FanPost

A Few Random Thoughts On The sc Game

Bumped. - BN

I just got  back from the Rose Bowl where the highlights of the night were spending some time with BritBruin, DCBruin and MexiBruin. They are incredibly great guys. But, there is something wrong when my highlight reel has nothing to do with the game.

I'm driving back to Texas, Monday. We delayed the trip so that I could go to this game. I was sure we were going to win and I wanted to be there.

I have a lot of things to say about the season -- and I'll probably write them next week after I get home. But, here are a few random thoughts from tonight.

1. We should NEVER let that pencil dick trogan stick his fucking sword in the middle of our field. I cannot believe that knowing it was coming we didn't have something planned to stop it. Talk about "soft" -- what can be softer than standing by while a guy in a skirt plunges a sword into our home? Next year, we must take a dump on their field -- defile their home the way they did ours.

2. As bad as that was, the game was worse. I am totally disgusted. Totally. I have been a CRN supporter. As I have said often, he was not my first choice; Mike Leach was. But, once hired, I admitted that DG had made the right choice.

I am not so sure, now. I find CRN inspirational. Apparently, this team does not. And, his job is not to inspire me. It is to inspire his team. I have never seen a less inspired performance against our rival than the one I saw tonight. The motivator cannot motivate. And, that bothers me.

3. That said, in many ways,  the real story of the season could only be seen from our stands -- from behind our bench. All of our injured players were wearing dark blue clothing with a Gold B on the back. The story of our season may well be in the fact that at one time Mexi and I counted about 20 of our players in those suits. Add to that the players who were knocked out of this game and one can see that a team that was thin on talent and experience at the start of the season had gaping holes by the end of the season. 

sc is not a good team. More talented than we are, but not good. 

Had we played smart and with inspiration, we would have beaten them. We did neither.

4. How can we play so uninspired against sc? Especially after last year? All that talk about not forgetting much, and getting them back for the disrespect -- was only talk.

5. We hit Matt Barkley twice. Here's a QB who can barely move -- and one who was so disrespectful last year -- and we don't go after him? The few times that we did, he threw bad balls. But, when you let a QB have all day to throw, someone is going to get open and they will complete a pass.

All year long, we made mediocre QB's look like heroes. Barkley is not that good. Our D scheme and execution were simply worse.

Look back at our D under Bullough (and to some extent Walker, too.) How many third and long conversions can we give up? We were actually better on 3rd and short and 4th and short than we were on third and 21 and others with 3rd and greater than 10. Stupid prevent, unaggressive D. And, predictable. If I were the other team, I'd consider deliberately losing yards to get to third and long -- I'd know exactly what Bullough was going to do, and I'd gain 20 or 30 yards on the play.

Disgusting. Back breaking.

Which brings me to Bullough. Gone. Gone. Gone. Need I say more? It is so obvious that he cannot scheme, is predictable, does not teach simple skills like tackling -- he has to be gone.

And, I am not thrilled with CRN for not getting rid of him after last year. 

6. I've said all along that coaches are teachers and we judge teachers by how well their students learn the basic lessons. By that standard, our teachers are failing us. We are making the same mistakes over and over.

If injuries are my first story line --  STUPID PENALTIES -- are my second. Going from 1st and 10 with good field position to 1st and 20 and then 1st and 38. WTF? That's bringing back the worst of last year where stupid penalties were a signature of that team. 

That's on the coaches.

And, as much as I love Rahim, he did not get better this year. In fact, I think he regressed. It makes me sick to think of this incredible young man, this great role model, not improving. He reminds me of Baron Davis under the lizard. All that talent and no improvement. The teachers are failing their students.

7. Sorry, but another of my themes, and I doubt anyone really disagrees, we don't have a Division 1 QB on this team. As much as I admire our QB's grit (actually for the past few years), we do not have a smart, skilled QB and have not had one for many years.

Kevin Prince is clearly our best. For all the controversy over playing him in front of Brehaut at the beginning of the season, this game made clear that decision. Brehaut does not make good decisions under pressure. Bad throws into coverage -- he's lucky he didn't have more turnovers. And, the grounding penalty when added to the throwing the ball to an ineligible receiver -- just not smart play. His stat's will look much better than they were. He added a lot of yards, at the end of the game, when the game was gone, and he was throwing against a 3rd string sc defense. When the game was winnable, he made a lot of terrible throws. Terrible. 

8 Dropped passes, fumbles -- the story of two seasons. Inconsistency. The story of two seasons. Embree can be so good and so bad on consecutive plays. Same with Harkey -- although it is clear Harkey plays because he can block -- and is needed on an O line that for the most part cannot both pass protect and open running holes in the same series of downs. These failures, too, are on the coaches. For not improving the players' skills and/or not getting the better players in the game.

9. I have been a strong defender of Norm Chow. I think his hands have been tied by the lack of talent we have. But, I'm wavering. At a time when they could not stop our runs between the tackles, he stopped doing it. Why not make them stop us before doing other stuff -- especially other stuff that has not worked well all year? Getting Brehaut into 3rd and longs is a recipe for failure.

10. Actually, I'm disgusted with the entire staff. This is CRN's mess, and for the first time, I'm really ambivalent about keeping him. And, that's a big change.

11. I am a bit pissed that we went for a meaningless touchdown at the end of the game instead of letting Kai kick a field goal. In fact, my section of the stands was chanting for Kai.

Here is the guy who did more for us in his career than any other player and CRN can't put him in for that moment of glory and to set a record? CRN, Forbath saved your ass over and over. He deserved more. 

So, here I am, it's 12:30AM and I'm so wired I'm posting. I'm a Geezer. An early to bed guy. And, I cannot sleep.

Usually, I don't post when I'm in a mood like this. I wait a day or two to level out my emotions. But, in two days, I'll be somewhere on Hwy 10 focusing on the road, not the game.

But, I find it really hard to believe that in a couple of days I'll feel better about this game, this season or this staff. I may be late to the party, but I've had enough. This was sc. This was a team we should have beaten. We should have played like we cared. We didn't. And, CRN, when they call for your hide, I won't care. I'm no longer firmly in your camp.

You will get another year. That's the way of the world. Use it wisely. Because, many of us who have had your back no longer feel that you have ours. And, that is really sad. Because, you are one of us. And, we all want you to succeed.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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