2020 MAC Championship Game - Ball State @ #23 Buffalo (12/13 7:30pm)

[promotherobot]

1 minute ago, nyquil said:

We didn’t have a kicking game last year and it wasn’t addressed.

Well that's weird. I mean it's not mcnulty's fault we always score touchdowns. But he must practice FG's. And for Lance to show so little faith in him when UB needed 10 points is a bad look on Lance, if you ask me.

[MDBullsfan89]

19 minutes ago, promotherobot said:

If I'm a P5 program looking at Lance I can't be real confident seeing how he coaches in big games. Especially Illinois. They just put up with 5 years of mediocrity with Lovie Smith. Then again they're illinois.

Yeah I think they'd be happy just to be in big games at all. Sounds like a good match to me.

[RecoveringHillbilly]

Not a good night at all for favorites. UAB beats Marshall, Oregon takes down USC, and us.

[DooleyBull06]

Disappointing loss.  I thought it was an interesting wrinkle to come out passing more at the onset of the game.  It worked.  The turning point was the missed FG.  Then our defense lost control of the game.  Turnovers of course didn't help.  Once the defense found its footing, the run game wasn't a factor. Disappointing to blow another double digit lead in the MAC championship game.  If LL is back we need to address special teams (when your best kicker is the QB that's a problem) and the defense.  Now the question is does LL leave?  Does this perform hurt his stock?  Or is he gone already?

[UBigbobby]

Another signature Lance Leipold loss.  Losing to Army at home in 2018, a week where if they won they'd certainly have snuck into national rankings for the first time ever, was no fluke.  Collapsing in the 2nd half of the 2018 Championship was no fluke.  Yesterday was no fluke.  Lance left his magic in DIII and his teams fall on their faces at the first sign of adversity.  Was kind of hoping Illinois would hire him.

[promotherobot]

1 hour ago, UBigbobby said:

Another signature Lance Leipold loss.  Losing to Army at home in 2018, a week where if they won they'd certainly have snuck into national rankings for the first time ever, was no fluke.  Collapsing in the 2nd half of the 2018 Championship was no fluke.  Yesterday was no fluke.  Lance left his magic in DIII and his teams fall on their faces at the first sign of adversity.  Was kind of hoping Illinois would hire him.

He certainly has a poor record in big games 1-3 in MAC Championships and bowl games.

[UB92]

Thoughts on the Championship Game.   Waited a bit to not react too hastily and thought about things overnight/this morning.

• When BSU took the lead, I thought to myself "this is the first time they trailed all year"...and then the announcer said the same thing.  We really had no adversity this year, so when it happened, the players were not prepared.
• Vantrease isn't the QB you want to lead your team to a come-from-behind victory.  That isn't a strength he has or has displayed.  He is good at what he does, so this was going to be a challenge.
• Kudos to the second half defense.  They only allowed 3 points and got a turnover.  I know it was horrid in the first half, but they gave us a chance.
• I wrote about this a while back and it was evident in spades last night.  It is clear that the "LL Offensive Team" (which includes him and his OC) is not good at in-game adjustments.  There is ample evidence of this throughout his tenure at UB and others have documented this.  However, he/his team has been successful because they have superior talent on the field.  In other words, they do a great job of recruiting and giving his team an advantage on the field.  They scheme before the game and it has been successful.  Heck...this year they were always in front at half-time and...let's face it...were dominating a lot of teams, so the adjustments were 'keep doing what we are doing'.  In the game last night, we needed to make adjustments on the offensive end, but there was really nothing to be found.   That is not a strength of this coaching staff and it was needed last night (because of the game situation), but didn't happen.  It kind of "is what it is" at this point.  We do have another strong recruiting class coming in, so a strategy of "having the best players" and "not needing to make adjustments" worked this year...for the most part.  
• McNaulty has been OUTSTANDING this year with his PK on extra points and driving the ball into the endzone on kickoffs most of the time.  He didn't miss a PAT all year and we led the NCAA in scoring.  He had two FG attempts.  One was a duck and the other was tipped at the line.  It was really inexcusable not to have him try that FG down 10.  He wasn't hurt.  You HAVE to make it a one score game.  This, to me, was Lance's biggest blunder of the night (and there were many).
• I wonder if his / his team's performance last night impacted the decision to go with Bielema today by Illinois.  I know it didn't help -- that's for sure.

Okay...now we move on to our bowl game.  I look forward to a lot of JP running the ball and some timely throws by Vantrease...and a much more aggressive defense.

Go Bulls.

 

[squire17]

Sorry for duplicate posts yesterday. I just discovered that I can’t navigate this forum in Safari. Will use Firefox, as this seems to work.

[UBigbobby]

8 hours ago, promotherobot said:

He certainly has a poor record in big games 1-3 in MAC Championships and bowl games.

And they're not really nail biters.  He comes in with what everyone knows is a superior team and the team simply underperforms in every facet.  First time it happens, it's a fluke.  But this is like the 4th or 5th time...which is the coach.