Boy oh Boy…

[CU44SE]

A few weeks ago, right after the Clemson game, I said we should extend Fran. I still believe that. This season would have played out completely differently with Angeli. When you lose your starting QB — who was leading the country in passing — you’re going to get worse. That’s just reality.

With that said, I can’t begin to explain how disappointed I am in a couple of things.

First: this may be the worst QB performance I’ve ever seen. What have the coaches been seeing in practice that convinced them Filardi was ready to start? This has been gut-wrenching to watch. His accuracy has been atrocious. They truly thought he was the answer? That honestly worries me even more about the rest of the QB depth. Collins hasn’t been great, but this was the best option we had to put out there?

Second: I’ve said this before — I expect more from our defense based on how Fran talks and carries himself. The tackling, the pursuit angles… everything is just so bad. How can you be the rah-rah, hard-nosed guy and tolerate this level of tackling effort? I lost count of how many times we had a UNC player dead to rights in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage, only to give up extra yards. It’s sickening.

As I said from the start, I knew the season was going to take a rough turn after the Angeli injury. Honestly, I lost faith in finishing .500 the moment that happened. But these two issues above are unacceptable. They need to be corrected, and they’re the only things giving me real concern about Fran moving forward.

 

[DocFlanders]

Whole team is in shambles right now

 

[The Ack]

Ah this has gone sideways. But people were calling for blood the past four weeks and they got what they wanted. Now they want to complain about the taste. To me, the coaches knew Rickie was the best option. Kudos to them for knowing that (I guess?). The real failing is in our depth. Which we are clearly out of. Shame really

 

[CuseBlood44]

Total free fall. Not DART. Angeli changes the season but there’s no way next year is special with this roster + Angeli. This is not a developmental year, we are regressing

 

[MadNY3]

I truly think Fran will get better from this. I do. He can recruit. I think he will let Elijah go and will be more prepped next year.

I really do, but this is truly a bad sophomore slip. Real bad. Maddening.

We should not be happy, but I think we are naive if we think Fran is the wrong guy. Last year - year one- was insanely incredible.

 

[Dr. Bill]

A few weeks ago, right after the Clemson game, I said we should extend Fran. I still believe that. This season would have played out completely differently with Angeli. When you lose your starting QB — who was leading the country in passing — you’re going to get worse. That’s just reality.

With that said, I can’t begin to explain how disappointed I am in a couple of things.

First: this may be the worst QB performance I’ve ever seen. What have the coaches been seeing in practice that convinced them Filardi was ready to start? This has been gut-wrenching to watch. His accuracy has been atrocious. They truly thought he was the answer? That honestly worries me even more about the rest of the QB depth. Collins hasn’t been great, but this was the best option we had to put out there?

Second: I’ve said this before — I expect more from our defense based on how Fran talks and carries himself. The tackling, the pursuit angles… everything is just so bad. How can you be the rah-rah, hard-nosed guy and tolerate this level of tackling effort? I lost count of how many times we had a UNC player dead to rights in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage, only to give up extra yards. It’s sickening.

As I said from the start, I knew the season was going to take a rough turn after the Angeli injury. Honestly, I lost faith in finishing .500 the moment that happened. But these two issues above are unacceptable. They need to be corrected, and they’re the only things giving me real concern about Fran moving forward.

All of the fans were screaming to bench Ricky...the Coach kept telling us that as bad as Ricky was, he was the best option we had to win. Now, I guess the fans believe Coach Fran. This is the second time in the last 4 years, that our starting QB(Shrader) gets hurt...and we don't have even a decent QB on the roster. We need two game ready QB's at all time.

 

[whobut03]

I truly think Fran will get better from this. I do. He can recruit. I think he will let Elijah go. WB will be more prepped next year.

I really do, but this is truly a bad sophomore slip. Real bad. Maddening.

We should not be happy, but I think we are naive if we think Fran is the wrong guy. Last year - year one- was insanely incredible.

He needs to let Elijah go. Do what’s best for the “S” right?

 

[CU44SE]

All of the fans were screaming to bench Ricky...the Coach kept telling us that as bad as Ricky was, he was the best option we had to win. Now, I guess the fans believe Coach Fran. This is the second time in the last 4 years, that our starting QB(Shrader) gets hurt...and we don't have even a decent QB on the roster. We need two game ready QB's at all time.

You know how many teams want two starting caliber QB’s? Not that easy.

I still cannot get over them starting a lacrosse player at QB. What I saw tonight, the only explanation is Fran wanted to say I told you so by playing the least capable QB. There is no way that he is the second best QB on the team.

 

[orange44]

A few weeks ago, right after the Clemson game, I said we should extend Fran. I still believe that. This season would have played out completely differently with Angeli. When you lose your starting QB — who was leading the country in passing — you’re going to get worse. That’s just reality.

With that said, I can’t begin to explain how disappointed I am in a couple of things.

First: this may be the worst QB performance I’ve ever seen. What have the coaches been seeing in practice that convinced them Filardi was ready to start? This has been gut-wrenching to watch. His accuracy has been atrocious. They truly thought he was the answer? That honestly worries me even more about the rest of the QB depth. Collins hasn’t been great, but this was the best option we had to put out there?

Second: I’ve said this before — I expect more from our defense based on how Fran talks and carries himself. The tackling, the pursuit angles… everything is just so bad. How can you be the rah-rah, hard-nosed guy and tolerate this level of tackling effort? I lost count of how many times we had a UNC player dead to rights in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage, only to give up extra yards. It’s sickening.

As I said from the start, I knew the season was going to take a rough turn after the Angeli injury. Honestly, I lost faith in finishing .500 the moment that happened. But these two issues above are unacceptable. They need to be corrected, and they’re the only things giving me real concern about Fran moving forward.

Well said.

 

[Cuseloyal]

Possibly the worst planned game of football I’ve ever seen. If you’re going to do this go with Villari wildcat all game

 

[Tango32]

All of the fans were screaming to bench Ricky...the Coach kept telling us that as bad as Ricky was, he was the best option we had to win. Now, I guess the fans believe Coach Fran.

I dont, I still have no idea what we have in Carney since he hasn't been allowed to throw. Also have no idea how Williams looks. The only thing I do know is Rickie is an int machine that's god aweful and not serviceable.

 

[Cuseloyal]

Love Fran as much as the next guy but you cannot come out with that QB combo. Stick with Rickie if you’re going to do that

 

[Dr. Bill]

I dont, I still have no idea what we have in Carney since he hasn't been allowed to throw. Also have no idea how Williams looks. The only thing I do know is Rickie is an int machine that's god aweful and not serviceable.

Why do you think they won't let Carney Throw...not one pass!! the coaches see Williams in practice everyday. If he could play...he would be playing. Why can't we as fans, just bite the bullet and recognize our QB room, behind Angeli is terrible...and that will not change until we get better players..

 

[tptcuse]

Love Fran as much as the next guy but you cannot come out with that QB combo. Stick with Rickie if you’re going to do that

Or at least let Luke TRY to throw a pass.

 

[DocFlanders]

Love Fran as much as the next guy but you cannot come out with that QB combo. Stick with Rickie if you’re going to do that

But the board and the fan base crucified Fran for sticking with Rickie, although he’d probably won the game for us with how terrible our fresh qbs are

 

[MGraves5]

All of the fans were screaming to bench Ricky...the Coach kept telling us that as bad as Ricky was, he was the best option we had to win. Now, I guess the fans believe Coach Fran. This is the second time in the last 4 years, that our starting QB(Shrader) gets hurt...and we don't have even a decent QB on the roster. We need two game ready QB's at all time.

The fans calling for Ricky to be benched, were not calling for a walk on qb. They were calling for Carney to be given a real shot or for the 4 star qb Jakhari Williams. The only reason I can think Fran started and played Filardi most of the game is to prove to fans he was right about Collins being our best option. But really we don't know if Carney or Williams aren't given real playing time...

 

[MGraves5]

Why do you think they won't let Carney Throw...not one pass!! the coaches see Williams in practice everyday. If he could play...he would be playing. Why can't we as fans, just bite the bullet and recognize our QB room, behind Angeli is terrible...and that will not change until we get better players..

How could Carney, a kid who threw for 10,000 yard in high school be worse than Filardi? Tell me that. In the minimal time he had out there at least he looked more confident.

 

[Entropic]

Why do you think they won't let Carney Throw...not one pass!! the coaches see Williams in practice everyday. If he could play...he would be playing. Why can't we as fans, just bite the bullet and recognize our QB room, behind Angeli is terrible...and that will not change until we get better players..

I was informed that these were some of the best rated recruiting classes we've had. So are the ratings garbage or is the coaching and scheme that bad? You seem to be pointing at the players. I'm thinking it's the latter.

 

[tep624]

All of the fans were screaming to bench Ricky...the Coach kept telling us that as bad as Ricky was, he was the best option we had to win. Now, I guess the fans believe Coach Fran. This is the second time in the last 4 years, that our starting QB(Shrader) gets hurt...and we don't have even a decent QB on the roster. We need two game ready QB's at all time.

We were not winning with Rickie. So if he was our best option then I guess we were doomed for a 3-9 season no matter what we do. In that case, I’d rather see the young guys, as bad as tonight was.

And I still don’t understand why Carney isn’t allowed to throw.

 

[nocohalo]

Fran made his bed, now he's gotta lay in it. I'm not gonna feel bad about anyone wanting him gone after this. He played stupid games, now he's going to win stupid prizes.

 

[CbusCuse]

But the board and the fan base crucified Fran for sticking with Rickie, although he’d probably won the game for us with how terrible our fresh qbs are

No. Collins was not winning that game either.

 

[RF2044]

My opinion only, but I always feared that this year would be a challenging schedule to follow up last season's brilliant debut from Fran. We needed to replace some key offensive personnel -- many of whom are in the NFL [and one of whom opted to bail for penn state], and the most prolific QB in program history. We also lost key personnel on the defensive side of the all -- Wax, Diggs, and some key guys in the secondary. So it was going to be an uphill climb.

Anglei proved to be a godsend. He was leading the nation in passing. Shouldn't Fran and the coaching staff get credit for bringing that generally unproven guy in, throwing him to the wolves against a team in Tennessee that was fresh off the playoffs, and having him thrive [despite the struggles in his debut]? He was leading the nation in passing, in only his first couple of starts. To me, that PROVES that the offensive system is terrific. Now, I get the frustration with where we are today, but I think people need to take it down a notch.

Willis panned out. And the three WRs who were stepping into bigger roles looked dominant, until Angeli went down. They literally ran circles around the Clemson secondary -- and two of their CBs are being projected as potential first round picks. Villari was leading the nation in receiving yardage for TEs -- that was no guarantee, he had big shoes to fill replacing Gadsden.

The bigger issue -- again, I own that this is my opinion ONLY -- was that our defense sucks. First of all, we didn't adequately stockpile DEs, it's been a position of weakness all year. Even though we've gotten decent play from Delaurries, Samuel, and Peal, we just don't tackle well enough. That's on ERob, who was always someone who I thought was overrated. At a blue chip program, like where he'd been before, he could be "hidden" as a DL coach, where his recruiting compensated for him not being a plus defensive strategist. But given the defensive challenges, we needed to be able to score and wrack up lots of points to compensate, and also to keep the defense off the field. With Angeli, we could do that. Without him, not so much.

Now, the QB play post-Angeli has been absurd. Collins deserves credit for helping us finish the game against Clemson. He threw a key touchdown, and helped us escape with a win. Credit where credit is due. And I hoped -- knowing that he wouldn't be able to replicate Angeli's success -- that Collins would be "good enough" to help us scratch out a couple of wins. And we had some chances, namely against SMU and Pitt. But his limitations and turnovers sunk us.

I don't "blame" the coaches for his failure. QB recruiting is such a crapshoot -- even blue chip programs, that recruit highly rated guys -- have most of their QB prospects not pan out. A guy like Collins had a good pedigree, he was a worthwhile roll of the dice, but that's all he's ever been. When he joined our program in December, practicing with the team before our bowl game, McCord noted his flawed footwork and mechanics. The hope was that with spring ball and an offseason to work, that he'd iron out some of those kinks. But as we've seen, he didn't. He was given a LOT of rope, and he hung himself, going 0-4.

Is anyone really surprised that the alternatives -- true frosh QBs -- aren't ready? I was as excited to see what Filardi might do tonight as anyone, but deep down I thought that it was highly unlikely that he'd produce. What surprises me is that the coaches believed that he was a "better" option than Carney, who similarly looks overmatched. He led one quasi-decent drive, that stalled and led to no points. It was a run-heavy drive, so he didn't even do much throwing the ball.

Now... do the coaches deserve "blame" for not having a backup QB ready? Maybe, but I think they did what they needed to, bringing in not just one but two transfer QBs this offseason, from big time programs. And one of them panned out. It is just bad luck that he sustained a non-contact injury.

And the offensive struggles have exacerbated the defensive flaws. Fast forward to today, and not only can we not stop anybody, but we now struggle to move the ball. Perfect storm of shiiiiittttty circumstances.

And our once dominant WR corps have been rendered irrelevant by the QB ineptitude. Stinks.

I know that it is tempting to expect that QBs can just "next man up" and execute, but we're down to our 3rd and 4th string QBs, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Maybe things with Carney / Filardi or both would be different if they were a couple years more experienced. I guess we'll see down the road. But they aren't ready now.

Again, my opinion only, but I am not going to go overboard criticizing Fran. I do however think that some scrutiny needs to be aimed at the coaches on the defensive side of the ball. And I'd expect that there will be some changes this offseason, ranging from portal transfers to bolster the personnel, to addressing the systemic coaching deficiencies.

I also think it's important to keep some perspective here. Fran has catapulted us into a different stratosphere in terms of recruiting. We get Angeli back next year. It doesn't make sense to view what's transpired this year as a head coaching failure, when it all blew up due to a non-contact injury.

 

[Cuseloyal]

But the board and the fan base crucified Fran for sticking with Rickie, although he’d probably won the game for us with how terrible our fresh qbs are

Not sure we even win with Rickie but there’s nothing in practice that could have shown these two better than him based on the play calls

 

[phil77]

And I still don’t understand why Carney isn’t allowed to throw.

This is my big question he was allowed to throw the ball last game but can’t be allowed to throw the ball at home? Why? Why is someone clearly incapable of playing QB allowed to throw the ball but Carney can’t?

 

[Trueblue25]

Fran made an adjustment mid offseason to get Angeli after seeing Collins wasnt the answer. Angeli, had he not been hurt, was on pace to be a Heisman candidate. He got hurt. Bad luck. Fran pulled off a miracle ask that otherwise we couldnt dream of.

Fans have to wake up. Its year 2 of a rebuild and we got hit with a devastating injury. You move on.

Half of you would’ve been ecstatic with 6 or 7 wins at the start of the season, if our starter never got hurt. If Steve doesnt get hurt, its easy to argue we’re top 20 right now.