Post by Aggie One on Oct 21, 2005 9:53:46 GMT -5
You Can’t Get There From Here
by Craig R. Turner
bluedeathvalley.com
Now that all the hoopla of homecoming has faded into history for another year, I’ll try to shed some light on a few of the questions that many Aggies and interested fans alike have burned up my cell phone with for the past week.
Now that A&T has been eliminated from the championship race, lost to arch enemy North Carolina Central, and suffered yet another disappointing homecoming loss courtesy of the Delaware State Hornets I was asked where do we go from here?
Oh sure everyone knows that A&T goes up to Washington Saturday to face Howard in their homecoming bash and the D.C. chapter of the Alumni Association and the Aggie Club will turn out in force despite the Bison’s tiny Greene Field that doesn’t seat as many folks as Grimsley High School’s Jamieson Stadium. Both of these teams are probably at their lowest point emotionally as a football squad can be.
One is still left wondering about being turned away at the one foot line, bad officiating not withstanding, and being ripped up by big plays from a Delaware State offense that had been flying way under the radar and that turned out to have much better talent and was much better prepared than most folks could have even realized. But still there isn’t much excuse for not getting a half yard as to leave doubt in an official’s mind.
The Bison faithful have got to be sucking on the barrel with one hand and the other on the trigger after getting shut out by the worst defensive team in all of 1-AA football in its 7-0 loss to Morgan State last weekend.
To be shut out by Morgan is like being caught on the toilet without any tissue on the roll. Your options are limited and it’s totally embarrassing anyway you look at it.
So what do these two teams have play for now that the championship hunt is officially over? Well for Howard its homecoming and that’s enough incentive in itself. For the Aggies there still is a chance for a winning season if they can somehow string together three wins out of its last four games.
That’s about it – best case scenario of 6-5 and salvaging a disappointing season that had promise of perhaps bigger things back in August. The players playing for pride and that above .500 finish.
But at this point one has begin to ask the difficult questions that have been discussed in private but not publicly. Are the stakes now getting higher for the George Small?
After a 10-3 inaugural season where everything went right, an MEAC championship, the sky seemed to be the limit. Last year injuries decimated the team before the season really even began and fans all agreed that was an anomaly of buzzard’s luck.
This season however that has not been the case. This is a veteran team with a good amount of talent that should have translated into something more than a 3-4 record at this point.
With veteran teams you expect improvement over the previous year, you expect simple mistakes to dwindle each week, you expect to get better and you work toward that each time out on the field.
But this year something has been missing from the start. Whether you want to put the finger on a lack of team chemistry, lackluster quarterback play, spotty defense, an erratic kicking game, coaching deficiencies as evidenced by the middle of the season firing of the offensive coordinator, who knows.
The list seems to get longer each week after every loss.
Yep, I think there may be more at stake this week than just trying to finish above .500 or spoiling Howard’s homecoming. A lot more than you may think considering it is the final year of the contract.
With the lack of progress continuing and all of the same inconsistencies on the field showing up week after week this late into the season, one thing is for sure.
You can’t get there from here.
PREDICTION:
Howard 16
N.C. A&T 14
by Craig R. Turner
bluedeathvalley.com
Now that all the hoopla of homecoming has faded into history for another year, I’ll try to shed some light on a few of the questions that many Aggies and interested fans alike have burned up my cell phone with for the past week.
Now that A&T has been eliminated from the championship race, lost to arch enemy North Carolina Central, and suffered yet another disappointing homecoming loss courtesy of the Delaware State Hornets I was asked where do we go from here?
Oh sure everyone knows that A&T goes up to Washington Saturday to face Howard in their homecoming bash and the D.C. chapter of the Alumni Association and the Aggie Club will turn out in force despite the Bison’s tiny Greene Field that doesn’t seat as many folks as Grimsley High School’s Jamieson Stadium. Both of these teams are probably at their lowest point emotionally as a football squad can be.
One is still left wondering about being turned away at the one foot line, bad officiating not withstanding, and being ripped up by big plays from a Delaware State offense that had been flying way under the radar and that turned out to have much better talent and was much better prepared than most folks could have even realized. But still there isn’t much excuse for not getting a half yard as to leave doubt in an official’s mind.
The Bison faithful have got to be sucking on the barrel with one hand and the other on the trigger after getting shut out by the worst defensive team in all of 1-AA football in its 7-0 loss to Morgan State last weekend.
To be shut out by Morgan is like being caught on the toilet without any tissue on the roll. Your options are limited and it’s totally embarrassing anyway you look at it.
So what do these two teams have play for now that the championship hunt is officially over? Well for Howard its homecoming and that’s enough incentive in itself. For the Aggies there still is a chance for a winning season if they can somehow string together three wins out of its last four games.
That’s about it – best case scenario of 6-5 and salvaging a disappointing season that had promise of perhaps bigger things back in August. The players playing for pride and that above .500 finish.
But at this point one has begin to ask the difficult questions that have been discussed in private but not publicly. Are the stakes now getting higher for the George Small?
After a 10-3 inaugural season where everything went right, an MEAC championship, the sky seemed to be the limit. Last year injuries decimated the team before the season really even began and fans all agreed that was an anomaly of buzzard’s luck.
This season however that has not been the case. This is a veteran team with a good amount of talent that should have translated into something more than a 3-4 record at this point.
With veteran teams you expect improvement over the previous year, you expect simple mistakes to dwindle each week, you expect to get better and you work toward that each time out on the field.
But this year something has been missing from the start. Whether you want to put the finger on a lack of team chemistry, lackluster quarterback play, spotty defense, an erratic kicking game, coaching deficiencies as evidenced by the middle of the season firing of the offensive coordinator, who knows.
The list seems to get longer each week after every loss.
Yep, I think there may be more at stake this week than just trying to finish above .500 or spoiling Howard’s homecoming. A lot more than you may think considering it is the final year of the contract.
With the lack of progress continuing and all of the same inconsistencies on the field showing up week after week this late into the season, one thing is for sure.
You can’t get there from here.
PREDICTION:
Howard 16
N.C. A&T 14
