Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Burns was a "Bennett insider" when he was selected to be our OC. I seem to recall that whoever Bennett really wanted wasn't available, and so he selected what he felt to be the best OC available. You certainly can't argue with Burns' stats at Marshall. But is seems that a lot of this game of coaching musical chairs seems to revolve around the national coaches convention and recommendations from people who coached with people who coached with acquaintances...
Like the players Bennett inherited... In the end, you have to play the cards you're dealt and try to get the best out of them.
One thing that sticks in my mind from the Rice game... The OC must not have had much confidence in our ability to punch in up the middle if he kept calling sweeps, misdirection plays, etc.
Opinions anyone??
I am not that familiar with Burns' career. Was he at Marshall before he was at Cincy?
I wouldn't call Rice a turn around yet....Dillard was the main reason they did well this year, but like last years UCF team, Rice will probably be back to normal next year, once coaches have all spring to stop Dillard and UCF this year was like 4-8 or something horrible.
You use Rice as an example...well they are an anomaly…how many other teams have gone from 1-10 to 7-5 in one season??? These teams have made very similar progress:
Rice: 1-10 to 7-5 (and played Fla State, UCLA, Texas, not Ark Sta, UNT, SHSU)
Central Florida: 0-11 to 8-4 (2005) and the CUSA Champ game (L)
UTEP: 2-11 to 8-3 (2004) and a bowl (L)
Tulsa: 4-8 to 7-4 (win CUSA Champ and Bowl-- to 9-4) and they played OU, Minn, and UNT (2005)
Do we really need to continue this ridiculous idea that Rice is an anomaly?? Should I continue?
Rutgers 2002 1-11
2003 5-7
2004 4-7
2005 7-4 * (lost bowl)
2006 10-1* (one to go, plus bowl)
Todd Graham is doing it with Ken Hatfield's "option-oriented" recruits. He is finding a way to win with what he has.
Bennett coddled his own recruits and had special talks with them, segregating his recruits from Cavans - never embracing Cavan's guys.
PhirePhilBennett wrote:You use Rice as an example...well they are an anomaly…how many other teams have gone from 1-10 to 7-5 in one season??? These teams have made very similar progress:
Rice: 1-10 to 7-5 (and played Fla State, UCLA, Texas, not Ark Sta, UNT, SHSU)
Central Florida: 0-11 to 8-4 (2005) and the CUSA Champ game (L)
UTEP: 2-11 to 8-3 (2004) and a bowl (L)
Tulsa: 4-8 to 7-4 (win CUSA Champ and Bowl-- to 9-4) and they played OU, Minn, and UNT (2005)
Do we really need to continue this ridiculous idea that Rice is an anomaly?? Should I continue?
Rutgers 2002 1-11 2003 5-7 2004 4-7 2005 7-4 * (lost bowl) 2006 10-1* (one to go, plus bowl)
Todd Graham is doing it with Ken Hatfield's "option-oriented" recruits. He is finding a way to win with what he has.
Bennett coddled his own recruits and had special talks with them, segregating his recruits from Cavans - never embracing Cavan's guys.
He alienated them - and it showed:
2002 3-8 2003 0-12 2004 3-9 2005 5-7 3006 6-6
yea..and it took rutgers 4-5 years...and now utep and ucf are jokes of the conference...they were flashes...and even Tulsa showed some signs of that this year...
UTEP is a joke? UTEP beat SMU this season and went bowling the past two years. I sure would like SMU to enjoy the success of some of these "joke" programs.
PhirePhilBennett wrote:You use Rice as an example...well they are an anomaly…how many other teams have gone from 1-10 to 7-5 in one season??? These teams have made very similar progress:
Rice: 1-10 to 7-5 (and played Fla State, UCLA, Texas, not Ark Sta, UNT, SHSU)
Central Florida: 0-11 to 8-4 (2005) and the CUSA Champ game (L)
UTEP: 2-11 to 8-3 (2004) and a bowl (L)
Tulsa: 4-8 to 7-4 (win CUSA Champ and Bowl-- to 9-4) and they played OU, Minn, and UNT (2005)
Do we really need to continue this ridiculous idea that Rice is an anomaly?? Should I continue?
Rutgers 2002 1-11 2003 5-7 2004 4-7 2005 7-4 * (lost bowl) 2006 10-1* (one to go, plus bowl)
Todd Graham is doing it with Ken Hatfield's "option-oriented" recruits. He is finding a way to win with what he has.
Bennett coddled his own recruits and had special talks with them, segregating his recruits from Cavans - never embracing Cavan's guys.
He alienated them - and it showed:
2002 3-8 2003 0-12 2004 3-9 2005 5-7 3006 6-6
yea..and it took rutgers 4-5 years...and now utep and ucf are jokes of the conference...they were flashes...and even Tulsa showed some signs of that this year...
I'm talking about sustained improvements...
I'll take 8 wins anyday and build on that over 6 wins...
Cavan won 4 then 6 then 5...then Bennett blew it up with 3 then 0 then 3
UTEP is a joke? UTEP beat SMU this season and went bowling the past two years. I sure would like SMU to enjoy the success of some of these "joke" programs.
yea...with our backup...who hadnt practiced with first team all week...who then almost won by getting 21 second half points...
UTEP should have lost to us. We played our second string QB and almost beat them. They finished even with us, we were again 4-4 in conference play. So, they had a flash. Big deal. I want us to get to 8 wins and keep going up:not up, down, up, down. Kragthorpe is a good coach and a solid recruiter. Graham is a good coach and solid recruiter. They will be tough to recon with every year. Price is a good recruiter and at UTEP can sign any player he wants without restriction. We get no passes in CUSA west.
I'm not the one that called UTEP a "joke." If a program is a joke, we have no business losing to them.
Lot of people playing fast and loose with the truth (and the reality) on this board the last couple of days. It is on both sides, but it seems to be mainly from the keep the coach camp.
Noone does Bennett any favors by calling UTEP a "joke" of a program. It just makes that person look foolish.
And I love the fact that we are so quick to point out hoiw we were missing our starting QB for UTEP and claim we should have had a win because of it, but noone makes any apologies for the fact that Rice beat us with their backup QB.
An option QB, who has played more WR than QB for Rice this year, completed 62% of his passes for 3 TDs and over 200 yards. Also, please note that his career completion percentage coming into the game was well below 50%. If you want to say we "should" have had a win against the "joke" program of UTEP then you would also have to say that we "should" have lost by even more to Rice since they had their backup QB playing.
