in playoffs, we have gone "backwards" when compared to other teams. We never took it to another level.

[flamehunter]

If not for a miracle blocked field goal we lose to Indiana St at home. They are 0-9 right now meaning had we not had that miracle block, we are their lone win.

I'm sure the players appreciate you calling their practice and flawless execution on that play a miracle. As do the coaches for coming up with the scheme for that play. Give them credit. A miracle would be a sudden 50 MPH gust that re-directed the kick.

[olldflame]

If not for a miracle blocked field goal we lose to Indiana St at home. They are 0-9 right now meaning had we not had that miracle block, we are their lone win.

I'm sure the players appreciate you calling their practice and flawless execution on that play a miracle. As do the coaches for coming up with the scheme for that play. Give them credit. A miracle would be a sudden 50 MPH gust that re-directed the kick.

Clearly we are doing something right with scheme and execution on our kick block unit. At least 3 game-deciding blocks in the last few years would seem to say it is not just luck or divine intervention.

[Class of 20Something]

Can we stop with the semantics of the word "miracle"? Clearly he was saying it is so uncommon in football that it is not something that is EXPECTED. Miracle is just a slight exaggeration.

Practically, we have been out played and out coached too much this season. Liberty should have embarrassed every team on our schedule this year. I disagree with how we arrived at 75 scholarships this season. Had we brought in 10 JUCO's and awarded 2 to stud walk ons, I wouldn't have had an issue. I think just magically being at 75 scholarships because we awarded scholarships to essentially half the players that didn't come on one is cheap.

To be fair, we stopped them on 4th down prior and the refs only then decided to call time out.

[Purple Haize]

What about Skip Holtz at Louisiana Tech? Idk much about him but has a decent track record and his base salary is 500k. Thoughts?

His name has been mentioned in the past

[Purple Haize]

If not for a miracle blocked field goal we lose to Indiana St at home. They are 0-9 right now meaning had we not had that miracle block, we are their lone win.

I'm sure the players appreciate you calling their practice and flawless execution on that play a miracle. As do the coaches for coming up with the scheme for that play. Give them credit. A miracle would be a sudden 50 MPH gust that re-directed the kick.

Clearly we are doing something right with scheme and execution on our kick block unit. At least 3 game-deciding blocks in the last few years would seem to say it is not just luck or divine intervention.

To paraphrase a saying: ‘Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet’

[Jonathan Carone]

We have benefited greatly from the blocked field goal over the past few years. However, you can’t build a successful program on last second game saving blocked kicks. We are 5-5 in games of three points or less under Gill. Three of those wins came from blocked kicks. Thankfully we blocked the kicks and those blocks have come since Gill gave up special teams responsibilities. But why were we in the position to have to block those kicks? Why didn’t we get a stop before the kick? Why did we leave enough time on the clock for a team to drive the field on us? If you’re constantly flirting with losing, you’re going to end up losing games you shouldn’t.

[Cider Jim]

To paraphrase a saying: ‘Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet’

I actually read a similar quote in an Honors application essay today, but it was defining success that way.

[Purple Haize]

We have benefited greatly from the blocked field goal over the past few years. However, you can’t build a successful program on last second game saving blocked kicks. We are 5-5 in games of three points or less under Gill. Three of those wins came from blocked kicks. Thankfully we blocked the kicks and those blocks have come since Gill gave up special teams responsibilities. But why were we in the position to have to block those kicks? Why didn’t we get a stop before the kick? Why did we leave enough time on the clock for a team to drive the field on us? If you’re constantly flirting with losing, you’re going to end up losing games you shouldn’t.

But the fact remains LU WAS in position at that time. They just as easily could not have been

[Purple Haize]

To paraphrase a saying: ‘Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet’

I actually read a similar quote in an Honors application essay today, but it was defining success that way.

Take it up with Seneca not me

[flameshaw]

Can we stop with the semantics of the word "miracle"? Clearly he was saying it is so uncommon in football that it is not something that is EXPECTED. Miracle is just a slight exaggeration.

Practically, we have been out played and out coached too much this season. Liberty should have embarrassed every team on our schedule this year. I disagree with how we arrived at 75 scholarships this season. Had we brought in 10 JUCO's and awarded 2 to stud walk ons, I wouldn't have had an issue. I think just magically being at 75 scholarships because we awarded scholarships to essentially half the players that didn't come on one is cheap.

To be fair, we stopped them on 4th down prior and the refs only then decided to call time out.

To be absolutely fair to the coaching staff, there is no way we should have embarrassed Baylor or JSU. Statements like that kinda negate the rest of what you say. NO EXCUSE for losing any of the other games. Embarrassing, might be too strong of a word for some games, but should apply to G-W, St. Francis, Presby, MoreHead St and D Dukes. for sure. We should have beat KSU fairly easy, especially knowing exactly what they were going to run on offense. But in spite of this, we still laid a major defensive turd. Monmouth should have been an easy win.

[Jonathan Carone]

We have benefited greatly from the blocked field goal over the past few years. However, you can’t build a successful program on last second game saving blocked kicks. We are 5-5 in games of three points or less under Gill. Three of those wins came from blocked kicks. Thankfully we blocked the kicks and those blocks have come since Gill gave up special teams responsibilities. But why were we in the position to have to block those kicks? Why didn’t we get a stop before the kick? Why did we leave enough time on the clock for a team to drive the field on us? If you’re constantly flirting with losing, you’re going to end up losing games you shouldn’t.

But the fact remains LU WAS in position at that time. They just as easily could not have been

But look at the opponents.

2012 - Wake Forest - L - 20-17
2012 - #13 Lehigh - L - 28-26
2013 - #4 Coastal - L - 55-52
2014 - Charleston Southern - L - 38-36
2014 - #1 Coastal Carolina - W - 15-14
2015 - Monmouth - L - 20-17
2015 - #4 Coastal Carolina - W - 24-21
2016 - Gardner-Webb - W - 23-20
2017 - Indiana State - W - 42-41

Since the Chima Hand of God block against Coastal in 2014, we are 3-1 in games decided by less than three points. If you look at the opponents, outside of Coastal in 2015 (rivalry, big game, anything can happen, insert-your-own-cliche) we have 3-point games against Monmouth, Gardner-Webb, and Indiana State. Those three schools combined for a 10-21 record. We went from losing three point games to ACC and ranked FCS teams to barely winning games against not good teams. The Hand of God game should’ve been a launching point and we’ve fallen off significantly since then.

Here's a question for you: would you rather be 1-4 in 3-point games against the teams we played in 2012-2014 or be 3-1 in 3-pont games against the teams we played in 2015-2017?

[olldflame]

There are at least 6 former walk-ons who have started games for us this season.

Mosley
Sargent
Isaacson
Benton
Brown
Rusens

I don't know who the other 8 or 9 who have been given scholarships are, but it does seem a bit sketchy. I would have liked to see a bit more transparency in the process, like a list of all the scholarship players. Just making a matter-of-fact statement that we have 75 on scholarship does not cut it IMHO, and is the closest thing I have seen to dishonesty from Gill. He is clearly embarrassed that they came up short in their JUCO recruiting efforts this year and wants to "save face".

[flameshaw]

Can we stop with the semantics of the word "miracle"? Clearly he was saying it is so uncommon in football that it is not something that is EXPECTED. Miracle is just a slight exaggeration.

Practically, we have been out played and out coached too much this season. Liberty should have embarrassed every team on our schedule this year. I disagree with how we arrived at 75 scholarships this season. Had we brought in 10 JUCO's and awarded 2 to stud walk ons, I wouldn't have had an issue. I think just magically being at 75 scholarships because we awarded scholarships to essentially half the players that didn't come on one is cheap.

To be fair, we stopped them on 4th down prior and the refs only then decided to call time out.

To be absolutely fair to the coaching staff, there is no way we should have embarrassed Baylor or JSU. Statements like that kinda negate the rest of what you say. However, NO EXCUSE for losing any of the other games. Embarrassing, might be too strong of a word for some games, but should apply to G-W, St. Francis, Presby, MoreHead St and D Dukes. for sure. We should have beat KSU fairly easy, especially knowing exactly what they were going to run on offense. But in spite of this, we still laid a major defensive turd. Monmouth should have been an easy win.[/quote]

[olldflame]

I forgot Cephus Reddick, who is another former walk-on who has started a couple of games and made some big plays for us this season. We have done a good job in providing walk-ons with opportunities and developing them, but that does not necessarily make up for recruiting shortfalls.

[jinxy]

Look we can hash the semantics over and over. If gill wins the next 2 and wiggles off the hook again it will be because he has too much contract to eat and this a terrible year to fire your coach when transitioning and you need to add 25 to 27 schollies which would give a new coach 2 months to get about 15 to 17 kids.

One of the biggest things that has hurt has been the total mismanagement of the roster the last 2 years. They put all their eggs in london lewis basket the week before signing day and he gets flipped. Then we cant even field a d1 front line. Were playing true frosh with 1 other offer and pulling a juco in a week into camp.

Once the lewis debacle happened we should have been out going hard on juco dlineman. Then once fbs was announced we should have doubled down. Also we redshirted ajayi who ive heard would be our best lb if he was playing. Right there is a formula for getting run all over up. To be effective you need to have atleast 7 guys that can play on the line and we have about 3. Mitchell and saunders are coming on there true frosh!

Then go to the records. We all know they are not where they need to be.

Next look at where the 3 sides of the ball are currently. Special teams have improved. Defense is a total dumpster fire and offense is inconsistent.

[Class of 20Something]

To paraphrase a saying: ‘Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet’

I actually read a similar quote in an Honors application essay today, but it was defining success that way.

I have always heard it with Luck being defined.

[olldflame]

Look we can hash the semantics over and over. If gill wins the next 2 and wiggles off the hook again it will be because he has too much contract to eat and this a terrible year to fire your coach when transitioning and you need to add 25 to 27 schollies which would give a new coach 2 months to get about 15 to 17 kids.

One of the biggest things that has hurt has been the total mismanagement of the roster the last 2 years. They put all their eggs in london lewis basket the week before signing day and he gets flipped. Then we cant even field a d1 front line. Were playing true frosh with 1 other offer and pulling a juco in a week into camp.

Once the lewis debacle happened we should have been out going hard on juco dlineman. Then once fbs was announced we should have doubled down. Also we redshirted ajayi who ive heard would be our best lb if he was playing. Right there is a formula for getting run all over up. To be effective you need to have atleast 7 guys that can play on the line and we have about 3. Mitchell and saunders are coming on there true frosh!

Then go to the records. We all know they are not where they need to be.

Next look at where the 3 sides of the ball are currently. Special teams have improved. Defense is a total dumpster fire and offense is inconsistent.

A whole lot of assumptions and speculation in that tour de force of fault-finding.

As far as Lewis is concerned, having a commit flip is nothing unusual. We have had some flip and we have flipped some. The strange thing about this one is it happened right after Furman hired the D Coordinator and D Line coach from Chucky South, which makes me suspect there was some hanky panky there, perhaps fueled by inside info from a certain disgruntled former LU assistant.

We then DID go HARD after JUCO D linemen. We thought we had a good one in Franklin, and as best I can tell he did not qualify. We were fighting an uphill battle to sign 2 year JUCO players because of the transition status. Low blow IMHO to imply there was somehow a lack of effort.

Don't know where you "heard" that Ajayi would have been our best LB this year. Could be, but Gill and staff decided between him and Bradley who would play and who would redshirt. It's very possible Ajayi was redshirted BECAUSE they feel he will the better player at the FBS level.

[A Sea of Red]

One of the big reasons Ajayi was the one selected to redshirt (out of Ajayi/Bradley) was because he was dealing with injuries all training camp.

[olldflame]

One of the big reasons Ajayi was the one selected to redshirt (out of Ajayi/Bradley) was because he was dealing with injuries all training camp.

And there we go.