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Post by Cajundemon11 on Sept 22, 2019 0:31:06 GMT
Yea that’s a huge blow to the team. He’s dynamic on special teams and accounted for a ton of turnovers last year.
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Post by TrackDemon on Sept 22, 2019 0:35:04 GMT
Demons seem close to being a competitive team just can’t turn the corner
Defense made some adjustments but started in way too deep a hole
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Post by TrackDemon on Sept 22, 2019 1:01:28 GMT
Now we are getting blown out. 31-0
Didn’t expect this
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Post by Cajundemon11 on Sept 22, 2019 1:11:33 GMT
Hate to say I’m not surprised. Disappointed, yes....just not shocked.
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Post by Cajundemon11 on Sept 22, 2019 1:19:56 GMT
Goodness. 38-7 now. I hate this for Laird, I really like him and I’m sick at the result but I do feel for him. Very disappointing night.
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Post by purplestorm on Sept 22, 2019 1:22:19 GMT
Track, I'm sorry, but I can't share your optimism. I don't think we're close to anything right now. Cajun, I agree with you. I hate that I see it this way. I wish we were our old selves. We're not even competitive anymore. Offense is predictable, we struggle running the ball, our defense gives up a lot of yards early and often and we are undisciplined at times. Our special teams are as bad as I've ever seen them. I don't know that we've made a FG this year. If so, maybe one. Our team has no identity right now. We seem to just be going through the motions. We have talent on paper, but for whatever reason it is not equating to success on the field. I'm not a coach, just an alum and fan. I want us to get back to being a good football program. We're just not there and haven't been there in a long time.
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Post by jneal318 on Sept 22, 2019 1:45:38 GMT
There is some fight in the team in this second half, but that dropped TD along with the slow start hurts!
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Post by Cajundemon11 on Sept 22, 2019 2:04:36 GMT
Also another starter from last year linebacker Blake Stephenson is out for the year with an injury. Just FYI. Him along with bourgeois are two guys that made a lot of plays last year.
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Post by purplestorm on Sept 22, 2019 2:18:20 GMT
We just got our asses handed to us for the third time this year out of three games. (LSU doesn't count because that was a payday only). Manipulation of stats matter not, either.
'Optimism, turning the corner, showing some fight' all sounds real good, and it helps us cope, but here are the cold, hard facts:
NSU: Avg Points: 16 per game
UT-Martin, Midwestern State, Houston Baptist, none of which are top-notch FCS programs or even close to such: Avg points: 41 per game
We are 0-4 and I know for a fact the coaches thought we could be 3-1 going into the SLU game. Ask yourself if this is acceptable or have we become so used to having losing seasons that we look for silver linings and then "hope" it changes next week? It hasn't changed and it's not changing as long as we keep doing the same old things. We have a problem no one wants to address. I'm not even sure if we know what the problem really is. I don't. I just know silver linings no longer motivate me. New seasons do, but that wears off really quickly. When people I know ask me, "What happened to NSU, man? Y'all used to be good and now you suck," I have nothing to respond with and I don't even try. I just shrug my shoulders and change the subject. Don't look now, but three of the four best teams in the conference are coming up in the next month. If we're going to "figure it out," now would be the time for that to happen. Otherwise, by about Week 7, we should just start all freshmen and sophomores and build from there. Try something new because what we're doing isn't remotely working.
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Post by jneal318 on Sept 22, 2019 2:28:26 GMT
Southeastern, Nicholls, UCA, UIW, McNeese are the next 5 games. Next week is huge just to salvage the season, but we are on our way to 0-9 easily if we don't get this turned around. SHSU is back as they are spanking UIW right now 45-0 with Nathan Stewart well on his way to being an NFL draft pick. Also, McNeese will fall to ACU. The question comes back to development and recruiting. Are we bringing in the best talent because the last minute transfers tell me that the coaching staff is not confident in the athletes that they have brought in? The heat is on right now, we are losing to perennial bottom feeders in other conferences or D-II schools, what does that say about our program?
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Post by TrackDemon on Sept 22, 2019 2:34:10 GMT
We are 0-4 and I know for a fact the coaches thought we could be 3-1 going into the SLU game. Ask yourself if this is acceptable or have we become so used to having losing seasons that we look for silver linings and then "hope" it changes next week? It hasn't changed and it's not changing as long as we keep doing the same old things. We have a problem no one wants to address. I'm not even sure if we know what the problem really is. I don't. I just know silver linings no longer motivate me. New seasons do, but that wears off really quickly. When people I know ask me, "What happened to NSU, man? Y'all used to be good and now you suck," I have nothing to respond with and I don't even try. I just shrug my shoulders and change the subject. Don't look now, but three of the four best teams in the conference are coming up in the next month. If we're going to "figure it out," now would be the time for that to happen. Otherwise, by about Week 7, we should just start all freshmen and sophomores and build from there. Try something new because what we're doing isn't remotely working. We should be. Aside from LSU we had a very easy schedule to start with. Make no mistake we are a BAD 0-4 team. The fire the team showed vs LSU wasn't there. Problem is that that fire should be there EVERY week. I don't know the answers but we have to be better.
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Post by purplestorm on Sept 22, 2019 2:46:08 GMT
We didn't have any fire for LSU. Let's not kid ourselves. Bebe was kind to us and had his defense playing zone in the first-half, so we played pitch and catch and had some success. When they went to man in the 2nd-half, it was over quickly. We are possibly the worse team in the Southland and it hurts to type those words. I mean, one year out of ten, sure. Even two years out of ten, we could be bad and it would be OK, but this is becoming systemic.
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Post by NSU2003 on Sept 22, 2019 13:29:48 GMT
We are 0-4 and I know for a fact the coaches thought we could be 3-1 going into the SLU game. Ask yourself if this is acceptable or have we become so used to having losing seasons that we look for silver linings and then "hope" it changes next week? It hasn't changed and it's not changing as long as we keep doing the same old things. We have a problem no one wants to address. I'm not even sure if we know what the problem really is. I don't. I just know silver linings no longer motivate me. New seasons do, but that wears off really quickly. When people I know ask me, "What happened to NSU, man? Y'all used to be good and now you suck," I have nothing to respond with and I don't even try. I just shrug my shoulders and change the subject. Don't look now, but three of the four best teams in the conference are coming up in the next month. If we're going to "figure it out," now would be the time for that to happen. Otherwise, by about Week 7, we should just start all freshmen and sophomores and build from there. Try something new because what we're doing isn't remotely working. We should be. Aside from LSU we had a very easy schedule to start with. Make no mistake we are a BAD 0-4 team. The fire the team showed vs LSU wasn't there. Problem is that that fire should be there EVERY week. I don't know the answers but we have to be better. No. We are not bringing in the talent we did under Stoker. I believe, for a number of reasons, it tailed off shortly after his firing. Not to say that there is none...but overall we are not getting the players we used to get. Many things factor into that...look at all the schools that have added in the past 15 or so years or have moved to D1. That is going to dilute your talent pool. Then look at our performance the past 15 years...why would any quality player want to play for a school that loses as much as we do? Nobody wants to play for NSU right now...and if they do they probably wouldn't/didn't get a serious offer from the other top SLC schools. And I get the same question all the time every new football season. "What's up with NSU football?" I just say "I wish I knew" and then remind them of the good years when I was in school from 98-03.
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Post by purplestorm on Sept 22, 2019 13:40:25 GMT
NSU is D-I. I'm guessing you meant to FBS (I-A) from FCS (I-AA), but I see your point. I don't know if I buy this reasoning fully. To an extent, maybe, but Nicholls and SLU have had success in these so-called lean years you mentioned post-Stoker. Are Nicholls and SLU great programs? No, but they are winning more than they are losing. This is all a fan-base wants. Lean years are fine if you're building up to a good season or two. So, I can't really buy this excuse fully. Thibodaux, Hammond, Natchitoches ... I mean, all similar size towns. Facilities-wise, we are much farther along in football than either of those schools. The only advantage they have is they're closer to larger population centers -- Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
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Post by Cajundemon11 on Sept 22, 2019 15:00:52 GMT
I just don’t have ears for the facilities argument. Yes they can and need to be improved but you can’t convince me that’s the reason we can’t win football games. Nicholls won back to back conference titles and you can’t tell me they have better facilities than we do. We just got our asses kicked by a team with a one sided stadium. There’s a freakin CVS pharmacy behind the the guest bench and the crowd was a whopping 1900 people. I played hs football in the Houston area and never saw a stadium like that! Nicholls in 2014 was the worst football team I’ve ever seen in my entire life and they hired a guy who changed the culture there in thibodaux and have been to the playoffs 2 years in a row. I don’t have any ideas but I do think we can recruit quality football players to northwestern and win football games. No doubt in my mind, I don’t have any answers or ideas but I absolutely believe it’s possible.
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