Its not always the coach

[FUBeAR]

What effect would Bell Tower Sacrifice rituals have on FU’s USN&WR rankings?

In the past, most such sacrifices were held in off-campus apartments and were private or semi-private affairs, but bringing them on campus & making them public events could really move the needle!

[Furmanoid]

Well clearly the sacrifices would need to be equitable. So 100% white male. That should boost us into the top 20 or so. Hell, it might take us all the way to #1 until the Ivies copy cat us.

[FUBeAR]

Well clearly the sacrifices would need to be equitable. So 100% white male. That should boost us into the top 20 or so. Hell, it might take us all the way to #1 until the Ivies copy cat us.

I guess…that certainly does flip the previous narrative around the topic.

[Davemeister]

Do the humans sacrificed still have to be virgins? Due to Supply & Demand, that could make a huge dent in the Athletic Dept. budget.

[Furmanoid]

Huge supply right across town at neighboring college.

[Affirm]

I'm not sure the point of the Cronic discussion.

coaching, talent, depth, execution, and sometimes a bit of luck make a lot of difference in the success of a football team.

I guess the point of the Cronic discussion is just to say that he is a very good coach. Just to to point out that fact in relation to certain other coaches of interest and general relevance.

[Thorny]

Cronic now has the opportunity to go on and make us look silly.

Maybe we should be focusing on that the previous head coach at ETSU just resigned after winning the conference championship and being seeded in the FCS playoffs. We focus on our own issues when we can focus on someone else's dirty laundry?

In unrelated news, I googled Fowler to see what he is up to. He is now the Athletic Director at Lakeway Christian Accademy and was also serving as head coach but resigned before the season (their first) started. They have now been through three head coaches in their first season.

[The Jackal]

Cronic now has the opportunity to go on and make us look silly.

Maybe we should be focusing on that the previous head coach at ETSU just resigned after winning the conference championship and being seeded in the FCS playoffs. We focus on our own issues when we can focus on someone else's dirty laundry?

In unrelated news, I googled Fowler to see what he is up to. He is now the Athletic Director at Lakeway Christian Accademy and was also serving as head coach but resigned before the season (their first) started. They have now been through three head coaches in their first season.

Mercer managed about 4 points per game and 20 yards more than Furman in SoCon play. They had several poor offensive performances, just like Furman did.

[Affirm]

Cronic now has the opportunity to go on and make us look silly.

Maybe we should be focusing on that the previous head coach at ETSU just resigned after winning the conference championship and being seeded in the FCS playoffs. We focus on our own issues when we can focus on someone else's dirty laundry?

In unrelated news, I googled Fowler to see what he is up to. He is now the Athletic Director at Lakeway Christian Accademy and was also serving as head coach but resigned before the season (their first) started. They have now been through three head coaches in their first season.

We do focus on our own issues.

[FUBeAR]

Mercer…had several poor offensive performances

Assuming you are not ‘counting’ Mercer’s game with FBS #1 Alabama (though they did put up 2 TD’s), their only really poor performance was at home vs. VMI.

I know you’ll throw at home vs. Chatt in there (to make several = 2), but that game was really a classic Defensive war. As we know, Chatt’s D was really good (until they lived up to the ChattaQuitta moniker and “opted out” of playing D vs. CIT, after they were eliminated from a possible SoCon Championship) & their O not so much - despite having a couple of dangerous RB’s. Once Mercer grabbed the lead in the 2nd Quarter, they were really content to play a field position / punting game & put the game in the hands of their D. Very conservative play calling the rest of the way.

So…include Chatt if you like, but FUBeAR would contend the VMI game was the only real stinker on O…and overall for Mercer…some kinda voodoo shite hit Maconga that day and the Bears were gosh-awful everywhere from start to finish…cost themselves the SoCon Championship & a Playoff bid that day.

Note: Other 7 scores on O were…69, 24, 45, 34, 45, 34, 35

[The Jackal]

Mercer…had several poor offensive performances

Assuming you are not ‘counting’ Mercer’s game with FBS #1 Alabama (though they did put up 2 TD’s), their only really poor performance was at home vs. VMI.

I know you’ll throw at home vs. Chatt in there (to make several = 2), but that game was really a classic Defensive war. As we know, Chatt’s D was really good (until they lived up to the ChattaQuitta moniker and “opted out” of playing D vs. CIT, after they were eliminated from a possible SoCon Championship) & their O not so much - despite having a couple of dangerous RB’s. Once Mercer grabbed the lead in the 2nd Quarter, they were really content to play a field position / punting game & put the game in the hands of their D. Very conservative play calling the rest of the way.

So…include Chatt if you like, but FUBeAR would contend the VMI game was the only real stinker on O…and overall for Mercer…some kinda voodoo shite hit Maconga that day and the Bears were gosh-awful everywhere from start to finish…cost themselves the SoCon Championship & a Playoff bid that day.

Note: Other 7 scores on O were…69, 24, 45, 34, 45, 34, 35

Yes, 7 against VMI. 10 against UTC.

UTC was a tough team with a good defense. Mercer struggled to score on them. So did Furman.

I think there's this notion that Cronic is an offensive genius while Furman's coaches are just banging rocks on the ground. Mercer's offense was slightly better than Furman's on average, but not drastically so. Cronic's a good coach. Furman has good coaches too.

One notable difference, Cronic went out and landed a transfer QB with 25+ games under his belt at Coastal. Payton, I believe, spent the spring with the team before taking over as the starter this fall.

While Payton didn't rewrite the record books, he was consistently good all season and Mercer benefited from his strong play. As we all know, a veteran talented QB can do wonders for an offense.

It also isn't a particularly surprising correlation, but Payton's one objectively bad game is the same game where Mercer was pummeled.

Good, consistent QB play matters.

[furmandad]

I agree with Jackal on Cronic - VERY good coach, but not genius level (yet!). But Jackal, I have to ask, and sincerely apologize if I've confused you with another member of this message board ... have you previously posted that stats can be misleading and it's points and wins that ultimately matter?

[The Jackal]

I agree with Jackal on Cronic - VERY good coach, but not genius level (yet!). But Jackal, I have to ask, and sincerely apologize if I've confused you with another member of this message board ... have you previously posted that stats can be misleading and it's points and wins that ultimately matter?

I think there's a lot of context in statistics. Many stats are not correlative to winning and losing. They're imperfect data points.

Total yards and scoring offense are not useful in all contexts, but they can give you an idea of how well an offense moves the ball. Based on SoCon play, Furman moved the ball and scored not quite as well, but comparably well, as Mercer.

At bottom, I see football as a team game - 50 or 60 players working towards a common purpose. I do not see three separate units working independently of one another.

[Furmanoid]

I’m not sure I’ve seen anybody say the guy’s a genius. They’ve just been saying that he’s better than our other departed OC. The preponderance of the evidence backs that up. I don’t get why that ruffles feathers. Both guys are the enemy now.

[apaladin]

I agree with Jackal on Cronic - VERY good coach, but not genius level (yet!). But Jackal, I have to ask, and sincerely apologize if I've confused you with another member of this message board ... have you previously posted that stats can be misleading and it's points and wins that ultimately matter?

I think there's a lot of context in statistics. Many stats are not correlative to winning and losing. They're imperfect data points.

Total yards and scoring offense are not useful in all contexts, but they can give you an idea of how well an offense moves the ball. Based on SoCon play, Furman moved the ball and scored not quite as well, but comparably well, as Mercer.

At bottom, I see football as a team game - 50 or 60 players working towards a common purpose. I do not see three separate units working independently of one another.

It’s pretty simple. We did well against bad defenses, not so well against good defenses.
Last 5 games:
UTC & ETSU - AVERAGED 8 POINTS and 226 YDS.
WCU, VMI, SAM - AVERAGED 40 POINTS 463 YDS.
In this case the stats don’t lie.