The Lions' Pride

Glad we could put a good foot forward.

Behind the scenes, I don't think it's as pretty as you see. There's a lot of angst out there against the coaches.

I agree that we were furious... It was the first time I did not go visit the local establishments after a game, but we weren't mad at the Bama football squad, and we never thought the better team did not win. Rather, we were infuriated that the coaches didn't come to win the game. So I can't call this more of the same. I've never seen anything like it. Our coaches treated the game like a top tier scrimmage to find out which QB could lead the team. The gameplan we put out there will win 0% of the time against a team like Bama. It is clear to me now that this game was not important and that the coaches were focusing on preparing for Big Ten play and winning the first true conference title. Our players (for the most part) played as well as they could. Our coaching staff regularly blows it in big games, but this goes on a whole new level.

Had a ton of fun tailgating with the Bama folks and drinking with them Friday night. Glad to see a lot of you made the trip up North to experience a great Northern football tradition. See you in a few years, hopefully.

I don't think we're mediocre. Last year we were mediocre. Mediocre gets blown up by 35 by Bama. We're just good but not great. Unfortunately, that's not where we want to be right now. We expect better.

Who exactly doesn't do that? You could say the same about Ohio State. With that regard, Alabama is slightly worse than mediocre, because they lost to South Carolina and Auburn at home - both games they were favored to win.

My point is that we beat mediocre teams, usually beat good teams, and almost never beat great teams. My that scale, we''re better than average, not great.

I'm not trying to sugar coat anything here, but it's pretty important to define what we are, before targeting where we want to be.

There is a difference between being favored to win, and having it be a game you should win. . . last game where we beat an opponent that was ranked.. we're 4-8 against top 25 opponents since our last bcs game... for a program that used to be as elite as we were you tell me if that is above average, and why are you ok with above average?

Wait, where did I say I'm ok with being good not great? If there's one thing that the Bama game proved to me, it's that we can recruit well enough to win a MNC. As seltz says in his thread, this game wasn't about raw talent. It was about coaching. My biggest fear for this program is that we would have to sacrifice our culture (Success with honor) to compete for a MNC - well Saturday proved that we don't have to do that. If we get good coaching on both sides of the ball, and keep recruiting like we do, we can win championships.

For the first time in my life, I am saying that won't happen under Paterno, because there's no chance he'll overhaul the offensive staff, and I've lost faith in that group of coaches. I don't believe they can develop the players like they should, and bring forth a cohesive game plan that the players can believe in.