Wistrom Disciple

I’m sure he isn’t pleased either. Hopefully he has a Pelini-like halftime speech and not an Osborne approach… need the guys to play with some fire.

They’re coming, but not yet strong/big or well taught… Luto, Teddy and Benhart have the height/builds but need to bulk up. Will be good in future years but unfortunately, we need it now

First drive coming out of the half feels like it will determine the rest of the game (and season?). Defense needs to wake up as they haven’t done anything noteworthy in the first half, zero inspiration.

To only be down 12 at the half is wild.

Would be nice huh? Dude needs to graduate and exit the program already. Little contribution in his six years here and yet we still start him.

Hope the four minutes off the field gave Chins and staff time to get the defense adjusted. Need to get Tanner Morgan uncomfortable in the pocket, looking like Joe Montana without pressure back there.

Finally a break… need points and a drive to last more than a minute to give the defense time to adjust. Getting railroaded so far with no time to make adjustments on the sidelines

30 seconds on offense, 9 minutes on defense. Rinse and repeat

Bring in the new safeties… can’t imagine they’re worse than Dismuke and Williams is incredibly inconsistent. Also, Minnesota is such a boring team. Effective but so damn boring.

The next guy... you mean like Pelini did with future NFL players dotting the roster that he and his staff added? We know how the next guy turned out and it's taken Frost several years to repair and replace that damage. At this stage, it would be a poor idea to seriously consider any sort of replacement. We now realize we can be a top team again, just need to stay after it and continue to believe that we're capable.

If you want to solely blame Pelini for that mentality, ok. Most would say that was a byproduct of zero admin support, local media with vendettas (Dirk especially) and very little appreciation given for the accomplishments Pelini was able to achieve in his seven years between the Big 12 and Big 10. Yes, I remember the annual embarrassment game. That said, we did win our division in 3 of his 7 years.

I am also excited by how our defense is performing. Hell even Marques Dismuke got an INT yesterday. Sure it took him 4-5 years worth of starts to create a turnover but watching yesterday… I don’t know how anyone could be passively disinterested in our defense. TLDR version: I am a fan too. Therefore his insinuation of plurality is correct.

You watched the game last night, right? You'll probably watch next week too, correct? By golly, most outsiders would say you’re a fan too my guy.

Thank you, my thoughts exactly. Restarting only sets us back yet again. Too many people think the next guy will be the best guy. Too short-sighted, for every Stoops, there are seven Mike Rileys. We’re improving, just need to get it altogether at once finally.

Depends on how we play to get to that record. The big knock on Riley was his players quit demonstrating care or commitment to winning. If the team plays with as much as dominance on defense, offense shows some level of consistency and development by knocking down the turnovers, and special teams even improves to a C-, it would be a tough conversation. Looking like we belong was half the battle, now we need some karma to bounce our way to get over the hump. Frost leaving would be a detriment to the program at this point.

Yes, we have been very poor for quite awhile. The outrage wasn't about dropping to closer to average. It was for paying a special teams coach half a million to show little to no creativity, zero return on investment and poor performance on an aspect of the game where he attended practices for maybe an hour a day. The impression I get is that everyone believes a dedicated special teams coordinator will dramatically make us great quickly. Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma all have split duty coaches and it seems to work alright for them. We brought in Busch this off season. I'd argue that schematically and strategy-wise, we are better this year than last in terms of preparation and setup during the game. Where we're failing is in the execution of those plans. I think most fans could care less about positional or unit rankings and would rather see our players make the smart football play every time. That means catching punts, covering when punts or kicks aren't out of bounds or through the back of the endzone and being able to maintain blocks during kicks. Where I think the coaches can do better is to further simplify and build the mindset of taking the simple play/gain. Too often, I believe, players are trying to do too much for a highlight or to pump their stats that they neglect fundamentals and it costs us. Cam's punt returns early in the year are prime examples. Cerni's punt tonight was pretty straightforward... roll right, punt right. He hooked it bad, very bad which was the equivalent of a QB throwing across his body over the middle of the field while rolling out. I don't believe any coaches would be actively encouraging that sort of impromptu change. The coaches are trying adjustments to help the specialists, such as that rolling right punt style, but the players need to come through for their coaches and team at some point. Until the players do as they train and are taught, any coach is going to look unfavorable in this aspect of our game.

I get it man, that game tonight was ours to lose. I haven’t been that internally upset in quite awhile. Even average special teams play this year and we’re 4-1 at worst.

Progress in terms of improving the talent within the program. Riley struck out on a lot of guys and settled for the D-list players like Dismuke, Chris Walker, etc. Defense also playing with pride again which was absent since Pelini’s guys left. Offense showing glimpses of beautiful football. Unfortunately inconsistency has been our MO and our special teams haven’t been truly good since Bo. I know the popular opinion is to get a special teams coach and it’ll magically make us better. That’s fine and dandy if it works, but I remember the last special teams coach we had… people (including me) complained that Bruce Read was overpaid for having mediocre special teams despite making nearly half a million a year. I do think making Mario an analyst would be better but until the players follow their coaching and perform accordingly, we’re going to continue to struggle. Shanked punts, punting with a hook going the opposite direction of intended and field goal kicking can only be coached so much. Tonight’s punt return for a touchdown for example. Coaches had setup for right side contain and even had the punter rolling to his strong side (right) to make it easier. Dude messed up, same with Pryz. shanking the punts. I don’t want to get into the habit of fans blaming players for everything but clearly those two are failing to prove their spot on the roster.

We have the talent… now. Which other programs specifically are you referring to with changing coaches and having immediate success? Fair warning, I’ll counter you with our past four head coaching changes and then raise you with Texas and Tennessee and their revolving door of coaches the past 20 years.

So… he’s being truthful? At some point, the obvious needs to be pointed out. They can coach until they are blue in the face, players making dumb decisions sometimes have zero to do with coaching, practice, etc.

He put trust into the wrong people I’ll give you that. I think he’s aware that changes need to happen and I firmly believe some staff moves will occur this off season. That said, changing coaches again will only recycle the regime change deal and we will spend several more agonizing years dealing with coaching philosophy changes or a revolving door of assistants. Not good

Lol lay off the booze man. Or stay off the message board for tonight.

I don’t know how you can interpret that but I’ll simply disagree. His first few years he was trying to be stoic (like Osborne) clearly that wasn’t working, and his adjustment has made for offensive improvements, though still suffering from an inconsistent offensive line.

Please stop. Letting Frost go would be an extremely poor idea. Clearly he needs some staff adjustments, but restarting the whole deal again would be dumb.

This program is not safe for my blood pressure.