The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(12-09-2023 12:57 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  

(12-09-2023 11:02 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2023 09:50 AM)LairDweller Wrote:  While I understand the sentiment, context is important.
That makes it sound like Dilfer took a similar roster against similar opponents and had far worse results. That’s just not the case.

We all know how inexperienced we were, how many freshmen played, etc. This was always going to be a rebuilding year, regardless of who the head coach was.

Add to that the fact that (by my count), if you throw out FCS teams, BC & BV racked up wins against teams that went a combined 236-350 (.403 winning percentage). Dilfer only played 2 teams with a winning percentage that bad, and won them both (granted, he lost to 2 more teams with only 5 wins)

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of unsatisfying things about Dilfers 1st season. But comparing his record to BCs & BVs isn’t apples to apples

But it’s hard to crap on Dilfer and his staff when you throw out facts like these.

Not really if you watched the 2nd halves of our games.

Context is very important. Seeing what's right in front of your eyes week in and week out is very important too.

Nobody is arguing that our second halves were good, or even adequate this year. There are a lot of things that contributed to those though, and you guys who lose your mind on this board want to focus on one thing and not the entire picture.

The previous staff did not recruit at a high level to begin with, and those that we did recruit and play were doing so at a level of football played in the 1980’s. There is no way our strength and conditioning was going to be in the shape it needed to be to play the way Dilfer wanted to begin with, and then throw in the youth everywhere. It was always going to be an uphill battle.

(12-08-2023 05:57 PM)BatesUAB Wrote:  The last line clearly shows the author doesn't know jack. Or is super high. Or both. "One of the proudest programs in the Group of Five?". I mean, I love my alma mater, but we're a dreg in football. How can someone type that sentence with a straight face?

I catch a lot of The Athletic's college football podcasts on Youtube or my phone. Most of those guys seem to only be aware of UAB from 2017 forward. They refer to UAB as a proud program or as a championship program. I have the same cognitive dissonance hearing those descriptions that many of you seem to share, but it's real enough. I'm talking Ari Wasserman, Nicole Auerbach, Chris Vanini, people who absolutely do know college football but tend young.

(12-09-2023 02:33 PM)Golden-Ticket Wrote:  Pretty frustrating to watch every single sports outlet project us to win 3-4.5 games this season then absolutely tear us apart for doing exactly that. Truth is we aren’t an important enough program for the writers to go deep enough to see why it happened. Beating a dead horse both inexperience and injuries demolished us on top of a new staff learning. I’m not too worried and I’m surely not going to compare Deion to Dilfer. The only similarity they share is they played in the NFL.

I agree with this too.

(12-09-2023 02:50 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2023 12:57 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  

(12-09-2023 11:02 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2023 09:50 AM)LairDweller Wrote:  While I understand the sentiment, context is important.
That makes it sound like Dilfer took a similar roster against similar opponents and had far worse results. That’s just not the case.

We all know how inexperienced we were, how many freshmen played, etc. This was always going to be a rebuilding year, regardless of who the head coach was.

Add to that the fact that (by my count), if you throw out FCS teams, BC & BV racked up wins against teams that went a combined 236-350 (.403 winning percentage). Dilfer only played 2 teams with a winning percentage that bad, and won them both (granted, he lost to 2 more teams with only 5 wins)

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of unsatisfying things about Dilfers 1st season. But comparing his record to BCs & BVs isn’t apples to apples

But it’s hard to crap on Dilfer and his staff when you throw out facts like these.

Not really if you watched the 2nd halves of our games.

Context is very important. Seeing what's right in front of your eyes week in and week out is very important too.

Nobody is arguing that our second halves were good, or even adequate this year. There are a lot of things that contributed to those though, and you guys who lose your mind on this board want to focus on one thing and not the entire picture.

The previous staff did not recruit at a high level to begin with, and those that we did recruit and play were doing so at a level of football played in the 1980’s. There is no way our strength and conditioning was going to be in the shape it needed to be to play the way Dilfer wanted to begin with, and then throw in the youth everywhere. It was always going to be an uphill battle.

I am worried about something that is much more concerning that lack of experience, depth, talent, poor defense, or underdeveloped strength.

It is the coaching staff's regularly scheduled epic bootyhole clenching sessions in the 2nd halves and the complete and utter lack of any adjustments after halftime. The only games we were able to outscore the opponent after halftime, or just score in general, were in games that we were so far down it was garbage time, or against Temple - also one of the worst teams in D1.

You can fix all of the things I mentioned in the first paragraph, and I agree, those are all valid reasons for explaining our record. But I am worried about something a lot deeper than that. Hopefully they can go to a coaching seminar or something and figure it out lol...

I live in Nashville. I happened to drive by lipscomb academy last night. It's a nice school, but also made me sad to realize we signed our freaking head coach to lead an AAC program straight from this high school. Crazy times.

I saw a good bit to like last year, and I agree with the fixable issues you have pointed out. I just hope to God they figure out the actual coaching and in-game adjustment part of it, or we are doomed, no matter how much talent, experience, strength, etc., we eventually get.

(12-09-2023 03:17 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(12-08-2023 05:57 PM)BatesUAB Wrote:  The last line clearly shows the author doesn't know jack. Or is super high. Or both. "One of the proudest programs in the Group of Five?". I mean, I love my alma mater, but we're a dreg in football. How can someone type that sentence with a straight face?

I catch a lot of The Athletic's college football podcasts on Youtube or my phone. Most of those guys seem to only be aware of UAB from 2017 forward. They refer to UAB as a proud program or as a championship program. I have the same cognitive dissonance hearing those descriptions that many of you seem to share, but it's real enough. I'm talking Ari Wasserman, Nicole Auerbach, Chris Vanini, people who absolutely do know college football but tend young.

It's pretty easy to change perception in today's landscape with how much of a recency bias exists. Tulane football has been awful almost my entire life, but the last two seasons have turned them into, according to the same people you're referencing, the best job in the G5.

"Wait till next year" is a cliche for a reason, but all we can do is hope that things improve. We can analyze and gripe all we want, but it won't change a damn thing. Just hope that something clicks for the staff and that recruiting goes well, that's about all I've got.