if we were even 2-2 then opting out wouldn't look so bad. Maybe we should've just played our backups the rest of the year. Lot of those guys work their butts off and never get into a game. Good way to reward them. Getting our asses kicked the rest of the year wouldn't look as bad, and then it's a win win. The D-line is probably the main issue. Why not plug a few reserve O-lineman in there to take up some space. Let them have some fun.
ISU opts out
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D Line is THE issue. There are no backups left. Plugging in an O lineman does not solve the problem. The O linemen don't know the defensive plays, and that can lead to more issues when they don't know where to line up, or what gap they are responsible for. You can give them a crash course on the playbook, but this is college football, and you need to know all the little things that go along with playing the position, and you can't learn that in a week. Now say you lose an O-lineman or two after you do that. You already robbed their depth to fill out the D line. Having fun is great, but you can bet that the opponents are out there to win.
MadBird
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So, it would be fun playing out of position, lined up against first-teamers from ranked teams fighting for a playoff spot?? Getting sand pounded up your rear for 4 more weeks?? Yeah, fun . . . .
The DIII conference I'm most familiar with, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, arranged for an "optional" spring season for football, allowing schools to arrange up to 4 "competitions", either full out games or scrimmages, at the discretion of the schools. No conference champion to be recognized. If this was how the MVFC was going, sure, go ahead, toss in the O-Linemen in a "scrimmage" vs. the Jackrabbits and Salukis and so forth. But in a full out game with teams fighting for the playoffs? I don't see it.
We played 5 D-Linemen against WIU (Ridgeway, Powell, Dinga, Gomez and McCall for 3 DL positions). They all played well. If we need more we can pull players from other positions and it can done on short notice. It isn't pretty but it happens in college football and offensive lineman Pete Bussone was once a D-lineman here so it's just a refresher course for him. Bussone can be a back up nose tackle and TE Jacob Carl could a backup DE.
If you poach those two then yes, young players will be on standby. Our O-Line would be Himmelman, Day, Bones, Georgie and Anderson. The backups could be Zambrano, May, Bromagen, Mueller and Asche with Asche and Mueller being first in line. Many teams do not rotate offensive lineman but players are available. If Himmelman, Georgie or Anderson depart then Zambrano, May and Bromagen need to get ready. At TE veteran Taula will still be backed up by youngsters Spaulding and Charles. This team has been practicing for two months. Newcomers are no longer brand new and keep in mind that we lost our opener to a true freshman QB.
When we start playing games again in fall of '21 our team will have played 4 football games in the last 20 months so here's a future quote from media day August '21. "We have a lot of young guys out there with very little game experience."
"LET'S GET READY FOR FALL"
- sorry, you don't get ready for football by not playing football.
The situation isn't good but it's not that bad. Our O-Line remains intact and the D-Line is playing very well. Mad - we've seen it worse. Remember the first two years of the Berry era? I'll bet O-Line Coach Etheridge does. Take him to an undisclosed location and hook him up to a lie detector because he won't publicly dispute his HC. It was worse. The O-Line was a MASH unit. IIRC OT Eric Delaere was playing with one arm. A young Cass Penick got moved to C with little preparation. It was worse and the team took its lumps with losing seasons including an ugly 2-9 in '97. But they kept playing and they got better. They went 19-7 then next two season making it to the Nat'l semi-final.
I don't know much about the game but I DO know this. You don't get better at football by not playing football.
redbirdfan04
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It sucks for everyone involved no matter what decision was made here. I get both sides and have to believe coach Spack is doing what he feels is best. He knows more about this than anyone. At this point do we get better by playing? I'm not sure. Do I want them to play, of course. If we are 4-0 does this happen, probably not. Can we afford to lose another player and then that kid is hurt in the fall probably not. Either way people are pissed off including myself. Playing this past fall would have been the smart thing to do. Other D1 schools managed it just fine and with the defense we had I thought we had our best team yet.
Didn't Trey Georgie do that a year or two ago? I bet those guys would do it for the pride of the school, instead just quitting.
fourthandshort
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Imagine if we're in game 8, sitting with 2-5 record, and an over-played banged-up Ridgeway gets serious injury and is out next fall. Spack's head might literally explode.
I would bet money that thought went thru Spack's mind this past week, after seeing it happen to Jason Lewan in our first game .. for what will always be looked at as an exhibition season .. a big fat asterisk season.
As I said before .. I was initially very surprised when I first heard it and in less than 30 seconds I was over it.
I would bet money that thought went thru Spack's mind this past week, after seeing it happen to Jason Lewan in our first game .. for what will always be looked at as an exhibition season .. a big fat asterisk season.
As I said before .. I was initially very surprised when I first heard it and in less than 30 seconds I was over it.
jamminjamarsmiley
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I am very disappointed in this decision and feel bad for the players who went through all the practices in the fall/winter/spring to get to this point.
If Brock was 4-0 and ranked in the Top 5, he would find a way to keep playing. Do not give me the "record doesnt matter" BS. I generally had no problems with Brock, but this one baffles me.
If Brock was 4-0 and ranked in the Top 5, he would find a way to keep playing. Do not give me the "record doesnt matter" BS. I generally had no problems with Brock, but this one baffles me.
fourthandshort
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I get your point, but still disagree. The football war of attrition was not meant to be due to 2 games seasons (ending and starting) within 4 months of each other. The impact on fall season from playing this spring season is unprecedented. The idea of an injury in this forced spring season could take you out of next fall, or simply mean youre offseason is spent entirely in rehab getting healthy, and not on a field getting better.
Virginia Redbird
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When ISU-Blue opted out of the spring season, I thought the MVFC may reconsider playing in the spring. There were some rumors going around on-line that FCS (as a whole) may decide to not play the spring season. When the remaining schools decided to go ahead and the MVFC re-worked the schedule I assumed those schools were in for the entire season. That turned out to not be the case and we will have to wait and see if any other schools follow ISU on ending their spring season. I thought the spring season was not the best idea just simply due to playing two season in such a short time span. The wear and tear on the student athlete's bodies was going to be brutal even if they did not get a serious injury. I thought the MVFC made a bad call on playing in the spring. I would have rather seen the conference allow an extended spring football training schedule to maybe include inter-team controlled scrimmages. Get some good work and development in a controlled manner while doing their best to avoid serious injuries. The decision was made to play in the spring and here we are!
Redbirdwarrior
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I mean, think of it in the way that Spack laid it out. It is now March. If you get a kid that tears a knee or dislocated and elbow or something, there is almost zero chance they are around in August to play for next year. And we had a ton of injuries, which would only lead to more and more kids getting hurt as they were increasingly playing out of position or an uncommon number of snaps.
Dude tagged out of 2020 so everyone would have a chance to play and win in 2021. I don't disagree with the move.
Cheesehead
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Coach Spack was the first one to have the guts to call it as it was and do the right thing. Some have used false field condition issues, now more recently others are using Covid when in actuality they're all hurt but don't want to face the heat for "giving up". NDSU lost to Southern. UNI struggling. They're all hurt.
fourthandshort
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Part of the issue was also offseason prep for spring games ... unless you have an indoor facility with a real turf, you were at a real disadvantage in terms of game like conditioning. Not just offensive (and defensive) timing which is huge in itself, but physically prepared for game conditions. This difference in facilities/conditioning leads to being less prepared and more injuries .. some nagging, some game ending, some season ending .. some for next fall season. Including injuries that lead to players being held out of OTAs and then August contact, even if they are able to play next fall. Basically, no offseason development, just recovery and often times not even 100% to start season.
I completely get why FBS forced it last fall .. economics was major concern, though admittedly had more budget to make it work too. But you'll note almost all have indoor facilities and could have chosen to play spring ball instead .. they did not choose this, for several reasons. But big part of why they forced it last fall were for the same reasons Spack was reluctant to play at all this spring, and then canceled mid-season. Impact on fall 2021.
You can bet our 1-3 record had a lot to do with timing. And it makes sense IMO ... why risk more injuries and next fall season with a 1-3 record. Spack was witnessing whatever he was witnessing on field and behind scenes. And more teams will opt out as spring season progresses .. who wants to lose an all conference stud (or three) for next fall in game 7 or 8, sitting with 2-5 record.
Spack made right decision .. more are following for same basic reason, no matter what they say about covid ... risk to roster for fall 2021 season.
I completely get why FBS forced it last fall .. economics was major concern, though admittedly had more budget to make it work too. But you'll note almost all have indoor facilities and could have chosen to play spring ball instead .. they did not choose this, for several reasons. But big part of why they forced it last fall were for the same reasons Spack was reluctant to play at all this spring, and then canceled mid-season. Impact on fall 2021.
You can bet our 1-3 record had a lot to do with timing. And it makes sense IMO ... why risk more injuries and next fall season with a 1-3 record. Spack was witnessing whatever he was witnessing on field and behind scenes. And more teams will opt out as spring season progresses .. who wants to lose an all conference stud (or three) for next fall in game 7 or 8, sitting with 2-5 record.
Spack made right decision .. more are following for same basic reason, no matter what they say about covid ... risk to roster for fall 2021 season.
MadBird
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I'll post this link to a story about DIII St. John's of Minnesota opting out of the spring season. Their situation is a little different than our's (beyond DIII vs. FCS), but it was interesting to me to read some of what their coach had to say about the reasons had a similarity to what Coach Spack said.
They were down numbers, altho not due to NFL or FBS, but guys going ahead and graduating, playing spring sports, or sitting out the spring in order to preserve eligibility to play in the fall. Coach Fasching was concerned about spring injuries affecting fall ball. Covid testing concerns.
Tough time to be a coach at any level.
gojohnnies.com
They were down numbers, altho not due to NFL or FBS, but guys going ahead and graduating, playing spring sports, or sitting out the spring in order to preserve eligibility to play in the fall. Coach Fasching was concerned about spring injuries affecting fall ball. Covid testing concerns.
Tough time to be a coach at any level.
St. Cloud Orthopedics Thursday Feature: SJU Football Focuses on Getting Ready for Fall - Saint John's University Athletics
The Johnnies are electing not to play a competitive spring schedule, instead building to an intra-squad spring game on May 1 or May 2.
gojohnnies.com