***Cincinnati Game Week Discussion Thread***

Pope

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Feb 7, 2015
10,549
23,966
113
If we lose to a Scott Satterfield team then this team will have hit rock bottom. It doesn’t get much worse than that
Well when all your defensive starters are either out or playing injured, bad things tend to happen.
 

CycloneFamily15

New Member
Nov 12, 2024
4
7
3
Kansas hit on explosive plays through the air due to our secondary being out of position. Our guys struggled to cover the extra space when we went 4 down and on top of that without Verdon your playbook shrinks. I wonder if there has been any thought at putting Porter at safety with Verdon out. He has been ELITE this year. Only targeted 15 times in those he has 3 picks and 3 PBU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 83cy

madguy30

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Nov 15, 2011
57,270
55,161
113
Yeah, lose this one and it's MBB season. Honestly, they have not been the same since the UCF game. I feel like 7-6 is a real possibility. And that would be an epic collapse.

I'd put the UCF game as when things started looking pretty iffy.

The defense generally held but getting gashed for those huge runs was also a sign of things to come, along with the OL really starting to have issues.

Any sort of win Saturday would be great.
 

AlaCyclone

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2007
5,584
6,783
113
9a8e8l.jpg
And sat on the bench eating hot dogs!
 
  • Agree
Reactions: NWICY

Frak

Well-Known Member
Apr 27, 2009
11,423
7,002
113
I'd put the UCF game as when things started looking pretty iffy.

The defense generally held but getting gashed for those huge runs was also a sign of things to come, along with the OL really starting to have issues.

Any sort of win Saturday would be great.
No you’re totally right and that’s exactly what I meant. If you give up 300+ rushing, your defense is broken. We have been a different team post WV.
 

1SEIACLONE

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2024
2,707
2,492
113
63
Ames Iowa
Saturday is make it or forget it day, win and right the ship going into games with Utah and KSU, drop another game and its like 2002 all over again, and then you have to start thinking are we going to win another game this season. We have to win on Saturday, simple as that.
 

CoachHines3

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 29, 2019
9,573
19,530
113
I'd put the UCF game as when things started looking pretty iffy.

The defense generally held but getting gashed for those huge runs was also a sign of things to come, along with the OL really starting to have issues.

Any sort of win Saturday would be great.
reality of it is, we should be sittin' at 6-3 with a 3 game losing streak.

Wanna go back further? Should we of won @iowa?

What if we were sittin' here at 5-4? OOF.

I know, all "What if" scenarios, but fun to think about.. sorta.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: RezClone

CoachHines3

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 29, 2019
9,573
19,530
113
Saturday is make it or forget it day, win and right the ship going into games with Utah and KSU, drop another game and its like 2002 all over again, and then you have to start thinking are we going to win another game this season. We have to win on Saturday, simple as that.
Yup,

If you win and get on the right track (hopefully looking good doing it) then the last 2 weeks essentially fades away and we are sitting at 8-2.
 

Clonehomer

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
26,796
24,894
113
No you’re totally right and that’s exactly what I meant. If you give up 300+ rushing, your defense is broken. We have been a different team post WV.

Isn’t that when Verdon got hurt? I know he’s tried playing some since, but he was a bright spot early in the season and there’s a void left that Tech and Kansas exploited. The LB’s filled in nicely to cover injuries, but the backups at safety have struggled.
 

CoachHines3

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 29, 2019
9,573
19,530
113
Isn’t that when Verdon got hurt? I know he’s tried playing some since, but he was a bright spot early in the season and there’s a void left that Tech and Kansas exploited. The LB’s filled in nicely to cover injuries, but the backups at safety have struggled.
He's starting to become sort of injury prone
 

CascadeClone

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2009
10,878
13,957
113
I was feeling better about this until i read the blurb about the coaching staff situation.
we have had the worse time with coaches that have been able to scheme against us and sounds like Cincy has a lot of experience of knowing our system. So I expect them to try and expose our defense which isn't actually that hard to do recently.
dog fight again is my thought. ISU by 4.
We do what we do. Other teams know that and scheme around it. We don't really scheme for the opponent, we just do what we do.

CMC game strategy is to out-execute the opponent. That's not a bad strategy. But I do wish they also would add some "out-smart" the opponent, because I don't ever see that - except AGAINST ISU.
 

CascadeClone

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2009
10,878
13,957
113
reality of it is, we should be sittin' at 6-3 with a 3 game losing streak.

Wanna go back further? Should we of won @iowa?

What if we were sittin' here at 5-4? OOF.

I know, all "What if" scenarios, but fun to think about.. sorta.

I think that this really is the truth of the answer. This is a 7-8 win team in terms of "quality". They just executed really well late in some games and got a few bounces, and thus 7-0 instead of say 5-2.

The 7-0 start was probably fools gold, although doesn't mean it wasn't fun. Finally getting a couple bounces to go our way was nice.
 

CoachHines3

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 29, 2019
9,573
19,530
113
I think that this really is the truth of the answer. This is a 7-8 win team in terms of "quality". They just executed really well late in some games and got a few bounces, and thus 7-0 instead of say 5-2.

The 7-0 start was probably fools gold, although doesn't mean it wasn't fun. Finally getting a couple bounces to go our way was nice.
I don't think anyone had us pegged (giggity) at 7-0. But with that comes even higher expectations throughout the season. Maybe we're back more towards the mean of what the season should be.
 

madguy30

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Nov 15, 2011
57,270
55,161
113
reality of it is, we should be sittin' at 6-3 with a 3 game losing streak.

Wanna go back further? Should we of won @iowa?

What if we were sittin' here at 5-4? OOF.

I know, all "What if" scenarios, but fun to think about.. sorta.

Right, it's not like ISU got to 7-0 with some huge talent disparity and now they're just playing bad and that's why they lost.

Injuries have magnified things by quite a bit.

I'd actually say by the 'eye test' that many teams have overall better talent across the board.
 

1SEIACLONE

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2024
2,707
2,492
113
63
Ames Iowa
I don't think anyone had us pegged (giggity) at 7-0.lt But with that comes even higher expectations throughout the season. Maybe we're back more towards the mean of what the season should be.
We caught a break and actually went over to EIU and came out with a win. After that the schedule was not that difficult, with the away game at WV the hardest and we got a win. Defense holds and we beat TT we are 8-0, last week was beyond horrible, the defense didn't even bother to get off the bus. We allowed what 5 drives in a row to be a score. No offense can keep up with that. If we do not win on Saturday, it just reenforces the fact that we were more lucky than good, perception is everything these days and we need to change that perception of ISU football.
 

werdnamanhill

(⌐■_■)
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 23, 2017
3,396
6,125
113
28
Eastern IA -> Raleigh, NC -> Madison, WI
We caught a break and actually went over to EIU and came out with a win. After that the schedule was not that difficult, with the away game at WV the hardest and we got a win. Defense holds and we beat TT we are 8-0, last week was beyond horrible, the defense didn't even bother to get off the bus. We allowed what 5 drives in a row to be a score. No offense can keep up with that. If we do not win on Saturday, it just reenforces the fact that we were more lucky than good, perception is everything these days and we need to change that perception of ISU football.
I disagree. No team could put up with the amount of injuries we had last week. It's frankly insane. But that's just luck. Bad injury year, it happens. This team went 7-0 because they are good. If they can adjust to new personnel, or get some injured players back, they'll be back to form.

Sure, there's been coaching mistakes, execution mistakes. But playing walk-on LBs and backup DLs and playing 1/2 hour secondary while injured is not a recipe to win. But it's what we've got to deal with.