Irish

Bubba certainly has been given a grace period (and probably deservedly so given the mess he inherited) - we have all of our eggs in the Bubba Ball basket - smash face football appeals to Sioux fans because it is far from Muss and because that's what we played (although we had great QB play) when we were a DII power. However, this may be Bubba's first test - do you do something with an O coordinator that has been out-adjusted almost every game and has made poor personnel decisions or do we plan to wait until we have an Alabama type line and pound the rock? We have to have a counter to "8 in the box" or we are going to be in for a bad time. If Woody Hayes were dropped into the Big 10 how do you think he would do? Stop the run and establish our run may not be a complete formula - Bubba's challenge now is one of being flexible. I hope he can because if this is a bust we will approach two decades of futility. Time for Molberg.

I 100% believe this and think it is all the more reason Bubba deserves some heat for today's fiasco. It is unbelievable that a good, hardworking kid who gave us great QB play right before he was hurt is not given any chance to play no matter what happens on the field. Bubba is looking a bit like a square peg round hole guy.

Not saying fire Bubba or anything like it, but I think it is reasonable to criticize the type of game we played today and put some of that on the coaches - Even with our talent gap, this is a pretty far cry from what we were given to understand Bubba Ball would be. In my opinion not assignment sharp, poor play calling, the fumbles, the previous 4th quarter meltdowns - Sure Bubba should get more time to get his guys in place, but in my opinion Sioux fans have a huge tolerance for poor football.

Discussed it a little? I'm wondering if we were sold a bit of a bill of goods with Bubba by the Good Old Boys. Not impressed with where we are at or how we manage games - everything from turnovers, special teams (receiving and coverage) to playcalling to the putrid fake punt. Not assignment sharp at all. It's one thing to get beat because of talent, but another to get beat because we lack fundamentals.

At this point I think Molberg could return punts better than Seibel too.

Actually, our 3rd stringer is better than our 2nd stringer too.

Yet Molberg gets no chance - pathetic

Wow - if you woke up from a 2 year coma and immediately tuned into this game you would swear Muss was still coaching. If Molberg doesn't get a shot I will have serious doubts about Bubba's ability to run this team. No excuse for leaving Bartles in.

I don't always agree with you but you always seem to have good info and an interesting insight. I totally agree with this post, however. If this is how they treat good, loyal kids it will come back to bite them. At this point it is purely ridiculous that Joe isn't getting a shot. I have never been impressed with Rudolf and firmly believe Joe is getting hosed for some unknown reason. Implying that Bubba would never do this because he is Bubba is pure circular nonsense. He is allowing Rudolf to do this. In my opinion, Joe played himself into the starter position before he got hurt and has not been given a chance since. Doesn't speak well of our program.

I want a hamburger, no a cheesburger - I want a hotdog

Not by the fans or by demand of the fans but by a series of pathetic AD's with support from the administration. Although there are certainly fans that favor hockey, never have I heard anyone call for cutting funds to other programs - most were very happy with football success - If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at the AD's (looking at you, Bunning). The way people are talking, the hockey fans stormed the AD office and demanded a cut in football funds. I have close contact with athletes during the Bunning era and their universal conclusion was that he was an idiot. I agree that we have had a string of poor hires including the AD and Muss, but it is not the fault of anyone in the hockey program.

Actually, the two terrible quarters are just in the last two weeks. We have 4 games in which we played horrid 4th quarters - Drake, NDSU, Idaho, and Weber. What frustrates me is that we don't appear to have learned a single thing from any of them. We have been consistently out-adjusted. When teams stack the box we have no comeback or plan - we have a good QB on the bench who deserves a shot and couldn't play much worse. I understand the idea of Bubba Ball, but it only works if you have the horses. Coaches seem to have a square peg-round hole mentality. There is a fine line between staying the course and being stubborn.

Maybe I'm extra frustrated because crapping the bed in the 4th quarter is the exact opposite of what I expected from Bubba Ball. I thought by now he would have mentally tough, assignment sharp teams, not this crapfest we have been seeing in the 4th quarter.

There are two schools of thought on this

I understand your point about the talent and am not calling for Bubba's head by any means. However, there are certainly some things about this version of Bubba Ball that I thought would be much better by now including poor special teams play, turning the ball over, many missed assignments, bland play calling that gets worse in the 4th quarter, the lack of effective half-time adjustments, poor communication at times, and horrible end of game collapses - these are things that are to some degree coachable. After the Muss era, in my mind we were promised more discipline on the field and on the sidelines. - Well, the sidelines are cleaned up. I guess for me it's not so much that we lose, it's how we are losing. And "hockey only" posters are right - we will not build a strong fan base of support with play like this.

So - Bubba and staff once again get out adjusted at half-time and blow a very winnable game and you're mad at Hockey fans? Even if they are a bit fairweather for football the problem is more on the field at this point. Maybe time for the staff to feel a little heat?

I understand the injury situation and limits on talent and recruiting that Bubba has - but - what we are seeing that passes for "Bubba Ball" is just crap. At this time in his second year I at least expected an assignment sharp, mentally tough team that sometimes got beat on talent but didn't beat themselves and were tough to play against. I don't expect to be out-adjusted every half time and to pee winnable games down our leg. Missed blocks, poor execution - at some point that has to be on the coaches. Not impressed so far. Time for the team and coaches to figure it out.

Right - cause that's what we do

Agree with this - he certainly isn't as mobile, but threw some nice balls - a much better passer than Studsrud (think back to his locked on into coverage pick in the first quarter). He is not the reason we lost. Coaching strategies played a big part in this collapse.

If someone had been in a coma for several years and wandered into the game towards the end of the third quarter they would have thought we were still in the Muss era. Nothing is more frustrating to me than not blitzing or pressuring the quarterback, playing loose in the secondary, and then getting gashed 15-20 yards at a time up and down the field.

I know this is Bubba's second year and understand the talent constraints but I really hoped that this kind of crap would be done when Bubba got the job. I thought we would be undertalented for a few years and get beat by some better teams but I thought that our days of folding like a cheap lawn chair were over. The coaching staff deserves some blame for this. I thought we were outcoached.

Where they figured out our defense and started going through it like crap through a goose we couldn't do anything against their D when we needed to.

After this game, I'm pretty sure we won't be needing the Sack City

Just got back from the game and wow - we want to build a game experience - a beautiful day for tailgating - a nice homecoming crowd with a good student section, and a very beatable opponent. The place is loud early and the students are really into it. Then don't show up for the 4th quarter and pee one down our leg. I'm gonna say it - we were outcoached today during the game.