Three Goats - The Kent State Game

Back in the 8wie days, I wrote Three Heroes/Three Goats, no one read that so it's new to you. Also we tended to win more games back in those days. The premise is simple: when we win, I praise our heroes, when we lose I criticize our goats. Take any praise in stride, lest we get a big head. Take any criticism with a grain of salt, this is how we learn.

We lost, so it's sadly time for Three Goats.

3) Me, UB Bull Run, Bullievers everywhere: I'd guess the consensus amongst hardcore fans was a four win season. 3 Games in we have 1 win, if we keep going at this pace, we'll win 4 games. So why am I so upset, well A) we don't play anymore FCS teams besides UMass, we don't even get Akron. Also, before the season I thought, "look at what we did to NIU and Ohio at home." Quinn rebuilding the UB Stadium homefield advantage would take us to 6 wins.

Turner Gill went 60% at home in 2007, then 67% at home in 2008 and fell to 33% in 2009. Homefield helped a growing team in 2007 get to 5 wins, helped the 2008 team find its stride and get 8 wins in 2008 and playing poorly at home led to the disappointing 5 win season of 2009.

Quinn in 2010 won only one game at home, but in 2011, went 3-3, and probably would have gone 4-2 if it was not for a missed XP. We looked awful on the road but if we could push the MAC Champion to the brink and beat the MAC runner up, it says something about the power of UB stadium.

Or not, the last 2 MAC home games make Ohio and NIU look like accidents. Against BGSU we severely mismanged BO and our time with the strong winds at our backs. Against KSU we severly mismanaged a good half by BO, over-used him, and never really established a passing game.

But that's my fault, I said we should win six games because I'm an optimist. I went to school during the WORST time in UB football. I also went to every practice and game, clapped and cheered and said: "if it wasn't for that fumble we would have had them." I have been lost to Stockholm Syndrome and any criticism is just me working as a sleeper agent to get in the good graces of the angrier UB fan base and slowly sway them to: "well he owns Akron, lets give him a contract extension."

After not looking lost against UGA and destroying Morgan with 8 TDs, even the most anti-Quinn members of Bull Nation got swept up into this game and the hype of ESPNU and national TV. I also blame Jeremy Guy who works for the MAC IN CLEVELAND, which is NEAR KENT STATE (Anti-Ohio sentiments, praise for Bernard Pierce, oh no, I'm typical annoying Temple Fan). I think Guy brought some bad mojo to Buffalo with him. (jguymac brought the bad mojo, but has otherwise done a great job with social media and is a must follow on twitter).

I say ban @jguymac from UB Stadium, he's bad mojo. #Scapegoat #SearchingForAnswers

— Conrad Mostiller (@conradmostiller) September 20, 2012

However it's just one game, it's not the season. We put too much in this game, we're overreacting now, that's why we all are Goat #3. Why this game does not matter:

• We had a 10 day layoff, after a bye week game vs Morgan. So it was 17 days since we faced real competition, hard to stay in rhythm with that layoff.
• We have never started better than 2-1 in FBS, we did that once, we then promptly dropped our next three games, we then won the MAC.
  
• We get UConn and Pitt, winnable games, and if we lose we get 3 straight home games to try to get into position to win the MAC East.
  
• We're only 0-1 in MAC, only 1 game back of a trip to Detroit.

We are starved for wins, so its easy to see why we wanted to take a giant leap with a win, but we'll have to take baby steps, starting with a better effort against UConn.

Also, it is not Licata time.

2) However Goat #2 is our leader, Alex Zordich.

via images.memewow.com

4-22 for 92 yards and 1 TD and 2 INTS. Take away the hail mary and it's 3-21 for 46 yards and 2 INTS. Take away the one long pass to Hughes and it's 2-20 for 10 yards and 2 INTS, five yards per reception and a half a yard per pass attempt. That's bad and you should feel bad.

You cannot go 4 for 22, we would have been better off just running the triple option. What happened to the read option game we saw in Georgia, or the scrambling Zordich who kept the defense honest? In this game, you had 10 yards ahead of you one play, and BO about 10 yards to your left on the sideline. You threw an almost lateral to BO, it was too strong and behind him and BO was hit immediately. Just tuck it and run. You'll have better days, but you won't have a worst day than Wednesday.

1) Jeff Quinn: He's seen better days. I've already went over his predictability. He was out-coached by a guy I had never heard of. I now know it's Coach Hazell, and I have commenced with the "Hazell is so hot right now" jokes. But I digress that is a bad omen for Quinn. Right now Quinn looks like the Charlie Weis of the MAC we have a simple formula we can follow, but instead we fail to find a decided schematic advantage. Sad to say the simple formula is that of the hated Temple Owls. They had top 10 Running Back, Bernard Pierce they managed his carries well (or at least better than we do) and used the dominant run game to spark an adequate passing game. Temple took a dominant Back and steamrolled through the MAC, while we take our dominant Back and Rick Roll our fans.

Quinn continues to display the personnel management of a 6 year-old boy, who after dropping his toy from a 2nd story window to see what happens, cries when it breaks. When BO has 11 carries in the 1st quarter one of these days he'll break by halftime. Wednesday was that day, Murie looked good behind him, all the more reason to manage BO's carries more responsibly.

Again, we never warmed Alex into the game, which we did very well at UGA. At UGA Z looked poised and confident in front of 90,000 fans. In front of 15,000 at home, he looked lost.

On defense, we blitzed Kent's "QB" into 3 and outs. Then we decided to go soft zone and allow Dri Archer the space to make himself at home within the soft pockets of the zone. We used the opposite day gameplan, giving Kent's not good QB time to get comfortable and throw and allowing their only playmaker to roam free in space. We allowed two 100-yard rushers against a team that doesn't throw very well. Losing Means hurt, but would it really have mattered if he was in if THAT was your defensive gameplan.

I say this because I love you, we want Ohio 2011, 2nd half NIU and 1st half UGA Quinn, we know he's in there somewhere. Perhaps "The Waterboy" style visualization will help you: just picture UConn as a FCS team out of the Atlantic-10 Conference, then go out and drop 50 on them.

Honorable mention:

We COULD be Heroes, but we weren't (brought to you by David Bowie):

Alex Neutz for the play of the year so far.
Khalil Mack for directing traffic on the autobahn in the second half
Branden Oliver for playing well in the first, and for having the courage to share a nickname with Body Odor, yes big #32 or B-O as the kids in Amherst call him.*
And Jordan Johnson, freshman RB from my Alma Mater Sweet Home (Go Panthers) for grabbing his first career interception against Kent.*

*Per ESPN