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Post by wcugrad95 on Oct 24, 2023 14:28:18 GMT -5
And even though this is the "SoCon title" thread, it has shifted a little more into the playoff thread. This year there are actually 15 rather than 14 bids since the OVC and Big South will only have 1 autobid for their combined scheduling. We also have 2 ranked teams who most likely will end up in the Celebration Bowl (Florida A&M and NCCU). Add-in that Harvar has been in the rankings and the Ivy league doesn't send anybody to the playoffs, and it means there is a little more room to get into the playoffs.
All that probably translates to some 6-5 MVFC team getting it, but it does at least open more possibilities that some of the 8-3 type teams from a league like the SOCON will secure a playoff spot.
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Post by The Cats on Oct 24, 2023 15:20:38 GMT -5
My "excuse" has primarily been that Furman is a top-3 team and they make lots of people look bad. Some seemed to think we should have just been able to do whatever we wanted and that the problem was WCU and had nothing to do with how good the opponent was. Another of my "exuses" was that if we had a healthy Reid he is a difference-maker and could have helped us be more balanced on offense - pretty sure in all my posts I said I did not say that would mean a win, only that we would have a better chance. I also try to remind people who all of the sudden think our coaches suck that we are positioned to win more regular season games than ANY Western team at the D1 level in the history of the program. As a team we had a bad game (players and coaches) this past Saturday. Against lesser opponents it might have been enough - we came back out and beat teams like EKU and UTC. But it was not enough aginst a very good and veteran team like the Paladins. Some posters love to ramp-up their comments when things go wrong or when WCU loses. That is fine, and historically has made up much of the discussion on this board. But in a season like this where honestly we have played one bad defensive game (UTC) and one bad offensive game (Furman), I simply try to be a bit more of a half-glass-full type of guy. If anybody heading into this season said "hey, we will go 8-3" how many people would have signed up for that? I am now saying "hey, we might go 9-2" and I'd prefer to just talk about the things we need to do vs immediately falling into thinking the season is over because we lost to Furman. I'm not challenging you on your opinion of things, you might be right with the above statements, and you might be wrong in some of your points. I just don't understand the need to challange others with their opinion? What's wrong with being positive when the Cats lose, I can assure you the coaches have pointed out every mistake made, by the players and coaches - to the team, where that belongs - again, that's my opinion and I may be wrong.
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Post by catamountalum04 on Oct 24, 2023 15:56:47 GMT -5
I will raise my hand and say i was negative when Spier was the coach and we lost because I did not ever feel like the losses ever really hurt him and in that point he rarely made changes the following game so again more losses followed. Bell though I think he does not like to lose or has a "loser mindset" so I feel he will and has already made changes going into the Mercer game. I also feel as his son does not like to lose and I would wager money that he watched alot of film the same day they lost to FU. I just don't think the players or coaches have that loser mindset we have gotten used to seeing around the valley before Bell showed up. I have faith the team will turn it around this week. I am a realistic person and I will call it like i see it and definitely do not have purple tinted glasses. I felt even though i hoped I was going to be wrong that FU was going to beat us last week. I felt thier offense was going to cause our D fits and it did although I was surprised by the bad offense. I think the team has moved on, which they have to, and are planning for Mercer.
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Oct 24, 2023 16:53:50 GMT -5
I take no offense at what anybody says. I laughed at Jim’s post because I thought he was trying to get my goat. I for one am very happy with our current caching staff. Coach Bell is the first true head coach we have had since Bob Waters. All the previous ones were good assistants but not true head coaches. Some folks will have a problem if we win the national championship this year and talk about how bad we play against good teams. That is ok with me because as The Cats said, everybody has an opinion and some I agree with nd some I don’t. Some I think are a result of folks not understanding the game and don’t understand the difference between playing badly and the other team making plays in my opinion. I am right at least twice a day just like a broken clock. I have been critical of some posters in the past because I hate the negativity but The Cats is right in that it is not my place to give someone a hard time because they disagree with me.
I have met Jim and he knows I think he is a fine gentleman. We all just love our Cats and we all express it differently.
Peace.
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Post by jim68 on Oct 24, 2023 17:20:13 GMT -5
I take no offense at what anybody says. I laughed at Jim’s post because I thought he was trying to get my goat. I for one am very happy with our current caching staff. Coach Bell is the first true head coach we have had since Bob Waters. All the previous ones were good assistants but not true head coaches. Some folks will have a problem if we win the national championship this year and talk about how bad we play against good teams. That is ok with me because as The Cats said, everybody has an opinion and some I agree with nd some I don’t. Some I think are a result of folks not understanding the game and don’t understand the difference between playing badly and the other team making plays in my opinion. I am right at least twice a day just like a broken clock. I have been critical of some posters in the past because I hate the negativity but The Cats is right in that it is not my place to give someone a hard time because they disagree with me. I have met Jim and he knows I think he is a fine gentleman. We all just love our Cats and we all express it differently. Peace. Well, Mr Cat, I’m going to remove myself from this Board & stop Jerry from getting on my ass. You were exactly right about my post. I was trying to get your Goat.
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Oct 24, 2023 19:12:49 GMT -5
I take no offense at what anybody says. I laughed at Jim’s post because I thought he was trying to get my goat. I for one am very happy with our current caching staff. Coach Bell is the first true head coach we have had since Bob Waters. All the previous ones were good assistants but not true head coaches. Some folks will have a problem if we win the national championship this year and talk about how bad we play against good teams. That is ok with me because as The Cats said, everybody has an opinion and some I agree with nd some I don’t. Some I think are a result of folks not understanding the game and don’t understand the difference between playing badly and the other team making plays in my opinion. I am right at least twice a day just like a broken clock. I have been critical of some posters in the past because I hate the negativity but The Cats is right in that it is not my place to give someone a hard time because they disagree with me. I have met Jim and he knows I think he is a fine gentleman. We all just love our Cats and we all express it differently. Peace. Well, Mr Cat, I’m going to remove myself from this Board & stop Jerry from getting on my ass. You were exactly right about my post. I was trying to get your Goat. Jim, Just my opinion here. I think you are overreacting to Jerry’s request to keep it civil. Jerry is very fair and he does not play favorites. He has gotten on to me before for the same thing and he was right. If we devolve into attacking each other and are not civil with each other, this board will unravel. You don’t have to react this way. I really don’t think that Jerry was getting on your ass. You bring a different perspective to the board and I for one hope you stay and continue to post the way you see it. I respect Jerry for being fair and treating us all the same. I have also met Jerry and think he is a fine gentleman also. Jerry gives us a place to talk about Western Carolina athletics which is not an easy job. Cmon man. We are all Cat fans and there is no need to be that way.
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Post by The Cats on Oct 24, 2023 19:25:30 GMT -5
I take no offense at what anybody says. I laughed at Jim’s post because I thought he was trying to get my goat. I for one am very happy with our current caching staff. Coach Bell is the first true head coach we have had since Bob Waters. All the previous ones were good assistants but not true head coaches. Some folks will have a problem if we win the national championship this year and talk about how bad we play against good teams. That is ok with me because as The Cats said, everybody has an opinion and some I agree with nd some I don’t. Some I think are a result of folks not understanding the game and don’t understand the difference between playing badly and the other team making plays in my opinion. I am right at least twice a day just like a broken clock. I have been critical of some posters in the past because I hate the negativity but The Cats is right in that it is not my place to give someone a hard time because they disagree with me. I have met Jim and he knows I think he is a fine gentleman. We all just love our Cats and we all express it differently. Peace. Well, Mr Cat, I’m going to remove myself from this Board & stop Jerry from getting on my ass. You were exactly right about my post. I was trying to get your Goat. That's entirely your choice. You are welcome to post here anytime, just as you are to leave the board. It's a personal decision. However, I have and will continue to speak up about what I percieve as posts that violate the terms of service. You've left the board before, and you're welcome to come back at anytime.
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Post by mtncat1 on Oct 24, 2023 20:39:00 GMT -5
I was cautious about the Furman game from the get go, and that was before I knew Reid and some O-line players and a few others on our depth chart were going to be a "no go" this past Saturday. I didn't want to come right out and say that Furman would win because of this reason and that reason. I was at the game and witnessed a veteran team take advantage of a less experienced team and the shortcomings that unfolded due to some key players being missing. It is what it is. WCU still held their own pretty darn well, all things considered. I don't buy into the thought process that we got out coached. We have a good staff. Simply put, we just got out "experienced". That's ok, the players did the best they could. I saw nothing on the field that represented a lack of wanting to win or "giving up". Having key players out really does make a difference, and much more so when you have way less experienced players on the roster. It is what it is. Some who post on here will seem ready to say WCU was out coached or "not having the team ready". I simply disagree. What happened Saturday is not uncommon when younger, less experienced teams are put in these types of games. Usually, the more experienced teams that are healthy and "gelling" at the right time come out on top. Some comments have been said about the Furman game that almost lead the reader to believe that this game was on comparison to the beat down our 2014 team received at the hands of UTC. No comparison here in my view. Back then, that WAS a lack of good coaching and getting the team ready for the game. This past week, WCU simply had to react the best they could to losing some key players they all thought they had and that is really an uphill battle against at top 5 team with so many veteran players. It is very difficult to "make adjustments" during a game when you don't have all the players needed to make those specific adjustments.
If we still don't have key players back and manage to only win a couple more games, WCU still has 7 wins. I'm ok with that, better than last year. Now, if we get our key players back and still only finish with 6 or 7 wins, then I'll be wondering what happened.
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Catback
Redshirt Freshman
The 2022-23 SoCon Football Pick'em Champion
Posts: 472
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Post by Catback on Oct 25, 2023 0:24:19 GMT -5
I was cautious about the Furman game from the get go, and that was before I knew Reid and some O-line players and a few others on our depth chart were going to be a "no go" this past Saturday. I didn't want to come right out and say that Furman would win because of this reason and that reason. I was at the game and witnessed a veteran team take advantage of a less experienced team and the shortcomings that unfolded due to some key players being missing. It is what it is. WCU still held their own pretty darn well, all things considered. I don't buy into the thought process that we got out coached. We have a good staff. Simply put, we just got out "experienced". That's ok, the players did the best they could. I saw nothing on the field that represented a lack of wanting to win or "giving up". Having key players out really does make a difference, and much more so when you have way less experienced players on the roster. It is what it is. Some who post on here will seem ready to say WCU was out coached or "not having the team ready". I simply disagree. What happened Saturday is not uncommon when younger, less experienced teams are put in these types of games. Usually, the more experienced teams that are healthy and "gelling" at the right time come out on top. Some comments have been said about the Furman game that almost lead the reader to believe that this game was on comparison to the beat down our 2014 team received at the hands of UTC. No comparison here in my view. Back then, that WAS a lack of good coaching and getting the team ready for the game. This past week, WCU simply had to react the best they could to losing some key players they all thought they had and that is really an uphill battle against at top 5 team with so many veteran players. It is very difficult to "make adjustments" during a game when you don't have all the players needed to make those specific adjustments.
If we still don't have key players back and manage to only win a couple more games, WCU still has 7 wins. I'm ok with that, better than last year. Now, if we get our key players back and still only finish with 6 or 7 wins, then I'll be wondering what happened.
Excellent, thoughtful, logical!
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Post by wcugamer2 on Oct 25, 2023 8:27:53 GMT -5
I was cautious about the Furman game from the get go, and that was before I knew Reid and some O-line players and a few others on our depth chart were going to be a "no go" this past Saturday. I didn't want to come right out and say that Furman would win because of this reason and that reason. I was at the game and witnessed a veteran team take advantage of a less experienced team and the shortcomings that unfolded due to some key players being missing. It is what it is. WCU still held their own pretty darn well, all things considered. I don't buy into the thought process that we got out coached. We have a good staff. Simply put, we just got out "experienced". That's ok, the players did the best they could. I saw nothing on the field that represented a lack of wanting to win or "giving up". Having key players out really does make a difference, and much more so when you have way less experienced players on the roster. It is what it is. Some who post on here will seem ready to say WCU was out coached or "not having the team ready". I simply disagree. What happened Saturday is not uncommon when younger, less experienced teams are put in these types of games. Usually, the more experienced teams that are healthy and "gelling" at the right time come out on top. Some comments have been said about the Furman game that almost lead the reader to believe that this game was on comparison to the beat down our 2014 team received at the hands of UTC. No comparison here in my view. Back then, that WAS a lack of good coaching and getting the team ready for the game. This past week, WCU simply had to react the best they could to losing some key players they all thought they had and that is really an uphill battle against at top 5 team with so many veteran players. It is very difficult to "make adjustments" during a game when you don't have all the players needed to make those specific adjustments.
If we still don't have key players back and manage to only win a couple more games, WCU still has 7 wins. I'm ok with that, better than last year. Now, if we get our key players back and still only finish with 6 or 7 wins, then I'll be wondering what happened.
Excellent, thoughtful, logical! I agree completely with what you are saying. The only part I would disagree with is the last statement. While yes, 7 wins would be an improvement over many years past.......where our team is right now, if we don't finish strong and get to the post-season, I know I for one will be really disappointed. We have played, for the most part, a strong season. I think 8 wins is completely doable and 9 wins is achievable. even at 8-3, I think the Cats are a playoff team. But obviously, I have a strong biased
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