The message board is suspiciously silent tonight. The game thread is pretty bare, and there is little, if any, reaction to the loss. I can't remember when there was such a low level of activity on the board. Also, the fans did not seem very fired up at the game. It's as if we took it for granted that we would win this game, and now nobody knows quite what to make of the loss.
My own opinion is that we did not have a very good defensive game plan, and some of the offensive play calling was questionable. On defense, we went with a three man rush most of the night, and that clearly was a mistake. They had forever to throw the ball, and they just sat back and picked our seconday apart. On offense, we tried to run the ball too much on first down and were too predictable in that regard, particulalry after it became clear that it was not working most of the time. Even so, we had a good chance to win the game at the end but went for too much too quick. We had plenty of time left and were moving the ball well. Even if we had scored on the play we would have left Dayton too much time, particularly since they would have only needed a field goal to win or tie (if we went for 2 and made it). Why go for it all at that point? What were we thinking????
I realize it is easy to second guess coaching decisions from the "armchair" position, and overall I still think the coaching staff did a great job this year. However, I think they did not perform very well in this one. I don't mind losing in the playoffs that much when we run into a team that clealry has superior talent, but I don't think that was the case on this night.
My own opinion is that we did not have a very good defensive game plan, and some of the offensive play calling was questionable. On defense, we went with a three man rush most of the night, and that clearly was a mistake. They had forever to throw the ball, and they just sat back and picked our seconday apart. On offense, we tried to run the ball too much on first down and were too predictable in that regard, particulalry after it became clear that it was not working most of the time. Even so, we had a good chance to win the game at the end but went for too much too quick. We had plenty of time left and were moving the ball well. Even if we had scored on the play we would have left Dayton too much time, particularly since they would have only needed a field goal to win or tie (if we went for 2 and made it). Why go for it all at that point? What were we thinking????
I realize it is easy to second guess coaching decisions from the "armchair" position, and overall I still think the coaching staff did a great job this year. However, I think they did not perform very well in this one. I don't mind losing in the playoffs that much when we run into a team that clealry has superior talent, but I don't think that was the case on this night.