SUCKTEMBER: Matt Campbell Teams not ready to start the season.

[Gunnerclone]

Now that we’re in to Brocktober I think it’s a good time to reflect on another ISU football tradition: SUCKtember.

There is no good explanation for our struggles other than a lack of preparation and the failure of the coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments to JUST WIN. “The process” shouldn’t include throwing away games with inexplicable errors, playing in a way that doesn’t mesh with what we do the rest of the season.

Sucktember shouldn’t be an open audition for special teams. It shouldn’t be a time to “get our feet under us”. It shouldn’t be a time to just try to keep things close and hopefully be close enough at the end to pull out a game we’ve been getting beat down in for 3 1/2 Quarters.

If we struggle against cupcakes, and we get stomped by Iowa again next season, serious questions will have to be asked and changes will have to be made. Specifically moving on from Tom Manning and going out and getting a special teams coach that can not only coach special teams well, but also go out on the trail and get guys that can kick the ball off successfully and punt the ball successfully.

No more wasted seasons and wasted games.

 

[JM4CY]

 

[SCNCY]

Yes its like beating a dead horse, but its going to continually get brought up until the staff addresses it; what ever it is.

One thing to consider, could it be the captains on the team that have caused the slow starts? Maybe they are more passive in their leadership and personality that other players don't get hyped up like they should? I have no insight, but it may not be a coaches problem.

 

[bsaltyman]

I can understand starting slow next year if we lose a bunch of players like we should (Purdy, Hall, Kolar, Eisworth, Rose, etc). Starting slow this year was the frustrating part.

 

[isutrevman]

Now that we’re in to Brocktober I think it’s a good time to reflect on another ISU football tradition: SUCKtember.

There is no good explanation for our struggles other than a lack of preparation and the failure of the coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments to JUST WIN. “The process” shouldn’t include throwing away games with inexplicable errors, playing in a way that doesn’t mesh with what we do the rest of the season.

Sucktember shouldn’t be an open audition for special teams. It shouldn’t be a time to “get our feet under us”. It shouldn’t be a time to just try to keep things close and hopefully be close enough at the end to pull out a game we’ve been getting beat down in for 3 1/2 Quarters.

If we struggle against cupcakes, and we get stomped by Iowa again next season, serious questions will have to be asked and changes will have to be made. Specifically moving on from Tom Manning and going out and getting a special teams coach that can not only coach special teams well, but also go out on the trail and get guys that can kick the ball off successfully and punt the ball successfully.

No more wasted seasons and wasted games.

At this point, I've accepted that playing bad the first 2-3 games, then going on a roll the rest of the season is just who we are. Still the best football I've ever watched. I wish we'd get off to better starts, but maybe that's just a side effect of "The Process". I have no idea.

What if they don't ever get rid of the slow starts? What are you gonna do? Fire the best coach in school history? No thanks. I'll take the last 4 years of football with the slow starts for the next 20-30 years.

 

[Turn2]

Pretty bad analogy when that horse kicks us in the face again every fall.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I can understand starting slow next year if we lose a bunch of players like we should (Purdy, Hall, Kolar, Eisworth, Rose, etc). Starting slow this year was the frustrating part.

We should NEVER be in a close game with UNI. The excuses are so played out for that game. Then that ******** bleeds over to the Iowa game, which bled over to the Baylor game.

 

[JM4CY]

Yes its like beating a dead horse, but its going to continually get brought up until the staff addresses it; what ever it is.

One thing to consider, could it be the captains on the team that have caused the slow starts? Maybe they are more passive in their leadership and personality that other players don't get hyped up like they should? I have no insight, but it may not be a coaches problem.

It seemed like the opposite of passive, if anything. My guess is that the players' sphincters were wound a little tight from the expectations.

 

[3TrueFans]

It's a stupid month anyways, there, I said it. Go **** yourselves, Earth, Wind & Fire.

 

[Cydkar]

Now that we’re in to Brocktober I think it’s a good time to reflect on another ISU football tradition: SUCKtember.

You would.

 

[cyfanatic13]

Weird thread to start nearing the end of October

 

[Gunnerclone]

At this point, I've accepted that playing bad the first 2-3 games, then going on a roll the rest of the season is just who we are. Still the best football I've ever watched. I wish we'd get off to better starts, but maybe that's just a side effect of "The Process". I have no idea.

What if they don't ever get rid of the slow starts? What are you gonna do? Fire the best coach in school history? No thanks. I'll take the last 4 years of football with the slow starts for the next 20-30 years.

I mean yes, if the goal is to be so much better than an FCS team that the game is over before the ball Is kicked,not get rocked by Iowa every year, and not sleepwalk through 3 quarters of the opening conference game. There has to be some kind of accountability.

 

[AuH2O]

In Big 12 openers against teams other than OU Campbell is 1-4
Campbell vs. OU in a big 12 opener is 0-1
Campbell vs. OU in all other games 2-3

September also includes a loss to UNI, an OT win vs. UNI and a 6 point win vs. UNI. It also includes 0-6 vs. Iowa and a loss to Louisiana. They struggled against Akron. Their biggest win vs. UNI was ugly until they got two pick 6s.

Louisiana Monroe is the only September game that you can probably say this team has played well in September, and I'm not sure how much you want to take from that game.

 

[nrg4isu]

In Big 12 openers against teams other than OU Campbell is 1-4
Campbell vs. OU in a big 12 opener is 0-1
Campbell vs. OU in all other games 2-3

September also includes a loss to UNI, an OT win vs. UNI and a 6 point win vs. UNI. It also includes 0-6 vs. Iowa and a loss to Louisiana. They struggled against Akron. Their biggest win vs. UNI was ugly until they got two pick 6s.

Louisiana Monroe is the only September game that you can probably say this team has played well in September, and I'm not sure how much you want to take from that game.

UNLV too... but it's the same as the Monroe game - how much can you really take away from it

 

[OnlyCyclones]

I know this is a message board, but the idea that any of us have a better idea of how to address the slow starts than the coaching staff does is laughable. None of us are inside the program to know what causes it. “Fire Manning, hire a special teams coordinator…” surely that’s the ticket to the gravy train, and not just the coaching equivalent of the eternal itch for the backup quarterback. In fact, it’s even more dumb, since at least you can watch tape of the backup quarterback. There’s no quantifying what the effect of shaking up this coaching staff would be. Given that the strength of this program is, by Campbell’s own account, the cohesion of everyone—including the coaching staff—it seems like a bad idea on the face of it.

But this IS a message board, carry on.

 

[Clone95]

Well, I'd rather be saying "With a good September we could have been in the CFP, instead of this NY6 bowl", than "Thanks to our win against Iowa we made a bowl".

This coaching staff struggles in Sept, for whatever reason, but it is also the one that has taken us to our highest highs of modern college football.

 

[bsaltyman]

We should NEVER be in a close game with UNI. The excuses are so played out for that game. Then that ******** bleeds over to the Iowa game, which bled over to the Baylor game.

I agree we should never have to be in a dogfight with UNI, but that is not just a Campbell problem. For about as far back as I can remember we’ve always played UNI closer than I would like, no matter who our coach has been. I don’t know what the answer is for that.

 

[jsb]

It is what it is. No one with a brain thinks that the coaches don’t care about it. But as fans it is time to accept it. If that is the price we pay for the past 4 years, then I have to be fine with it.

 

[CloneJD]

I’m going to go on record saying i trust the most successful coach in program history to further our program along rather than the message board pot head from Ohio.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

My potential read on it is Campbell and staff are very meticulous. He won’t put any new scheme or play out there until he’s confident at practice the team can run it in their sleep. We haven’t really seen the big changes from year to year – the 3-3-5 defense, the 3 TE sets—until October each season. They seem easy to scout in September.

Then they also are a bit stubborn in wanting to win games lined up head to head, offense vs. defense, with more yards per play. No reliance on trick plays, turnovers, or special teams. At times it seems like they almost prioritize player development over winning. This is great for raising the bar and getting players to reach their potential, but also can be costly.

And I’m not sure how much of it is fixable. The attitude feels like it is to trust the process over the long haul, not take shortcuts to win a specific game. Hard for me to judge that based on the results. I could be way off but this is what I see as a casual fan.