Things I need to hear from Gary

FireAg · Post by **FireAg** » November 24th, 2019, 7:27 am

I, like all of you, shut it off at halftime. Just like I did with the Air Force game and the BYU game. Had I been there I would have left by halftime - and that's against my nature. I ALWAYS stay to the end. And there have been A LOT of bitter ends. I was there when the BYU player, Junior somebody, beat down the referee. I was there when we blew a 4 TD halftime lead to the same, aforementioned BYU. I was there when they carried off the turncoat, Benedict Arnold, after beating Fresno for the only victory of the season. I guess my point is that I've sat through a lot of beat downs at Romney. The past decade has given me a bit of hope and maybe that's the worst thing to have. I was never really disappointed during Ground Chuck, Arslanian, Guy and others. But Gary gave me hope and after AF, BYU and Boise, I have contempt for him because of it. Conditions in my life now are such that I can only attend a game or two a year. Which I did with Stoney Brook and Wyoming this year. Both were fun and I will continue to do that. But I live in what is now Boise State country. It didn't used to be that way. There used to be primarily USU alumni (like me) who were loyal and there were BYU fans (who felt obligated out of religion). But over the past couple of decades Boise has developed fans with their football success. They're not BSU alumni or even people who attended for a semester or two. They wouldn't know a class syllabus if it bit them in the butt. But they're more than happy to spend the money, time and effort on Boise State football. And kudos to Boise a couple decades ago for getting ahead of the curve and figuring out that nothing else matters, not academics, not olympic sports or women's sports, not even men's basketball, to your reputation like football success. It's worked and I credit them for it. But I really hate them.

There were hints of it in my mind during the Air Force game, and substantial evidence against BYU, but it was obvious beyond a doubt last night: WE AREN'T COMPETITIVE WITH GOOD TEAMS.

I couldn't stomach the second half of the game so maybe he addressed it with Scott after the game, although I doubt it, but I need something from Gary: THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED.

If it is lack of talent against better teams, I can live with that. He should say that we're just simply outmatched - last night it looked like every position - and we will have to take care of that over time with recruiting, weight lifting and technique coaching.

If it's not talent, is it scheme (coaching), player discipline or apathy, or what? That would be the real disappointment to me - that we're good enough talent wise but something else is wrong.

I'm still a Gary fan and think he was the right hire, but I need to know that he knows what the problem is and is working on it.

Post by **aggies22** » November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am

This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.

imanaggie · Post by **imanaggie** » November 24th, 2019, 10:05 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.

I disagree with the assertion that this season is similar to Wells' 3-9 season from the standpoint that many of the games we lost under Wells that year were close. Gary has been blown out four times this year. I'll give him the LSU game. The other three we should have competed in.

At this point I haven't written Gary off but my goodness this team has no fire. I'm used to Gary's defenses that are amped and ready to fight. This season has been a huge disappointment. I think it's fair to say the honeymoon with Gary is over.

Post by **aggies22** » November 24th, 2019, 10:14 am

imanaggie wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:05 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.
I disagree with the assertion that this season is similar to Wells' 3-9 season from the standpoint that many of the games we lost under Wells that year were close. Gary has been blown out four times this year. I'll give him the LSU game. The other three we should have competed in.

At this point I haven't written Gary off but my goodness this team has no fire. I'm used to Gary's defenses that are amped and ready to fight. This season has been a huge disappointment. I think it's fair to say the honeymoon with Gary is over.

I get what you are saying. That's why I followed up my first sentence with "the feeling after most of the games does". Coach Andersen has faced off against Boise State four times in his career, three times here and once at Oregon State. He has been destroyed all four times. The post-game show with Al and Ryan Bohm quoted Gary as saying that in his career he often doesn't even win recruiting battles against Boise State. That sounds like a defeated man right from the get-go. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the hype about Coach Andersen coming back about him being able to get guys to run through walls for him? In several games this season he couldn't inspire guys to win a damn pillow fight!

imanaggie · Post by **imanaggie** » November 24th, 2019, 10:19 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am

I get what you are saying. That's why I followed up my first sentence with "the feeling after most of the games does". Coach Andersen has faced off against Boise State four times in his career, three times here and once at Oregon State. He has been destroyed all four times. The post-game show with Al and Ryan Bohm quoted Gary as saying that in his career he often doesn't even win recruiting battles against Boise State. That sounds like a defeated man right from the get-go. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the hype about Coach Andersen coming back about him being able to get guys to run through walls for him? In several games this season he couldn't inspire guys to win a damn pillow fight!

I agree. Gary seems to be a shell of his former self.

brian5562 · Post by **brian5562** » November 24th, 2019, 10:37 am

The display by Williams and presnap penalties speak to a team that lacks discipline. That comes from coaching. The lack of execution on both sides of the ball speaks to that as well. It’s not just a talent gap.

GameFAQSAggie · Post by **GameFAQSAggie** » November 24th, 2019, 10:46 am

Wells got blown out by San Diego State and Wyoming during the 3-9 campaign.

FireAg · Post by **FireAg** » November 24th, 2019, 11:03 am

Ten years ago, driving home from Romney after another beat down , I was listening to the after game show and Gary was interviewed after the game. I think it was his first year. Someone asked why we’re not competitive. He talked about how our linebackers were the size of safeties and our defensive line guys were the size of linebackers and they’re trying to do things like slants and stunts to try to mitigate that deficiency. But it means that we have to gamble more than we would like. It also means that when gambling the odds say that you usually lose. But every once in a while you get lucky. That’s what he was having to do 10 years ago to try to compete. Gamble. And over the course of a few years built a team that could compete straight up.

I knew then that we finally had the right guy for the job.

I get the feeling that we are now in a similar situation and I’m willing to give him a couple years more to get there. But I don’t feel like we’re getting the honesty and transparency that we got from Gary a decade ago.

FireAg · Post by **FireAg** » November 24th, 2019, 11:28 am

The feeling on the season all comes down to who you beat and who you lose to. Historically, I could say beat BYU and nothing else matters - which we very rarely did. But maybe my opinions have matured. The games that really count are the division MWC games first. Out of division games second. The others after that. I still believe the BYU game is more important than some MWC games - but not all. The importance of games, in order, for fan satisfaction in my opinion is this:
BSU
Wyoming
CSU (tie)
BYU (tie)
Air Force
SDSU (tie)
Fresno (tie)
New Mexico
The P5 body bag game
Other west division teams
The FCS game.

We beat Wyoming and CSU and I can subsist on that but I really want Boise. But the games we won were very competitive and the games we lost weren’t competitive. At all.

Machismo · Post by **Machismo** » November 24th, 2019, 11:38 am

New staff a lot of new players, injuries, keeping the O the same but changing the D, young in experienced O line, lost two best players on D the list goes on. We are right were most people thought we would be. This was a bad game so flush it and go get some pride back and beat the Lobos. I'm willing to give Gary a few years, have Sanford run the O the way he wants and please do something with the D! We are bowl eligible, beat the Lobos to make sure.

AngusAg · Post by **AngusAg** » November 24th, 2019, 11:49 am

FireAg wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 7:27 am
I, like all of you, shut it off at halftime. Just like I did with the Air Force game and the BYU game. Had I been there I would have left by halftime - and that's against my nature. I ALWAYS stay to the end. And there have been A LOT of bitter ends. I was there when the BYU player, Junior somebody, beat down the referee. I was there when we blew a 4 TD halftime lead to the same, aforementioned BYU. I was there when they carried off the turncoat, Benedict Arnold, after beating Fresno for the only victory of the season. I guess my point is that I've sat through a lot of beat downs at Romney. The past decade has given me a bit of hope and maybe that's the worst thing to have. I was never really disappointed during Ground Chuck, Arslanian, Guy and others. But Gary gave me hope and after AF, BYU and Boise, I have contempt for him because of it. Conditions in my life now are such that I can only attend a game or two a year. Which I did with Stoney Brook and Wyoming this year. Both were fun and I will continue to do that. But I live in what is now Boise State country. It didn't used to be that way. There used to be primarily USU alumni (like me) who were loyal and there were BYU fans (who felt obligated out of religion). But over the past couple of decades Boise has developed fans with their football success. They're not BSU alumni or even people who attended for a semester or two. They wouldn't know a class syllabus if it bit them in the butt. But they're more than happy to spend the money, time and effort on Boise State football. And kudos to Boise a couple decades ago for getting ahead of the curve and figuring out that nothing else matters, not academics, not olympic sports or women's sports, not even men's basketball, to your reputation like football success. It's worked and I credit them for it. But I really hate them.

There were hints of it in my mind during the Air Force game, and substantial evidence against BYU, but it was obvious beyond a doubt last night: WE AREN'T COMPETITIVE WITH GOOD TEAMS.

I couldn't stomach the second half of the game so maybe he addressed it with Scott after the game, although I doubt it, but I need something from Gary: THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED.

If it is lack of talent against better teams, I can live with that. He should say that we're just simply outmatched - last night it looked like every position - and we will have to take care of that over time with recruiting, weight lifting and technique coaching.

If it's not talent, is it scheme (coaching), player discipline or apathy, or what? That would be the real disappointment to me - that we're good enough talent wise but something else is wrong.

I'm still a Gary fan and think he was the right hire, but I need to know that he knows what the problem is and is working on it.

I like the overall premise of your post. Within the last three or four weeks, I have heard Gary talk about the lack of physicality of the Aggies compared to some of our competition. He said that if you are being pushed around, you need to get in the weight room and get that taken care of. His comments last night were almost exclusively on how Boise was just a more physical football team and it showed in all three aspects of the game. I believe he has also alluded to the fact that not being able to man-up bleeds over into everything you are attempting to do. The problem is that it is hard to correct mid to late season. I think he knows and has commented on the problem, but there isn't much he can do right now; it will get addressed prior to next year.

Madmartigan · Post by **Madmartigan** » November 24th, 2019, 11:59 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.

Likely, we are going to finish the regular season with 7 wins. We will have two wins against teams with winning records (SDSU, WYO). We have not looked good against the other bowl teams we have played. This season is disappointing, but not unexpected given the holes we had to fill on the offensive line and the lack of depth we have on defense. I don't know that I can pin every struggle on Gary just yet.

On Defense:

Our starters on defense were VERY good, but we had little depth, especially in the secondary. We lost our best player in Woodward, our best DL in Leilua, and our best corner in Ingram. We just didn't have the depth to contend with those losses and be the same team.

I don't love our scheme. We don't tackle well in space. I'm hoping those are temporary issues that will be fixed but I don't know.

On Offense:

It's pretty clear that neither Gary nor Sanford like this style of offense. Sanford doesn't have the experience running an up tempo offense like this and it shows. I don't think either one of them knew what they were getting into this year. I think you'll see a return to the offensive scheme similar to the ones we ran in 11 and 12 next year. I think that best suits Sanford anyway.

Maybe Sanford just isn't a good Offensive coordinator and coach? Who knows.

The OL was blocking well both with the run and the pass against WF and SDSU. We were mauling SDSU most of the game. The turning point was when Koch went down. We haven't been the seame team since.

One classical fallacy that exists in humans, is we tend to overvalue what is ours. Homes, cars, boats, you name it- if we feel ownership we nearly always think it's better/worth more than it is. I don't think we are as talented as most on this board think that we are. We haven't recruited all that well and due to lack of continuity, I don't know that many of our players got tons better this year with a few exceptions. When I look at games we won and games we lost- with the exception of SDSU and CSU we played pretty much in line with our recruiting ranking.

Post by **AGinNEIowa** » November 24th, 2019, 12:07 pm

Machismo wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:38 am
New staff a lot of new players, injuries, keeping the O the same but changing the D, young in experienced O line, lost two best players on D the list goes on. We are right were most people thought we would be. This was a bad game so flush it and go get some pride back and beat the Lobos. I'm willing to give Gary a few years, have Sandord run the O the way he wants and please do something with the D! We are bowl eligible, beat the Lobos to make sure.

a common phrase heard on tv at this point of the season related to "true freshman" is that by 9-10 games, they're no longer really freshmen, they've had time to adjust, they've grown up, been in the program 4 months, etc. The tv guys said it last night about the freshman RB that was kicking Aggie (I can't express myself without swearing), and it didn't look like his new playbook, teammates, OC or HC were hindering his play.

It seems that veterans ought to be able to adapt at this point, as well.

My biggest beef is playcalling is incomprehensible. those flat outs that keep getting pick-6'd??? those 3rd/4th and short running plays that keep getting stuffed???

BSUbluNorange · Post by **BSUbluNorange** » November 24th, 2019, 12:09 pm

FireAg wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 7:27 am
And kudos to Boise a couple decades ago for getting ahead of the curve and figuring out that nothing else matters, not academics, not olympic sports or women's sports, not even men's basketball, to your reputation like football success. It's worked and I credit them for it. But I really hate them.

Lulz. Bronco women are back to back conf tourney champs in bball and back to back regular season and current conf champs in soccer. The volleyball team is also good. Maybe you've heard of three time steeplechase national champion Allie O who is leaving early to pursue her track career? Losses sting but let's not allow them to alter reality. You'll bounce back and the pain of losses just makes the big wins that much more sweet.

swordsman1989 · Post by **swordsman1989** » November 24th, 2019, 12:34 pm

I think a lot of this season was about keeping things similar for Jordan Love. We tried running the same offense as last year with a far lesser supporting cast, which put far more pressure on the defense. It is hard to say, but I have to wonder how the season would have looked had the offensive staff been able to implement their own system. I am guessing we will see it next season. But the reality is this is a transition season for USU. If USU can win seven or eight games (depending on the New Mexico game and a bowl game) in a transition year with a very young and inexperienced group, I feel quite positive about where USU is headed. Anyone who thinks this season has felt like a Brent Guy season needs to get their head examined because you are truly delusional.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » November 24th, 2019, 1:30 pm

FireAg wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:28 am
The feeling on the season all comes down to who you beat and who you lose to. Historically, I could say beat BYU and nothing else matters - which we very rarely did. But maybe my opinions have matured. The games that really count are the division MWC games first. Out of division games second. The others after that. I still believe the BYU game is more important than some MWC games - but not all. The importance of games, in order, for fan satisfaction in my opinion is this:
BSU
Wyoming
CSU (tie)
BYU (tie)
Air Force
SDSU (tie)
Fresno (tie)
New Mexico
The P5 body bag game
Other west division teams
The FCS game.

We beat Wyoming and CSU and I can subsist on that but I really want Boise. But the games we won were very competitive and the games we lost weren’t competitive. At all.

Going into this season the two biggest games we would have to determine if we were in the mix for a division championship were AFA and BSU. The biggest game for bragging rights, other than those two games, was BYU. We were absolutely uncompetitive in all three. It’s those kind of results in those kind of games that will sour a fan base on a coaching staff very quickly.

GUS · Post by **GUS** » November 24th, 2019, 1:42 pm

You summed it up perfectly utaggies.

Post by **aggies22** » November 24th, 2019, 2:12 pm

FireAg wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:03 am
Ten years ago, driving home from Romney after another beat down , I was listening to the after game show and Gary was interviewed after the game. I think it was his first year. Someone asked why we’re not competitive. He talked about how our linebackers were the size of safeties and our defensive line guys were the size of linebackers and they’re trying to do things like slants and stunts to try to mitigate that deficiency. But it means that we have to gamble more than we would like. It also means that when gambling the odds say that you usually lose. But every once in a while you get lucky. That’s what he was having to do 10 years ago to try to compete. Gamble. And over the course of a few years built a team that could compete straight up.

I knew then that we finally had the right guy for the job.

I get the feeling that we are now in a similar situation and I’m willing to give him a couple years more to get there. But I don’t feel like we’re getting the honesty and transparency that we got from Gary a decade ago.

The issue I have is that we VOLUNTARILY made linebackers defensive linemen when we made the move to a 4 man front. When Coach Andersen got here the first time, he moved AWAY from a 4 man front and into a 3-4 scheme because he said he couldn't recruit enough big guys to make a 4 man front successful. The choice to be unsuccessful was made before the season even started.

dyedblue · Post by **dyedblue** » November 24th, 2019, 2:39 pm

Why can’t we make adjustments mid season? Sure we may struggle for a week or two, but if we can’t adjust mid season then why not just forfeit.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Aggie84025 · Post by **Aggie84025** » November 24th, 2019, 2:54 pm

Madmartigan wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:59 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.
Likely, we are going to finish the regular season with 7 wins. We will have two wins against teams with winning records (SDSU, WYO). We have not looked good against the other bowl teams we have played. This season is disappointing, but not unexpected given the holes we had to fill on the offensive line and the lack of depth we have on defense. I don't know that I can pin every struggle on Gary just yet.

On Defense:

Our starters on defense were VERY good, but we had little depth, especially in the secondary. We lost our best player in Woodward, our best DL in Leilua, and our best corner in Ingram. We just didn't have the depth to contend with those losses and be the same team.

I don't love our scheme. We don't tackle well in space. I'm hoping those are temporary issues that will be fixed but I don't know.

On Offense:

It's pretty clear that neither Gary nor Sanford like this style of offense. Sanford doesn't have the experience running an up tempo offense like this and it shows. I don't think either one of them knew what they were getting into this year. I think you'll see a return to the offensive scheme similar to the ones we ran in 11 and 12 next year. I think that best suits Sanford anyway.

Maybe Sanford just isn't a good Offensive coordinator and coach? Who knows.

The OL was blocking well both with the run and the pass against WF and SDSU. We were mauling SDSU most of the game. The turning point was when Koch went down. We haven't been the seame team since.

One classical fallacy that exists in humans, is we tend to overvalue what is ours. Homes, cars, boats, you name it- if we feel ownership we nearly always think it's better/worth more than it is. I don't think we are as talented as most on this board think that we are. We haven't recruited all that well and due to lack of continuity, I don't know that many of our players got tons better this year with a few exceptions. When I look at games we won and games we lost- with the exception of SDSU and CSU we played pretty much in line with our recruiting ranking.

We beat nevada 36-10 i would say that is a pretty resounding win for a bowl eligible team.

MWCFAN12 · Post by **MWCFAN12** » November 24th, 2019, 3:06 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:14 am

imanaggie wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:05 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.
I disagree with the assertion that this season is similar to Wells' 3-9 season from the standpoint that many of the games we lost under Wells that year were close. Gary has been blown out four times this year. I'll give him the LSU game. The other three we should have competed in.

At this point I haven't written Gary off but my goodness this team has no fire. I'm used to Gary's defenses that are amped and ready to fight. This season has been a huge disappointment. I think it's fair to say the honeymoon with Gary is over.
I get what you are saying. That's why I followed up my first sentence with "the feeling after most of the games does". Coach Andersen has faced off against Boise State four times in his career, three times here and once at Oregon State. He has been destroyed all four times. The post-game show with Al and Ryan Bohm quoted Gary as saying that in his career he often doesn't even win recruiting battles against Boise State. That sounds like a defeated man right from the get-go. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the hype about Coach Andersen coming back about him being able to get guys to run through walls for him? In several games this season he couldn't inspire guys to win a damn pillow fight!

Back it down a bit. I know everyone is frustrated with the lack of being competitive. But we had 53 new faces this year... 53. That is crazy. New coaching staff. Harder schedule. Badly timed. OOC games. Add in injuries ( yes they happen to everyone, but not everyone's key guys) Nick Saban, And Dalbo couldn't have done better in our current state.

Yes we need to make so adjustments in recruiting and coaching. But they are small adjustments, not a complete rebuild of the program like 10 short years ago.

Let GA do his thing. We have good coaches for the most part. I love Frank. ( I think he should be DC )

Just relax take a breath and let's beat NM win a bowl game and go into next year knowing we have that much more depth.

We are going to be fine.

hickaggie · Post by **hickaggie** » November 24th, 2019, 3:14 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:14 am

imanaggie wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:05 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:00 am
This season reminds me of the 3-9 season with Matt. At least the feeling after most of the games does. And the crazy thing is MOST college coaches will tell you that a GOOD season is 6 or 7 wins, a GREAT season is 8 or 9 wins and 10 or more is an ELITE season. As embarrassing as some of the outcomes have been and as frustrated as I am with much of what is going on right now, we are still in position for what most would consider a GREAT season but it sure doesn't feel that way.
I disagree with the assertion that this season is similar to Wells' 3-9 season from the standpoint that many of the games we lost under Wells that year were close. Gary has been blown out four times this year. I'll give him the LSU game. The other three we should have competed in.

At this point I haven't written Gary off but my goodness this team has no fire. I'm used to Gary's defenses that are amped and ready to fight. This season has been a huge disappointment. I think it's fair to say the honeymoon with Gary is over.
I get what you are saying. That's why I followed up my first sentence with "the feeling after most of the games does". Coach Andersen has faced off against Boise State four times in his career, three times here and once at Oregon State. He has been destroyed all four times. The post-game show with Al and Ryan Bohm quoted Gary as saying that in his career he often doesn't even win recruiting battles against Boise State. That sounds like a defeated man right from the get-go. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the hype about Coach Andersen coming back about him being able to get guys to run through walls for him? In several games this season he couldn't inspire guys to win a damn pillow fight!

The defense lacks talent especially in the LB and secondary corp after Woody got hurt. But the D-line that was supposed to be this team's strengh got their asses kicked again last night and not one of our converted LB ends seem capable of setting the edge or maintaining contain even when they don't even try to squeeze. Our tackles don't even try to take on double teams and still end up getting blocked into the LBs. Boise pulls guards half the plays and our tackles just stand there instead of getting in their hip pockets.

When our LBs finally do get to the RB 6 yards past the Line of Scrimmage they either drop their head and miss or do a straight up bear hug and get drug 10 yards. Our secondary takes the worst angles on run plays and then just give up half the time. And the pass rush. Oh my hell. You should not be running a 4 man front if your front 4 can't make a pass rush move or stay in their fng lanes, let alone maintain contain.

My point is that I think I was flat out wrong about Andersen. The Gary of 2011 would have fired Ena at the halftime of the AFA game and at least had this bunch playing hard and fundamentally sound. Instead we have to endure this. New Mexico played Boise twice as tough.

NavyBlueAggie · Post by **NavyBlueAggie** » November 24th, 2019, 9:19 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 2:12 pm

FireAg wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:03 am
Ten years ago, driving home from Romney after another beat down , I was listening to the after game show and Gary was interviewed after the game. I think it was his first year. Someone asked why we’re not competitive. He talked about how our linebackers were the size of safeties and our defensive line guys were the size of linebackers and they’re trying to do things like slants and stunts to try to mitigate that deficiency. But it means that we have to gamble more than we would like. It also means that when gambling the odds say that you usually lose. But every once in a while you get lucky. That’s what he was having to do 10 years ago to try to compete. Gamble. And over the course of a few years built a team that could compete straight up.

I knew then that we finally had the right guy for the job.

I get the feeling that we are now in a similar situation and I’m willing to give him a couple years more to get there. But I don’t feel like we’re getting the honesty and transparency that we got from Gary a decade ago.
The issue I have is that we VOLUNTARILY made linebackers defensive linemen when we made the move to a 4 man front. When Coach Andersen got here the first time, he moved AWAY from a 4 man front and into a 3-4 scheme because he said he couldn't recruit enough big guys to make a 4 man front successful. The choice to be unsuccessful was made before the season even started.

So many insightful posts with this thread and others.... Moving from a successful 3-4 or even 5-2 defensive set into a 4-3 was a head scratching event. Watching defensive players take a play or series off is dumbfounding and not what I would expect from a G A team.

I am especially critical of not seeing ball carriers driven into, wrapped up and brought down. My conclusions aren't favorable to Ena, Filimoeatu nor Orphey. I would expect staff changes this off season... If you seek his monument look around = Si Monumentum requiris circumspice. Enough said.

JSHarvey · Post by **JSHarvey** » November 24th, 2019, 9:55 pm

It will be interesting to see what coaching changes happen this off season. I don't think anybody is getting poached by a better offer. The question is who does Andersen let go?

MWCFAN12 · Post by **MWCFAN12** » November 24th, 2019, 10:03 pm

JSHarvey wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 9:55 pm
It will be interesting to see what coaching changes happen this off season. I don't think anybody is getting poached by a better offer. The question is who does Andersen let go?

None.

It has been 1 year for hell sake.

CapitolAggie · Post by **CapitolAggie** » November 24th, 2019, 10:27 pm

Whomever is calling the plays should be fired. Now. "He" does not adjust. Does not change. Underutilized talent on the field. Etc. I waited for an adjustment in the third quarter. Nothing happened. It was like we went to the locker room and took a nap on both sides of the ball.

hickaggie · Post by **hickaggie** » November 24th, 2019, 11:04 pm

MWCFAN12 wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 10:03 pm

JSHarvey wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 9:55 pm
It will be interesting to see what coaching changes happen this off season. I don't think anybody is getting poached by a better offer. The question is who does Andersen let go?
None.

It has been 1 year for hell sake.

So you are comfortable with how Sanford has done absolutely nothing to try to adjust to this year's issues and has dumbed down a good offense. Are you comfortable with Ena taking over a fairly intact defense that was in the top of the country in creating TOs and putting up the numbers they did vs. AFA, Fresno, YBU, Wake, and Boise. I'll give LSU a pass.

My problem is that the defense in particular has taken a significant nose dive from Patterson to Ena in effort, discipline, scheme, and aggression. And Remember Patterson was only here one year working with a defense without a lot of experience coming back. The scene that decided it for me was the second drive when our D-line made one half (I can't express myself without swearing) push and sat their while the Boise QB clipped his toenails, shaved, ate dinner and jogged to a first down to his left with no end in sight.

I understand the argument that things need time but Patterson's D brought energy from day 1. The Aggies may lack talent but the regression in effort, scheme, and give a (I can't express myself without swearing) is unacceptable. Yeah, I know we lost Woody and the LBs suck but deal with it. What happened last night with the conference title on the line warrants firings and Ena doesn't get a pass for it. Ultimately its Gary's culture and this effort looked a lot more like Guy than the Gary we are used too. And don't bring up how bad Guy's record was. Gary has 3 times the talent to work with.

dyedblue · Post by **dyedblue** » November 24th, 2019, 11:13 pm

Are you okay with Bright going from a kick (I can't express myself without swearing) rock start to a guy that got benched until we had no other options and not barely carries the ball?

Are you okay with a Heisman contending quarterback going from a top QB to the 10th best in the conference. I know, I know, the NFL is still in love with him. That is more than enough evidence to indict the QB coach and offensive coordinator.

Are you okay with Carson Terrell going from a very capable starter last year to a guy that rarely gets his number called?

I am way too emotional for us being 6-5, but Sanford should have been fired after Air Force and I am not one to call for guys to get fired.

If Gary has a plan then let’s hear it. Right not we’re left to read between the lines. I know my three season tickets and meager donation don’t merit my voice being heard so I’ll just keep on doing my thing and hoping at some point something will change. 6-5 shouldn’t feel so terrible.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hickaggie · Post by **hickaggie** » November 24th, 2019, 11:35 pm

dyedblue wrote: ↑
November 24th, 2019, 11:13 pm
Are you okay with Bright going from a kick a** rock start to a guy that got benched until we had no other options and not barely carries the ball?

Are you okay with a Heisman contending quarterback going from a top QB to the 10th best in the conference. I know, I know, the NFL is still in love with him. That is more than enough evidence to indict the QB coach and offensive coordinator.

Are you okay with Carson Terrell going from a very capable starter last year to a guy that rarely gets his number called?

I am way too emotional for us being 6-5, but Sanford should have been fired after Air Force and I am not one to call for guys to get fired.

If Gay has a plan then let’s hear it. Right not we’re left to read between the lines. I know my three season tickets and meager donation don’t merit my voice being heard so I’ll just keep on doing my thing and hoping at some point something will change. 6-5 shouldn’t feel so terrible.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good post. The offense's issues are bit harder to diagnose than the D but its the lack of adjustment and how dumbed down the offense became. The reason scouts are in love with Love is that his abilities (make every throw, throw on the run, quick release, size, exc are ideal for a pro style offense. Contrary to what he did under Yost he is not the ideal RPO Qb over concerns about running him 15 times a game. Yost made it work with an experienced O line an NFL RB, a host of great receivers, and a lot of creativity.

Sanford could have easily installed other formations and tweaks. He could have max protected and used play action to freeze the LBs. That would have been easy to add to the current scheme.

Scarver has become a non-factor and their are so many ways to use him. Tompkins could be as well. Bright can do a hell of a lot more than run inside zone. Terrell was becoming a real weapon.

But Sanford would not budge. I think he is the dumbest offensive coordinator in the country because even amateurs realize you are screwed when you take the actual read and RPO out of an RPO offense for all intensive purposes. Aside from some bad reads by Love the Int difference was largely the fact that teams were concentrating on beating the inside zone with their D-lines and one LB and NO ONE was ever frozen by the reads. They were jumping timing routes basically.

We got behind the sticks and they just came like hell and we don't do anything to help. The best example was Weaver from Boise. Put another back there. Double him with a TE. Don't just let the best defender in the conference have free shots.

No QB in the country can deal with that (unless they are playing the Aggie 3rd down defense.) I understand a lot of that had to do with the depleted O-line but you have got to adjust as a coordinator and at least attempt to deal with it.

Sorry about the rant. I could go on all day so I'll shut up but these are basic things O coordinators have to do. They might not be successful but they have to try for hell sake!

Machismo · Post by **Machismo** » November 25th, 2019, 6:48 am

Hey Scotty G this thread has many great questions for Gary Andersen about his coordinators performance.
What about that Favaro guy from Logan High, wonder if he could help.

Post by **aggies22** » November 25th, 2019, 7:43 am

Machismo wrote: ↑
November 25th, 2019, 6:48 am
Hey Scotty G this thread has many great questions for Gary Andersen about his coordinators performance.
What about that Favaro guy from Logan High, wonder if he could help.

I'm pretty sure Mike Favero is still on staff.

Machismo · Post by **Machismo** » November 25th, 2019, 7:52 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
November 25th, 2019, 7:43 am

Machismo wrote: ↑
November 25th, 2019, 6:48 am
Hey Scotty G this thread has many great questions for Gary Andersen about his coordinators performance.
What about that Favaro guy from Logan High, wonder if he could help.
I'm pretty sure Mike Favero is still on staff.

Hahaha!! He is still on staff? I thought I heard that deal fell through so I just kinda forgot about it cause he never gets mentioned. Man, that news somehow makes my perception of our offensive struggles even worse.

aggieguy13 · Post by **aggieguy13** » November 25th, 2019, 12:13 pm

Honestly, just the fact that we are 127th out of 130 FBS teams in red zone offense (and 129th out of 130 in red zone touchdown percentage) is enough to make me want to move in another direction in the offensive coordinator department.

Incidentally, that 127th ranking would be even lower if our awesome kicker wasn't perfect on red zone field goal attempts this year. We've really been spoiled with Eberle these last few years.

ShowMeAggie · Post by **ShowMeAggie** » November 25th, 2019, 2:14 pm

Tony Sanchez just got canned at UNLV. He's an offensive mind and an innovator. I'd take him on as OC!!

NavyBlueAggie · Post by **NavyBlueAggie** » November 27th, 2019, 8:01 am

At this point I haven't written Gary off but my goodness this team has no fire. I'm used to Gary's defenses that are amped and ready to fight. This season has been a huge disappointment. I think it's fair to say the honeymoon with Gary is over.
[/quote]

I get what you are saying. That's why I followed up my first sentence with "the feeling after most of the games does". Coach Andersen has faced off against Boise State four times in his career, three times here and once at Oregon State. He has been destroyed all four times. The post-game show with Al and Ryan Bohm quoted Gary as saying that in his career he often doesn't even win recruiting battles against Boise State. That sounds like a defeated man right from the get-go. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the hype about Coach Andersen coming back about him being able to get guys to run through walls for him? In several games this season he couldn't inspire guys to win a damn pillow fight!
[/quote]

The defense lacks talent especially in the LB and secondary corp after Woody got hurt. But the D-line that was supposed to be this team's strengh got their asses kicked again last night and not one of our converted LB ends seem capable of setting the edge or maintaining contain even when they don't even try to squeeze. Our tackles don't even try to take on double teams and still end up getting blocked into the LBs. Boise pulls guards half the plays and our tackles just stand there instead of getting in their hip pockets.

When our LBs finally do get to the RB 6 yards past the Line of Scrimmage they either drop their head and miss or do a straight up bear hug and get drug 10 yards. Our secondary takes the worst angles on run plays and then just give up half the time. And the pass rush. Oh my hell. You should not be running a 4 man front if your front 4 can't make a pass rush move or stay in their fng lanes, let alone maintain contain.

My point is that I think I was flat out wrong about Andersen. The Gary of 2011 would have fired Ena at the halftime of the AFA game and at least had this bunch playing hard and fundamentally sound. Instead we have to endure this. New Mexico played Boise twice as tough.
[/quote]

Well noted Hick and 22. I've edited a bit of the back ground preamble for brevity here. The comment about gassing Ena at the halftime of the AFA echos my sentiment. Why would we ever de fang a proven 3-4 and place very good and mobile outside linebackers as undersized D ends? That hire should never have been made, ever!!!! Ena took a decent and promising "D" to new lows, and some of his position coaches were equally abysmal. The offensive non production speaks for itself.

Appears to me there was an abundance of poor staff hires by G A. Gary turned things around when he was here before, and this team has won more games than the first season Gary had, but significant change needs to happen immediately if it hasn't already quietly begun.

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