VU FB vs. Bye

[VULB#62]

Time to start this week's new string.

Valpo 33 Bye 34

[VULB#62]

Looks like we have a neck and neck race for the bottom with Morehead State.  They got crushed by Jacksonville 69-19. Too early for other PFL scores.

[milanmiracle]

Time to start this week's new string.

Valpo 33 Bye 34

Hahaha. Are we completely sure it will be that close?

[VULB#62]

Your QB throws for 495 yards and you lose? 

Biggest mistake made in the Valpo football program in the last 3+ years -- outscore your opponent with skilled offensive players. Nope.  The PFL is not the home of great offensive players because those kids get snatched up by the scholarship schools.  No the Valpo FB philosophy should be find the dedicated tough kids and play defense and HOPE you can score one more TD than the other guys week in and week out.  Saban's Alabama teams are perfectly content to win 24-10, not 36-33.


Other Updates:
Charleston Southern 30 Campbell 10.  There is hope in two weeks.
Mercer 54 Warner 0

[milanmiracle]

Your QB throws for 495 yards and you lose? 

Stats are great, and I get your point, but knowing how to WIN is infinitely more important. That is the one (at least) area Carlson has failed. He wanted to teach "the system" vs. keeping kids in the game by any means necessary including coaching to the talent he had. You mean winning and being competitive matters? Who knew?

[usc4valpo]

laura - I hope you feel better after those comments.  I agree with you at a 90% level, except for LaBarbera.  He is doing a decent job, but here is reality - the Valpo administration does not give a crap about having a successful football program, but just to have it to bring in student players.

Heck, for my prediction I had Valpo winning over Jewell 38-14, and I was serious, and also very objective on this pathetic situation.  Losing this game is unacceptable period.  Alums are

Cripe, Valpo would not defeat Bye at this stage.

[vu72]

There are a bunch of us football alums trying to gather at Homecoming to raise $20,000 for the program.  The goal is close be being raised but the funniest comment was from Rob Giancola who suggested the money should be used to find a new coach!

[VULB#62]

Just checked the Stetson site -- they won their first game in this era against Warner.  Doesn't matter who Warner is, they won.  Mercer won #1 too.

Marist beat G'Town today and Butler squeaked out over Franklin.

[414]

FB alums should not give a cent to this program until there are changes made.  They should demand a meeting with LaBarbera at Homecoming and make it clear to him what an embarrassment this is.  Stand up for your brothers men!

[VULB#62]

Carlson is a joke ...He should be cleaning out his desk NOW. Labarberra is a joke if he continues to foist this failure on these kids one more day.  No clock management...no game management... no sense of urgency in getting plays in. 120 yards in penalties on Jewell ,over 600 yards AT HOME and he couldn't get this one? This game should have been circled on the calendar the day we picked them up (along with St. Joes) 2 extremely winnable games. I' m beyond Carlson... Labarberra has let this program down he should get the hook also. So many bad coaching decisions, I am getting ill......Cubs Win Cubs Win...make me want to puke.... I'm done. Please keep your apologist defences for LaBarberra  and all your snarky comments to yourselves. Valpo vs Bye...just hilarious.

Last year, Laura, you were pissed at the posters thinking we were clobbering the kids, but you've begun to see what many on this board were trying to get across.  The poor play by the kids was not about the kids, it was about the coaching and the "system."  Regarding ML, football is, without a doubt, his Achilles Heel, but overall, look what's happened:  MSO, WSO, VB, Baseball, Mens' BB, Bowling, Golf, Tennis are all thriving right now.  USC is spot on about the board though -- but ML can still fire the HFBC to stop the embarrassment.  In that light, I've personally asked Mike Avery, the VU Fussball Coach, to take over the program -- at least they play defense and win close games.  But he hasn't replied to my plea.

[usc4valpo]

There are a bunch of us football alums trying to gather at Homecoming to raise $20,000 for the program. The goal is close be being raised but the funniest comment was from Rob Giancola who suggested the money should be used to find a new coach!

wow, that hurts man.

[VULB#62]

from BBTDS on the Jewell String: Syracuse, NY - After opening the season with losses to Big 10 foes Penn St. and Northwestern, Syracuse Orange hit on all cylinders this afternoon in posting a 54-0 victory over Wagner in front of 33,299 fans at the Carrier Dome in the 2013 home opener for the Orange.

Wagner is NEC with only a handful of scholarships, but lost to a FBS team only 54-0.  We get killed by FCS schools!  Montana State is FCS (where my daughter got her MS and still lives in Bozeman) and last week lost at Southern Methodist (FBS) 30-31.  The gap between FBS and FCS is large, but FCS teams still manage to compete.  The gap between FCS and non-scholarship FCS is large as well, but some PFL teams do complete (but don't necessarily win).  Valpo can't even compete (and not necessarily win) against the bottom of the PFL let alone .....D-III .....or D-II.

We are recruiting all-league, all-county and some all-state players and other kids with pretty good resumes, yet they come here and something happens.  The individual talents are diluted and the game we saw today on television looked exactly like any televised game 3 years ago.  Is that progress?  Is the program growing and building a strong foundation?  Are we getting better?  Certainly not as a team. This should be a senior heavy team with a maturity and confidence that would at least get us to .500.  Not happening.  More and more youngsters are being sent into battle already at this early point in the season.

In retrospect, I sincerely believe that the best game ever played under the Carlson regime was the 45-0 loss to WIU  (FCS scholarship team that was a top half MVFC team that year) -- the very first game played by a Carlson team.  And that team was filled with Stacy's kids (who were so-o-o-o sub-par     ).

I wonder........ what if Stacy was given all the stuff DC was given in terms of budget, uniforms, cleats, recruiting budget, etc.  Could he have turned his own program around?  I think he would have won a few more games.

[usc4valpo]

Since it is a bye week and our beloved Crusader off for a couple of weeks after losing to a pair of ham and eggers - would this be an appropriate time to make some changes?  I don't think the adminisitration has the guts to do it.

[VULB#62]

Bring back Stacy Adams -- see my post below.  I think his kids were less talented, but they played harder and better.

BTW I think Laura deleted her post.

[usc4valpo]

Bring back Stacy Adams -- see my post below. I think his kids were less talented, but they played harder and better. BTW I think Laura deleted her post.

I saw that - this current team can get the worst in you.

[VULB#62]

from BBTDS on the Jewell String: Syracuse, NY - After opening the season with losses to Big 10 foes Penn St. and Northwestern, Syracuse Orange hit on all cylinders this afternoon in posting a 54-0 victory over Wagner in front of 33,299 fans at the Carrier Dome in the 2013 home opener for the Orange.


BTW Now we know why they pulled out of our contract.  The Syracuse guarantee must have been huge!

[414]

If they don't fire him now, please at least take away his social media privileges. Sick and tired of his inspirational quotes, Cubs Win, Cubs Win alerts, what's playing on his iPod during his lunchtime run, restaurant reviews, vacation pictures, etc. Maybe he should spend more time analyzing why he can't win with "his" players instead of feeding his ego tweeting away as a "Head Coach."  Trust us, you are the only one impressed with that title!   Seems to have a lot of time on his hands.  How about we hear from some of the other coaches on the blog and interviewed by Todd Ickow?  Oh that's right, it's all about Coach Carlson . . .  GET RID OF HIM NOW!!

[original sin]

I think Bye loses in a sqeaker but still covers the spread.

[usc4valpo]

1600 dedicated fans were there for the opening game for WJ.  That is a sad attendance for an opening game under nice weather.

I have to wonder if football should even exist at Valpo.  I have talked to alums at work, including one recent alum.  They all replied that football should be scrapped. It also apprears that student animosity regarding football is prevalent.   Would VU be in a better overall situation to scrap football, or will a coaching change and other fixes suffice?  Or do they need it to tap in more revenue?

[milanmiracle]

1600 dedicated fans were there for the opening game for WJ.  That is a sad attendance for an opening game under nice weather.

I have to wonder if football should even exist at Valpo.  I have talked to alums at work, including one recent alum.  They all replied that football should be scrapped. It also apprears that student animosity regarding football is prevalent.   Would VU be in a better overall situation to scrap football, or will a coaching change and other fixes suffice?  Or do they need it to tap in more revenue?

Actually I think 1600 is a pretty good number considering the state of affairs. Over the last 8+ years, they are 17-74. Really, that's a pretty good number of people attending for what is a terrible team year in year out. Carlson's record is 2-34, so it not exactly getting better either. I think I'd be quite happy that anybody showed up to watch this debacle.

Now, the issue of branding...well that's another story. By being a D1 program, your scores run across the bottom of ESPN all day long. It's not good to have that kind of name recognition. I got a phone call a few years ago when Valpo finally won a game under Carlson, and the gist of it was this...did they win by forfeit? They're a punchline at this point. I am not on campus, or even in the region anymore, but I hear jokes about not being able to beat high school teams, and things of that nature. And I get some of the animosity too, as you don't want to be associated with that kind of product. Like it or don't, football and men's basketball are the most visible part of any university and right now one of those is an anchor tied to a sinking ship.

As for dropping football, not going to happen. The payday is just too great. How else can you get 100 men to pay that kind of money when the football programs gone? You can't. Besides that, just having something on Saturday afternoons is a good thing, even if it's horrific football. At least it's there, because the social life at VU isn't exactly booming either.

[historyman]

Actually I think 1600 is a pretty good number considering the state of affairs...........

Besides that, just having something on Saturday afternoons is a good thing, even if it's horrific football. At least it's there, because the social life at VU isn't exactly booming either.

Exactly. The men's soccer team drew 900 and were thrilled. What other sport, besides men's basketball, comes close to drawing 1600?

[valpopal]

Actually I think 1600 is a pretty good number considering the state of affairs...........

Besides that, just having something on Saturday afternoons is a good thing, even if it's horrific football. At least it's there, because the social life at VU isn't exactly booming either.

Exactly. The men's soccer team drew 900 and were thrilled. What other sport, besides men's basketball, comes close to drawing 1600?

Actually, if I could influence the scheduling, I would rather have the football games begin at 9 or 10 am instead of 1 pm. The game on Saturday lasted until after 4, and the afternoon is just about done by then. If games were scheduled at 9 and finished by noon, there would still be a Saturday afternoon to enjoy at the dunes or elsewhere, especially on such a nice day as yesterday. After all, it is not like we have to wait until afternoon to hold games for the sake of beer sales. 

[milanmiracle]

Actually I think 1600 is a pretty good number considering the state of affairs...........

Besides that, just having something on Saturday afternoons is a good thing, even if it's horrific football. At least it's there, because the social life at VU isn't exactly booming either.

Exactly. The men's soccer team drew 900 and were thrilled. What other sport, besides men's basketball, comes close to drawing 1600?

Actually, if I could influence the scheduling, I would rather have the football games begin at 9 or 10 am instead of 1 pm. The game on Saturday lasted until after 4, and the afternoon is just about done by then. If games were scheduled at 9 and finished by noon, there would still be a Saturday afternoon to enjoy at the dunes or elsewhere, especially on such a nice day as yesterday. After all, it is not like we have to wait until afternoon to hold games for the sake of beer sales. 

Um, just because they aren't selling it, doesn't mean it's not being consumed. Good luck getting students to be at the game at 9am...on a Saturday.

Granted, I don't like that it eats up the whole day, but it's a few weekends a year, and if the product were better, would we care so much about lost time?

[usc4valpo]

1600 dedicated fans were there for the opening game for WJ. That is a sad attendance for an opening game under nice weather. I have to wonder if football should even exist at Valpo. I have talked to alums at work, including one recent alum. They all replied that football should be scrapped. It also apprears that student animosity regarding football is prevalent. Would VU be in a better overall situation to scrap football, or will a coaching change and other fixes suffice? Or do they need it to tap in more revenue?

Actually I think 1600 is a pretty good number considering the state of affairs. Over the last 8+ years, they are 17-74. Really, that's a pretty good number of people attending for what is a terrible team year in year out. Carlson's record is 2-34, so it not exactly getting better either. I think I'd be quite happy that anybody showed up to watch this debacle. Now, the issue of branding...well that's another story. By being a D1 program, your scores run across the bottom of ESPN all day long. It's not good to have that kind of name recognition. I got a phone call a few years ago when Valpo finally won a game under Carlson, and the gist of it was this...did they win by forfeit? They're a punchline at this point. I am not on campus, or even in the region anymore, but I hear jokes about not being able to beat high school teams, and things of that nature. And I get some of the animosity too, as you don't want to be associated with that kind of product. Like it or don't, football and men's basketball are the most visible part of any university and right now one of those is an anchor tied to a sinking ship. As for dropping football, not going to happen. The payday is just too great. How else can you get 100 men to pay that kind of money when the football programs gone? You can't. Besides that, just having something on Saturday afternoons is a good thing, even if it's horrific football. At least it's there, because the social life at VU isn't exactly booming either.

Valpo is almost considered to be a Chicago suburb; it's only an hour drive away.

[historyman]

Valpo is almost considered to be a Chicago suburb; it's only an hour drive away.

Do you travel an hour each way for most of your weekend social events where you live?