innocentbystander {l Wrote}:ATLeagle {l Wrote}:Talent is not BC's current problem. BC had more talent than Kansas.
IB is a liar and a moron. Love Gunnell but come on. We haven't had a WR drafted in 30 years.
Atlanta I am not going to call you a liar or a moron but you are wrong. Talent IS BC's problem. Now I am going to get into the weeds and explain (with detail) as to WHY you are wrong, something you would not do for me. Did you watch the game vs Kansas? I did. It made me sick. And after a while, I stopped feeling sick and came to terms with what was happening.
Tell me, how talented are these players when the defensive backs and the linebackers are too slow at the point of attack to actually close to the ball carrier until long after he has gotten the first down? Go back and look at the thread when we were all discussing the Kansas game, our players have no speed at all. None. I think one commenter (wasn't me) said he thought the players were playing like their feet were in cement. If you aren't quick enough to react to the ball carrier (and they aren't) then exactly how "talented" are they really?
Remember last season? Do you remember the wins vs Temple and Wake Forest? Well I do. Even in victory, I had great discomfort because the defense simply couldn't get off the field. It appeared to me that the only way the defense got off the field was when Temple or Wake scored OR the defense intercepted a pass or recovered a fumble. That was it. And that is because they were too slow at the point of attack to make a play to prevent the first down. Atlanta, nothing has changed in a year. They had slow players last year, they are slower this year. Vs VPI, the 2019 team needed 5 turnovers to win by a touchdown because the defense wasn't going to get off the field any other way.
Don't you (or any of you) tell me that this team is talented. I don't want to hear it. BC has had talent. I remember the first year BC came into the ACC. I remember. I was there watching those games. I remember the game vs Clemson in 2005 (in Clemson I'll add.) Clemson couldn't stay ON the field in 2005 to score any points. They had (basically) no drives. That is because BC had so many "three-and-outs" defensively. Now the game was very close (because BC couldn't stay on the field either), but BC wound up with the win (their first in ACC play if I remember correctly.) And that was because their players were talented, speedy at the point of attack. They closed and made tackles. They had genuine talent in 2005. This 2019 team does not.
I'll close with one last remark. 1999 (wow 20 years ago, I'm fucking old) was the first year BC returned to a Bowl since the gambling scandal. I believe it was Toby's third year as coach, Chris Hovan's last year with the team. We were excited because we "thought" we had a real coach. Not only did Toby give us our first winning season in years (8-3), BC beat Notre Dame again. That was huge. Then the Bowl game vs 6-5 Colorado. Then we got our asses kicked up and down the field. It was embarrassing. And when interviewed, Toby was brutally candid and honest with the media. He coldly and calculatingly said the players were too slow. That's it. They were simply too slow to be on the field vs a 6-5 Colorado. Thus began the Toby we all grew to loathe and hate, the man who spent the next 5 years bitching to the alumni and the media about how he had to scour the Northeast looking for faster players, complaining all the time that he spent all his free time recruiting. And damn it, that is just not fair to him or his family! Atlanta, that 1999 roster is probably more talented than the players we now have 20 years later.
^This 100%. I hate the Heinz Hammer as much as anyone and his coaching/personnel philosophies are a major reason for this dumpster fire of a program, but it's not the #1 reason. This roster lacks talent for the most part, and more specifically, they lack speed and athleticism. When you combine this with a doofus coach whose coaching philosophies are stuck up the ass of 1960s Notre Dame, it's a recipe for disaster. Sure, there is SOME talent and it's not a Spaz-level empty cupboard, but this roster is nowhere near that 2007 team or some of Toby's earlier rosters. Though in fairness, those teams lacked speed and athleticsm to varying degrees as well.