It's time guys...Clark must go

[Mjohn1988]

I know this isn’t the popular opinion as we’ve been decimated by injuries this year. Yea I know who cares. That doesn’t matter right? But if we are measured on wins and losses, our kicker doesn’t choke we are winning and going bowling. I’m prepared for the onslaught of insults I’m sure will he directed my way. But to fire Clark is sec level idiocy

We agree on a lot of things so I sincerely want to know what you’re seeing that makes you think we’re going to even be an OK team under Coach Clark. I’m seeing a 3 year downward spiral that ended with us basically going from first to worst in the Belt.

It’s been tough to watch. I guess I’m looking at personnel. Our defense looked small and slow all season. We replaced a lot of talent and the talent we brought back couldnt stay healthy. I have hated these losses as much as anyone in this board as I’m invested
Emotionally and financially as well. I hate to say it but next year is the year for Clark. If we sputter again that’s it. I agree changes may need to be made in the off-season but maybe not the ones people think

I completely agree that we look small and slow but I ask myself this question, how did we get small and slow. Then I look straight at the head coach and say, coach, how did we get small and slow? I know we had injuries, ever team has injuries. So Coach, how did we get to the point that we are small and slow and weak? How did we get to the point that we don’t really have a “ next man up” who can play? The year before you took over Coach, we won the belt and could argue that we should have gotten the New Year’s Day bowl. We had a position of strength. How did we not recruit better? How did we not hire better coaches? How did we not see this coming and why didn’t we get in the transfer portal and get this fixed? Someone else mentioned this in another post, the head coach has to see these problems before they become his and our new reality.

[Yosef10]

The only exaggeration I no longer buy is the Ferrari reference. We have some good players but for crying out loud we are not that loaded anymore. We took a bunch of key losses from our defense last year and if I'm not mistaken 3 of our 4 main linebackers are not playing anymore. We have slow ass defensive backs who chase after receivers and then either grab them or throw their hands up hoping the ball doesn't get caught. What ever happened to swivel hips with those guys? Play 10 yards off and on a 3rd and 10 try to keep the other guys at a 9 yard gain. Our lateral pursuit defense isn't there and the 3 man line gets no pressure (except a little bit tonight at the end of the game).

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

[Yosef10]

I know this isn’t the popular opinion as we’ve been decimated by injuries this year. Yea I know who cares. That doesn’t matter right? But if we are measured on wins and losses, our kicker doesn’t choke we are winning and going bowling. I’m prepared for the onslaught of insults I’m sure will he directed my way. But to fire Clark is sec level idiocy

Do you want another year of giving up the 3rd and 13 for 24? This defense is really bad. Let’s start there.

Do you see who’s out there? Did you even bother to look at the injury report? The rebuilt defense has struggled, the injury replacements of the rebuilt defense have really struggled. That shouldn’t result in firing Clark

The defense isn't why you fire Clark. The two drives at the end of each half are perfect examples of why you fire Clark. Ball on the 25 with 38 seconds left, all 3 time outs. What does Clark do? Runs the ball once for 5 yards and lets time run out. Last drive of regulation, ball inside the 20 with 21 seconds left and 2 timeouts. What's he do? Runs one play and lets the clock run down to :03 for a missed FG. The way he coaches forces you to win on the margins. That's a recipe for losing a lot of games against lesser talented teams.

Completely disagree. You are getting the ball to start the second half with an opportunity to push the lead to two
Scores. Throwing the ball on your own 25 with the lead and 30 seconds left, no
Coach does that. A turnover and you erase
Your advantage of getting the second half
Kickoff

Do you watch games other than App? I see the exact scenario you're saying doesn't happen, happen multiple times every Saturday.

[yosef69]

Do you want another year of giving up the 3rd and 13 for 24? This defense is really bad. Let’s start there.

Do you see who’s out there? Did you even bother to look at the injury report? The rebuilt defense has struggled, the injury replacements of the rebuilt defense have really struggled. That shouldn’t result in firing Clark

The defense isn't why you fire Clark. The two drives at the end of each half are perfect examples of why you fire Clark. Ball on the 25 with 38 seconds left, all 3 time outs. What does Clark do? Runs the ball once for 5 yards and lets time run out. Last drive of regulation, ball inside the 20 with 21 seconds left and 2 timeouts. What's he do? Runs one play and lets the clock run down to :03 for a missed FG. The way he coaches forces you to win on the margins. That's a recipe for losing a lot of games against lesser talented teams.

Completely disagree. You are getting the ball to start the second half with an opportunity to push the lead to two
Scores. Throwing the ball on your own 25 with the lead and 30 seconds left, no
Coach does that. A turnover and you erase
Your advantage of getting the second half
Kickoff

Do you watch games other than App? I see the exact scenario you're saying doesn't happen, happen multiple times every Saturday.

He’s talking like Saban would go into halftime with the ball and three TOS lmao

[Seattleapp]

I know this isn’t the popular opinion as we’ve been decimated by injuries this year. Yea I know who cares. That doesn’t matter right? But if we are measured on wins and losses, our kicker doesn’t choke we are winning and going bowling. I’m prepared for the onslaught of insults I’m sure will he directed my way. But to fire Clark is sec level idiocy

We agree on a lot of things so I sincerely want to know what you’re seeing that makes you think we’re going to even be an OK team under Coach Clark. I’m seeing a 3 year downward spiral that ended with us basically going from first to worst in the Belt.

It’s been tough to watch. I guess I’m looking at personnel. Our defense looked small and slow all season. We replaced a lot of talent and the talent we brought back couldnt stay healthy. I have hated these losses as much as anyone in this board as I’m invested
Emotionally and financially as well. I hate to say it but next year is the year for Clark. If we sputter again that’s it. I agree changes may need to be made in the off-season but maybe not the ones people think

I completely agree that we look small and slow but I ask myself this question, how did we get small and slow. Then I look straight at the head coach and say, coach, how did we get small and slow? I know we had injuries, ever team has injuries. So Coach, how did we get to the point that we are small and slow and weak? How did we get to the point that we don’t really have a “ next man up” who can play? The year before you took over Coach, we won the belt and could argue that we should have gotten the New Year’s Day bowl. We had a position of strength. How did we not recruit better? How did we not hire better coaches? How did we not see this coming and why didn’t we get in the transfer portal and get this fixed? Someone else mentioned this in another post, the head coach has to see these problems before they become his and our new reality.

Agree. The secondary was a mess this year. The d line minus lacked depth and overall disruption which exacerbated that.

[Moonshine Runners]

The backbone of our program has become toxic, that’s to say least. Clarks chasing players vs players trying to earn respect from him. Everyone is in here at each other’s throat and it’s pathetic.

[Yosef10]

Do you see who’s out there? Did you even bother to look at the injury report? The rebuilt defense has struggled, the injury replacements of the rebuilt defense have really struggled. That shouldn’t result in firing Clark

The defense isn't why you fire Clark. The two drives at the end of each half are perfect examples of why you fire Clark. Ball on the 25 with 38 seconds left, all 3 time outs. What does Clark do? Runs the ball once for 5 yards and lets time run out. Last drive of regulation, ball inside the 20 with 21 seconds left and 2 timeouts. What's he do? Runs one play and lets the clock run down to :03 for a missed FG. The way he coaches forces you to win on the margins. That's a recipe for losing a lot of games against lesser talented teams.

Completely disagree. You are getting the ball to start the second half with an opportunity to push the lead to two
Scores. Throwing the ball on your own 25 with the lead and 30 seconds left, no
Coach does that. A turnover and you erase
Your advantage of getting the second half
Kickoff

Do you watch games other than App? I see the exact scenario you're saying doesn't happen, happen multiple times every Saturday.

He’s talking like Saban would go into halftime with the ball and three TOS lmao

The most infuriating part, the QB is a 6th year 24 year old and it was beyond obvious Clark had 0 trust in him to win him a game.

[Mjohn1988]

Hope everyone in here advocating for a firing has their wallets ready to donate to the Yosef club. Put your money where your mouths are.

What if I told you there are good coaches that don't need millions?

Throw out some names

Rich Rodriguez makes around 500k at Jacksonville St.

How about Scott Frost? Didn’t work out at Nebraska but killed it at UCF. Dude got $30,000,000 to leave Nebraska. Doesn’t need money. Maybe he would like a place to succeed again.

[yosef69]

Harsin

[Seattleapp]

The defense isn't why you fire Clark. The two drives at the end of each half are perfect examples of why you fire Clark. Ball on the 25 with 38 seconds left, all 3 time outs. What does Clark do? Runs the ball once for 5 yards and lets time run out. Last drive of regulation, ball inside the 20 with 21 seconds left and 2 timeouts. What's he do? Runs one play and lets the clock run down to :03 for a missed FG. The way he coaches forces you to win on the margins. That's a recipe for losing a lot of games against lesser talented teams.

Completely disagree. You are getting the ball to start the second half with an opportunity to push the lead to two
Scores. Throwing the ball on your own 25 with the lead and 30 seconds left, no
Coach does that. A turnover and you erase
Your advantage of getting the second half
Kickoff

Do you watch games other than App? I see the exact scenario you're saying doesn't happen, happen multiple times every Saturday.

He’s talking like Saban would go into halftime with the ball and three TOS lmao

The most infuriating part, the QB is a 6th year 24 year old and it was beyond obvious Clark had 0 trust in him to win him a game.

He made the sideline throw in regulation to get in field goal range and he made the throw Pearson dropped in ot. Dudes didn’t execute

[bigdaddyg]

I know this isn’t the popular opinion as we’ve been decimated by injuries this year. Yea I know who cares. That doesn’t matter right? But if we are measured on wins and losses, our kicker doesn’t choke we are winning and going bowling. I’m prepared for the onslaught of insults I’m sure will he directed my way. But to fire Clark is sec level idiocy

Do you want another year of giving up the 3rd and 13 for 24? This defense is really bad. Let’s start there.

Do you see who’s out there? Did you even bother to look at the injury report? The rebuilt defense has struggled, the injury replacements of the rebuilt defense have really struggled. That shouldn’t result in firing Clark

The defense isn't why you fire Clark. The two drives at the end of each half are perfect examples of why you fire Clark. Ball on the 25 with 38 seconds left, all 3 time outs. What does Clark do? Runs the ball once for 5 yards and lets time run out. Last drive of regulation, ball inside the 20 with 21 seconds left and 2 timeouts. What's he do? Runs one play and lets the clock run down to :03 for a missed FG. The way he coaches forces you to win on the margins. That's a recipe for losing a lot of games against lesser talented teams.

I know it's pointless (hell it's all pointless now) but one thought I had on the missed FG was why did we let the clock run down to 3 seconds? There used to be a commonly accepted opinion that you leave enough time in case the snap is bad on a less than 4th down kick attempt. If there is a bad snap on 3rd down and you have time can't you try again?

I've thought about the end of half situation. As fans and armchair coaches we think it's no problem to move 50 yards in 38 seconds but it's not that easy. We had the lead and got the second half kick. I had hoped we would take a couple of shots but in that case I want to trust the coaches. We seemed to run creative plays tonight that have been locked away in the playbook since our first game- why?

Next question- is Stroman on a pitch count? Seems like he gets about 1-2 looks a game and is a home run hitter but either he doesn't get open enough or is rotated out like the other guys.

Someone mentioned the chewing on the hoodie string. I noticed that and my first thought was, damn you can't handle this situation. That's probably extreme but it was an initial reaction. Some coaches look overwhelmed and others look completely in control. Sean looked overwhelmed.

[Saint3333]

Three timeouts in our pocket with 45 seconds on the clock to end the half against a terrible defense.

Jumbo package on 4th and 1 versus spreading the GS defense out.

Three man rush every time in third and long.

These are the decisions that win and lose close games.

We aren’t putting our players in situations to be successful consistently.

With the talent we had we should have been no worse than 8-4.

[bigdaddyg]

The only exaggeration I no longer buy is the Ferrari reference. We have some good players but for crying out loud we are not that loaded anymore. We took a bunch of key losses from our defense last year and if I'm not mistaken 3 of our 4 main linebackers are not playing anymore. We have slow ass defensive backs who chase after receivers and then either grab them or throw their hands up hoping the ball doesn't get caught. What ever happened to swivel hips with those guys? Play 10 yards off and on a 3rd and 10 try to keep the other guys at a 9 yard gain. Our lateral pursuit defense isn't there and the 3 man line gets no pressure (except a little bit tonight at the end of the game).

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

[WASU 93]

To be fair, we got worse with Satterfield before we became awesome. 5 of our 6 losses were one score games. Need to get better on defense and an area we can improve there is coordinator. We make one more stop per game, we win all 5 of those and we’re sitting at 11-1. Defensive playcalling has been consistently terrible all season. Just need to improve defense by one series stop a game, 11-1. The failure of our season is on the failure of the defense, not the players, the coaching.

Actually, the offense had a lot of times to step up and didn't. Cooper Hodges said it very well, post game. We didn't play complimentary football tonight.
In fact, we didn't play complimentary football this year. Defense was there to start the second half against JMU and the offense disappeared.
Offense gets 600+ yards, but stalls out 6 times in the red zone/deep in GaSo territory tonight (5 FG attempts and the stop on 4th and goal). FG Kicker makes all the kicks except for the chip shot.
Special Teams had more lowlights than highlights. Punting was below average until the last few games. We didn't flip the field when we had the chance.
We stop Coastal on downs, we get stopped on downs. We make an INT, we throw an INT.
With the exception of Texas State, we had the ball with a chance to win or tie in every game that we lost (and you can throw in Miami and the conference championship game last year, and Coastal and LaLa in 2020) and we didn't get the job done except for the Hail Mary.

So, if you want to point the finger at something, it's our consistent inability to tie games or close out wins.

[Yosef10]

The only exaggeration I no longer buy is the Ferrari reference. We have some good players but for crying out loud we are not that loaded anymore. We took a bunch of key losses from our defense last year and if I'm not mistaken 3 of our 4 main linebackers are not playing anymore. We have slow ass defensive backs who chase after receivers and then either grab them or throw their hands up hoping the ball doesn't get caught. What ever happened to swivel hips with those guys? Play 10 yards off and on a 3rd and 10 try to keep the other guys at a 9 yard gain. Our lateral pursuit defense isn't there and the 3 man line gets no pressure (except a little bit tonight at the end of the game).

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

[bigdaddyg]

The only exaggeration I no longer buy is the Ferrari reference. We have some good players but for crying out loud we are not that loaded anymore. We took a bunch of key losses from our defense last year and if I'm not mistaken 3 of our 4 main linebackers are not playing anymore. We have slow ass defensive backs who chase after receivers and then either grab them or throw their hands up hoping the ball doesn't get caught. What ever happened to swivel hips with those guys? Play 10 yards off and on a 3rd and 10 try to keep the other guys at a 9 yard gain. Our lateral pursuit defense isn't there and the 3 man line gets no pressure (except a little bit tonight at the end of the game).

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

So because Vegas picked us to win 10 of 12 games we were just supposed to? I get all of that stuff but I saw a whole bunch of backups on defense tonight and I saw slow defensive backs with poor mechanics. I saw some guys out of position on defense (not just this game either). I also saw smaller backup linebackers playing who are not top tier Sunbelt level, good backup guys but that's all.

[yosef69]

The only exaggeration I no longer buy is the Ferrari reference. We have some good players but for crying out loud we are not that loaded anymore. We took a bunch of key losses from our defense last year and if I'm not mistaken 3 of our 4 main linebackers are not playing anymore. We have slow ass defensive backs who chase after receivers and then either grab them or throw their hands up hoping the ball doesn't get caught. What ever happened to swivel hips with those guys? Play 10 yards off and on a 3rd and 10 try to keep the other guys at a 9 yard gain. Our lateral pursuit defense isn't there and the 3 man line gets no pressure (except a little bit tonight at the end of the game).

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

So because Vegas picked us to win 10 of 12 games we were just supposed to? I get all of that stuff but I saw a whole bunch of backups on defense tonight and I saw slow defensive backs with poor mechanics. I saw some guys out of position on defense (not just this game either). I also saw smaller backup linebackers playing who are not top tier Sunbelt level, good backup guys but that's all.

Literally everything you just pointed to is a coaching issue other than injuries.

Bad mechanics, poor position, smaller talent, all of it has a root cause of coaching.

[bigdaddyg]

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

So because Vegas picked us to win 10 of 12 games we were just supposed to? I get all of that stuff but I saw a whole bunch of backups on defense tonight and I saw slow defensive backs with poor mechanics. I saw some guys out of position on defense (not just this game either). I also saw smaller backup linebackers playing who are not top tier Sunbelt level, good backup guys but that's all.

Literally everything you just pointed to is a coaching issue other than injuries.

Bad mechanics, poor position, smaller talent, all of it has a root cause of coaching.

I guess my point was that our 6'3" 230ish fast linebackers were hurt and the backups are slower 210ish guys (we aren't Alabama with 8 of those big, fast dudes). We had no options left at backer apparently.

Maybe the defensive coordinator calls certain coverages and players don't know what to do or simply screw up and lose containment or are not fast enough to play- but again, no other option.

Maybe those bad mechanics are because those players would not normally play and really aren't ready to contribute- but again no other option available.

All I know is that we had a few dudes chasing after receivers and Stink had some guys wide ass open on several occasions.

[Seattleapp]

App was the favorite in 10 of 12 games this season.

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

So because Vegas picked us to win 10 of 12 games we were just supposed to? I get all of that stuff but I saw a whole bunch of backups on defense tonight and I saw slow defensive backs with poor mechanics. I saw some guys out of position on defense (not just this game either). I also saw smaller backup linebackers playing who are not top tier Sunbelt level, good backup guys but that's all.

Literally everything you just pointed to is a coaching issue other than injuries.

Bad mechanics, poor position, smaller talent, all of it has a root cause of coaching.

So what’s your solution as you can’t differentiate talent

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

So what? We still didn't have the roster some believe we had- a Ferrari? That's a huge stretch. Look at our linebackers tonight. Only one was a day one starter. A couple are the size of safeties. Number 19 for us got burned repeatedly and was slow as crap. Our offense tonight put up over 600 yards- wasn't the problem. Tackling, lateral pursuit, zero pressure on the QB and defensive backs looking lost was our problem.

Vegas wouldn't have all those shiny toys if they didn't know how to accurately power rank teams. Not saying there weren't deficiencies in personnel, but App still had enough horses to win the East, didn't even come close.

So because Vegas picked us to win 10 of 12 games we were just supposed to? I get all of that stuff but I saw a whole bunch of backups on defense tonight and I saw slow defensive backs with poor mechanics. I saw some guys out of position on defense (not just this game either). I also saw smaller backup linebackers playing who are not top tier Sunbelt level, good backup guys but that's all.

Literally everything you just pointed to is a coaching issue other than injuries.

Bad mechanics, poor position, smaller talent, all of it has a root cause of coaching.

So what’s your solution as you can’t differentiate talent

What's your solution other than asking other people for their solution?

You think everything is ok? Hoping to go 7-5 next year to hang your hat on the fact we improved, and made a bowl, all the while not even coming close to winning the conference, or even the division?

You can look at tonight and blame it on injuries, but when it's the same thing even with the majority of the team healthy, it's hard to just say injuries alone are to blame for this season.

Injuries aren't the reason we got blasted by Texas State or gave up a nice lead to JMU at home. Win those two games and that trip to Conway we'd already be bowl eligible, playing for a chance to control our destiny to win the division.