Fire Mason

[dirtysouthpony]

I don't understand the heavy criticism of our defense this year as opposed to last year. They are the same. We got crushed by Aggie, Baylor last year. We got crushed by Aggie, Tech, and TCU last year. Our best game last year was Houston? They scored 49 points against us in that game. We won because of turnover differential. This probably sounds counter intuitive, but our defense suffers from our inability to run the ball and score in short yardage and red zone.

[TidePony]

Hart, CoC, and Turner need to move quickly on the coaching changes so the new group is in place or close by the start of Bowl season for recruiting and other things. I missed the game yesterday, but from what I'm reading it was more of the same. Arghhhhh!

[JasonB]

I watch a lot of College Football-its talent. We have 2 guys in the secondary that can't play

I would argue that Jay Scott hasn't performed to expectations either...

The young corners not displacing Parks and the Linebackers not doing as well as they should has been really disappointing this season.

Seals looks like a freaking beast in practice, but has not played well in games. Sanders took a step back this season and is really poor in pass coverage.

[blackoutpony]

I watch a lot of College Football-its talent. We have 2 guys in the secondary that can't play

I would argue that Jay Scott hasn't performed to expectations either...

The young corners not displacing Parks and the Linebackers not doing as well as they should has been really disappointing this season.

Seals looks like a freaking beast in practice, but has not played well in games. Sanders took a step back this season and is really poor in pass coverage.

So jB, how's your 9-3 looking so far?

[PerunaPunch]

What is the root problem? It seems our D line just gets beat up bad. And Parks does not seem to have the talent.

Remember when mason kept saying our small line was going to do so well?

Don't be naïve. It's his job to say that! What do you want him to say when the media asks "How is your young DL going to be after graduating Hunt, Thompson, Pittman, Grenier and Frazier?" Do you really want him to say that we're young, undersized and vulnerable to the run and announce that the entire world? Far better for offense coordinators to have to discover that for themselves rather than to announce it before the season even starts.

[Mustangsabu]

I will wait and see how far removed from 9-3 we end up. I thought we would go 8-4. Obviously that isn't going to happen but there are still some games where this team can show what they are capable of by obtaining Ws. In many ways they played a very good game on Saturday. I look forward to this week.

[ghost]

To hold the other team to 28 with a drop off in talent like we have had and an offense that puts the pressure on its D.....Mason looks better than ever. Amazing how Rob ryan is a better coach now that he is with the Saints.

[JasonB]

I watch a lot of College Football-its talent. We have 2 guys in the secondary that can't play

I would argue that Jay Scott hasn't performed to expectations either...

The young corners not displacing Parks and the Linebackers not doing as well as they should has been really disappointing this season.

Seals looks like a freaking beast in practice, but has not played well in games. Sanders took a step back this season and is really poor in pass coverage.

So jB, how's your 9-3 looking so far?

I had high expectations. I was wrong. Lasecki got beat for a sack again on Saturday. I don't think anyone saw him struggling this season. Offense as a whole has been improved, I got that right at least . The LB corps has been really disappointing defensively, and the young players not displacing Parks has been a bit of a mystery.

I also thought we would be a lot better at safety. Scott played well the second half of last season. And I would have though one of the young safeties would have played well. But we have struggled there ever since the injuries.

[sbsmith]

To hold the other team to 28 with a drop off in talent like we have had and an offense that puts the pressure on its D.....Mason looks better than ever. Amazing how Rob ryan is a better coach now that he is with the Saints.

Good point.....until you realize that Mason himself said this defense was Top 25 caliber. We are currently 99th in total defense and 115th in scoring defense. Looks like he missed badly on some of his handpicked recruits and hasn't been able to coach them up well enough to cover for it. A bigger problem is there is no help on the way so he'll have to go someplace with talent to look like a genius again.

[PonySnob]

I will wait and see how far removed from 9-3 we end up. I thought we would go 8-4. Obviously that isn't going to happen but there are still some games where this team can show what they are capable of by obtaining Ws. In many ways they played a very good game on Saturday. I look forward to this week.

This is a "must win" game this week. UConn is currently on a 9-game losing streak and has won 2 out of their last 15 games going back to last season I believe.

[Grant Carter]

Good point.....until you realize that Mason himself said this defense was Top 25 caliber.

What does this have to do with anything? If he had said before the season that he thought we were going to be 100th would you feel any different about the results?

[sbsmith]

Good point.....until you realize that Mason himself said this defense was Top 25 caliber.

What does this have to do with anything? If he had said before the season that he thought we were going to be 100th would you feel any different about the results?

No, a bad defense is a bad defense but the party line was that there was going to be no drop-off at all and that this was going to be the deepest, fastest and strongest defense since the DP. 6 seasons in and the defense is hanging around near the bottom of FBS just like it was when June first got here.

[PerunaPunch]

I don't think anyone is anywhere near satisfied with the on-field results or recruiting, but to be fair about the "party line" you have to look at those statements in context.

PonyFans (or whatever media outlet you choose to substitute): Coach Mason (or Jones, or whoever...), after graduating Hunt, Reed, JG, Pitt, Davis, blah, blah, all of whom are trying out for various NFL teams, how're you going to replace all that talent? How's the D going to look?

Mason (or whoever): Well PonyPride, we're actually pretty excited about our young guys too. They may be young, but we've never had so much talent, speed and depth.

PonyFans: Same question at running back. How're you going to replace a record-setter like Zach Line?

Coach: I'm glad you asked PonyPride. As you know, we have a stable to running backs including a UT transfer, and a kid that looks exactly like Zach.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

So again, what did you expect them to say? Just like everyone, they want to be positive, upbeat, and they want to sell tickets. There was also plenty of talk at the beginning of the year about how this team was built to compete in the wide-open CUSA and not necessarily the line-up-and-run-over-you former Big East.

I expected more this year. And I expected even more next year. However, right now the franchise is Garrett Gilbert, so I'm really wondering what this team will look like without (arguably) the nation's more prolific QB at the helm.