Why the slow start??

[Jacks-D1]

The Jacks seem to be cruising now and playing very good football. They are beating quality teams and beating them handily. They are now 5-4. My question is this. Why did they start out 2-4? I don't think the level of competition has gone down. My next question is this. If the Jacks finish 7-4 or 6-5 are fans going to be happy and say we had a pretty good year? Or are Jack fans tired of always being "pretty good" and finishing just above .500? Do they want to move to the level of always being "really good" and always finishing 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 and being in the playoffs. Your thoughts.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Why the slow start??

The Jacks seem to be cruising now and playing very good football. They are beating quality teams and beating them handily. They are now 5-4. My question is this. Why did they start out 2-4? I don't think the level of competition has gone down. My next question is this. If the Jacks finish 7-4 or 6-5 are fans going to be happy and say we had a pretty good year? Or are Jack fans tired of always being "pretty good" and finishing just above .500? Do they want to move to the level of always being "really good" and always finishing 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 and being in the playoffs. Your thoughts.

Actually, I'd say the competition has gone down a bit. Nobody could make the claim that UCA or is as good as UNI, or Youngstown. Maybe they're as good as WIU.

More importantly, though, in my opinion, the team has improved every week.

I have a sense (and I suppose I could be wrong) that to become a 10-1 team annually, you'd have to make some compromises that I'm not sure we want to make. I'm happy with 7-4 most of the time with a few really good years thrown in. And in the Gateway, 7-4 or 8-3 is pretty competitive.

I'm sure there are "win at all costs" people out there who don't care that we have a high team GPA, that almost all of our players graduate, that we have several Academic All-Conference and even Academic All-Americans. But I am happy with the character of the student athletes we're bringing in, and if you look down the roster at the younger guys, you'll see that we're getting even better athletes with the same good character moving up through the ranks.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: Why the slow start??

The Jacks seem to be cruising now and playing very good football. They are beating quality teams and beating them handily. They are now 5-4. My question is this. Why did they start out 2-4? I don't think the level of competition has gone down. My next question is this. If the Jacks finish 7-4 or 6-5 are fans going to be happy and say we had a pretty good year? Or are Jack fans tired of always being "pretty good" and finishing just above .500? Do they want to move to the level of always being "really good" and always finishing 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 and being in the playoffs. Your thoughts.

I know I come from an earlier era, but I appreciate an ebb/flow to our football teams. EVERY GAME that we LOST this year (except UNI) we have been right there til the last min., which has made for very exciting games.

We have been scheduling top 25 type teams, and holding to a winning record through transition. Joining the Gateway is HUGE, and will be the FCS edition of the NCC. You can't assume a win, and each game will be a battle. Winning the Gateway will be a huge successful year, and being in the top half a challenge.

SDSU has a LONG ways to go to get to the Ohio St., Michigan, Ga. Southern, or NDSU legacy, or tradition/expectations. But overall, I have been VERY happy with where SDSU is in transition to D-I.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Why the slow start??

I think our inexperience at both QB, Punter and the changes to our linebacking/secondary had a lot to do with our slow start. There were alot of overthrown balls and bad punts to start the season. Against WIU alone there were 2 passes to Jaron that would have been walk-in touchdowns had the ball been on target. Those passes have been on-target for the most part in the past 5 weeks. It's not wrong to question our slow starts, though. We cannot be a perenial top-25 team and continue to start seasons 1-3 or 0-3 or even 0-2. I will be disappointed next year if we don't come out of the blocks playing great football.

[jackmd]

Re: Why the slow start??

I think our inexperience at both QB, Punter and the changes to our linebacking/secondary had a lot to do with our slow start. There were alot of overthrown balls and bad punts to start the season. Against WIU alone there were 2 passes to Jaron that would have been walk-in touchdowns had the ball been on target. Those passes have been on-target for the most part in the past 5 weeks. It's not wrong to question our slow starts, though. We cannot be a perenial top-25 team and continue to start seasons 1-3 or 0-3 or even 0-2. I will be disappointed next year if we don't come out of the blocks playing great football.

Agreed, the only "bad loss" in my opinion was WIU. UNI was clearly a better team at almost every position/facet of the game. We hung with a tough Youngstown St. team and missed a FG that would have beaten GSU. The key to this year is finishing things out.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Why the slow start??

My opinion is that it is a combination of experience and quality of opponents. We had a couple of key positions, alluded to earlier, that have improved and I think the schedule has gotten easier. The 4OT loss hurts the most, 6-3 vs 5-4, is one game difference, but just seems so much better. Three games over .500 vs one game over.

What to do about it? That is what coaches are paid for and I expect that we will see a better start in future years. If not, then changes would need to be made. Not calling for any changes now, just saying if we want the program to be nationally competitive, years like this need to be the exception not the rule. I think we are headed in that direction.

[Jack4Life]

Re: Why the slow start??

By looking at the way we are plying now, it is hard to believe we weren't ready for those first games. This has happened two years in a row now and that does need to be remedied by next year. We can't get in the hole like that and hope to win out every year.

[EQguy]

Re: Why the slow start??

I think that something has to be figured out on this front. If the team was playoff eligible this year that loss at WIU and Youngstown would be looming large right now. 8-3 gets to the playoffs 7-4 doesn't. Hopefully the coaches and players will use that result as a motivating factor over the off season.

[Nidaros]

Re: Why the slow start??

The Jacks seem to be cruising now and playing very good football. They are beating quality teams and beating them handily. They are now 5-4. My question is this. Why did they start out 2-4? I don't think the level of competition has gone down. My next question is this. If the Jacks finish 7-4 or 6-5 are fans going to be happy and say we had a pretty good year? Or are Jack fans tired of always being "pretty good" and finishing just above .500? Do they want to move to the level of always being "really good" and always finishing 8-3, 9-2, 10-1 and being in the playoffs. Your thoughts.

In my mind the D side of the football is the side that is showing increasingly improvement. Had they been at this level before the start of the season, we probably would be 9-0, but boths sides started kind of slow. I think we are starting to put some distance from the D2 days, where talent is so so. Yes I recognize some of our recent D2 guys made it to the NFL, but I think its fair to say that the NFL people are the exception to the rule. I think split scholarships made it difficult to find outstanding players. I not picking on any former D2, but why would you not have better talent with 63 scholarships to offer as compared to the D2 36? Not intended to be a slam to any former player.

We lose a great bunch of seniors, but what follows might be better than the junior and sophmore class this year. In other words we might be finding better talent each year we are in D1 FCS.

It takes time to build a program. This year's seniors are the first class recruited for D1FCS. I have my doubts that every year will be a slow one like this year. If I am wrong tell me next year.

[EQguy]

Re: Why the slow start??

Actually this class was in their first fall camp when the announcement that we would be going D-I was made (with the exception of Pontrelli, Gentile and Bonwell).

[Nidaros]

Re: Why the slow start??

Actually this class was in their first fall camp when the announcement that we would be going D-I was made (with the exception of Pontrelli, Gentile and Bonwell).

I believe you are right. I think the coaches knew what was about to happen and tried to adjust accordingly. Since this is the case then we should be happy with the slow starts and great finishes. The first year we had 42 scholarships so that's not much in terms of funding a competitive program. I think we should be a little more patient. Our patience has been more than tested in mens bb, why should the other sports be expected to take off like a praire fire. The other sports that have shown early success is a bonus in my opinion.

[valleyrabbit]

Re: Why the slow start??

Remember this is the first season of having 63 scholarships. We won't see that advantage until this seasons redshirts are seniors. We are literally three plays from being 8-1. Let's win these close games when we have a play-off berth to get!

[musicman]

Re: Why the slow start??

When it comes right down to it the only team that truely out played the Jacks was UNI. No good reason that we should not have a better record. Also remember that the longer they left the defense out forcing them to come back out after a 3 and out makes for tough sledding for the best defenses. Look at Nebraska for example. No offense and towards the end the defense gets tired. The Jacks are a much improved team over the first of the year. The game against UCA (even if they where not as good of teams as our prior losses) the Jacks played a complete game on both sides of the ball. That is what if is going to take to become 9 and 1 or even 8 and 2. Had they played the same type of games to begin with we would be looking at only one loss this year. Period.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: Why the slow start??

When it comes right down to it the only team that truely out played the Jacks was UNI. No good reason that we should not have a better record. Also remember that the longer they left the defense out forcing them to come back out after a 3 and out makes for tough sledding for the best defenses. Look at Nebraska for example. No offense and towards the end the defense gets tired. The Jacks are a much improved team over the first of the year. The game against UCA (even if they where not as good of teams as our prior losses) the Jacks played a complete game on both sides of the ball. That is what if is going to take to become 9 and 1 or even 8 and 2. Had they played the same type of games to begin with we would be looking at only one loss this year. Period.

Nice first post MM! Welcome to the board!

[launcher46]

Re: Why the slow start??

"Look at Nebraska for example. No offense and towards the end the defense gets tired." Should read as Look at Nebraska for example. No defense and towards the end the offense can't score the 5 touchdowns needed to make it tied at 85.