ISU v WSU Post-game not so obvious observations

[john_clayton]

I was one of the 5500+ who didn't shy away from Holt Arena this afternoon. I consider myself a football fan, and while I'll cheer for ISU to get a "W," I also appreciate the quality of play by both teams, especially if either or both are ranked in the top-10. As disappointed I was in ISU's performance, I was equally impressed with Weber State. Hopefully, Weber can represent the BSC well in the playoffs.

With the game, more or less, decided by half, a few of my colleagues and I began to notice "other" things during the game that, well, caused me to pause and ask myself, "Did that just happened?"

1. Benny the Bengal "shot" one of his t-shirts and hit one of the cheerleaders in the back of the head. He's got to be more careful with his t-shirt gun/cannon/launcher.

2. I didn't see a lot of "White out Weber" t-shirts promotion at the game. The first I heard anything about it was during the WBB and MBB the night before at Reed where t-shirts were being sold, and I also heard VOTB mention it during the pre-game. Selling them for $5 (I know it's only $5) probably didn't help. It might have helped if there were corporate sponsors to cover the costs so the shirts could have been given away for free as ISU fans entered the Arena.

3. Is it customary to announce over the PA system a school record-breaking performance by a player on the OPPOSING team? Kudos to Trevyn Smith (talked to a few Weber St. fans and they say he's a good guy) for breaking Churno's career rushing record, but it seemed odd for ISU to make that announcement. I could understand it if the record he broke was a BSC record or national record, but a school record? Maybe it was to let the 2000+ Weber St fans who made the trip know, but still....

4. No recognition of the award-winning ISU Bengal Dancers when they take/leave the field at half time. I realize the Bengal Dancers are not recognized as an athletic team, but given their recent successes within the last calendar year, I think it's reasonable to recognize their accomplishments before/after they perform.

5. :x THIS ONE KILLED ME :x - As Weber St. took the field coming out of the locker room for the 2nd half, they came out to the cheers of their fans and supports. As ISU took the field coming out of the locker room for the 2nd half, the song playing over the PA system was Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady." Not the ISU fight song by the band or recording, not AC/DC's Back in Black, not Survivor's Eye of the Tiger. I don't think it was intentional, but still.

When times are tough, and an argument can be made times are tough for ISU (athletics and beyond), attention to details goes a long way.

From snarky-ville, USA, this is John Clayton, BengalDen.com

 

[expokygrad]

Had the same reaction regarding the music choice tonight at halftime and the announcement of the Weber record being broken! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ISU athletics has turned into an entry in some kind of little kids t-ball league. I think Zamberlin is a good coach but he is trying to win a gunfight with a squirt gun. Remember when Weber was the laughingstock of the league? Wasn't that long ago! Vailas and his brilliant "financial recovery plan" has effectively cut off athletics at it's knees but hey it's ok because the bottom line looks good financially! How does having maybe 4000 people there today work into the grand plan? How does all the sub 500 records in every sport bring out the checkbooks? ISU-BYU right around the corner! Bengal village? Pleeeeeeese......Nice job jeffy, make your daddy proud! From the talk today from the Weber people they are happy you the boy in charge at ISU..direct quote"at least as long as tingey is the a.d. we won't have to worry bout these guys" He must have really made an impression during his time in Ogden! Good luck Z! You don't deserve this clown show! Hang tough!

 

[blackfootbengal]

Let's see, where to start. Let's start with the inane comments in the paper. First Zamberlin didn't like them throwing the ball late in the fourth quarter. In my opinion Weber was afraid they didn't have a back that couldn't take it the distance against our defense. At least in throwing the ball two bad things could happen. Second Knickrelm saying we wanted to see what Blum coudd do. Now we know, he can go 8-23 and throw an interception against the second and third team which played the whole fourth quarter. He did have that good drive where his throws were so off target the defenders kept getting called for inference because the recievers actually tried to catch a ball finally that did not hit them in the hands.

Great game, at least they finally benched the starting linebackers after that long play where almost the entire defense tried to grab the flag off the Weber player. We have a really good flag football team and should be proud. I made it a point to watch our linebacker play this game. The comment about how bad we are at linebacker may be accurate, tough to tell, I was having trouble telling the difference between the D-line and linebackers ten yard down field. They both kept running into our safeties, hard tell who was doing what. Ah, the final straw. We have now blamed the QB for the defense giving up 600 yards, we are finally there. Granted, he through two interceptions; the first thrown down field to Burel. A play where the reciever needed to adjust to the throw and catch it over his shoulder. Instead he runs past the point where he could have caught the ball and puts the defender right in postion to catch the ball. To bad Hill is so accuate, maybe he could have gotten an interference call. Did you notice how Weber defenders were cheating, they were actually in postion to make plays on those interception rather than trailing the reciever by 15 feet, damn cheaters. The other, another out route to the sideline, a play you never saw Blum throw because he can't, and the defender who read the play perfectly steps in front of the reciever and catches the ball. For those that don't know, this is a timing route that the reciever sells and the QB makes a blind throw to the sideline. If read correctly by the defender it is easy to defend, Oregon State jumped it three times because it depends on the route running to sell it. The QB has to read the safety to determine what coverage he is facing, Hill missed something. He must of missed the flag on that record breaking run by the Weber runningback, guess we can't let him play D-tackle or Linebacker anymore as well as QB. Maybe we need to see what Blum can do there too. I also love the comment in the paper about both of Hill's interceptions leading to a touchdown. The first interception was on our thirty, Hill's interception was about where we would have punted too. Isn't it the defenses job to maybe make a play or something, gee when other teams QB's make mistakes their defenses make plays sometimes. In other words neither of the interceptions was ran in for a touchdown, for god sakes defense make a play sometime. I really can't believe Hill fumbled the kickoff on the five yard line, guess he can't return kicks anymore either. Basicly what I'm saying is the change at QB made no difference other than we now know that Blum is inaccuate in his passes and runs better when the defense is playing back. Great, how many runs do you think he will get before someone knocks him out of the game. In addition, want to bet the teams we play will take the QB into consideration when the play against him, and maybe even box the ends to keep him inside. We also know that rather than admit he and his staff have no answers for the poor defense, Zamberlin will throw his players. a Sophomore QB, under the bus to cover for poor play on the defensive side of the ball. Nice coach, a self made smoke screen to cover the real problems, you planning on running for office any time in the near future.

 

[bhumble]

4. No recognition of the award-winning ISU Bengal Dancers when they take/leave the field at half time. I realize the Bengal Dancers are not recognized as an athletic team, but given their recent successes within the last calendar year, I think it's reasonable to recognize their accomplishments before/after they perform.

I agree, they are outstanding.

 

[bengalbeliever]

Blackfoot, I thought you made sense most often. In this case, you are off the mark.
Why in the 'f' would you think Z made the QB change to combat poor defensive play?
That makes absolutely no sense.
I am gonna chaulk up your post to emotions and frustrations like everyone of us has done before.
Either that, or you were Russ Hill's high school QB coach!!
I would validate your assessment more had you not used Hill's departure in the game in cause and effect rationale for everything that went bad in the game.
The team needed a lift, yes even on offense yesterday, and staff looked to Blum to make it happen.
It is a shame you couldn't see anything other than running in Blum's performance, I mean being a QB coach and all......

At this point in the season, we need to start looking at anyone who is returning next season to assess their skills. There are players who still give their all day in and day out. It is time to reward them. The play and results could not be much worse than what we are seeing(in some instances). And as bad as the D was yesterday, even in the second half, I for one, was happy to see the wholesale changes(except for DJ for some reason). Weber had some 1's into the 4th as I remember. It was the first time so many substitions were made in a game. I applaud that.

And, JC you are right about the tshirt promo and Benny-saw another fan get pelted with a line drive tshirt with a thank goodness he got a hand up. Accident waiting to happen. Needs some fine tuning for sure.
Poor awareness and marketing on the 'Weber white out'.
The administration needs to figure out what it is going to take to get the fans back and into The Holt. They will have an entire year winter and spring to get it right.

 

[bengalcub]

A few thoughts...

If Zamberlin goes with Blum, I support it. If he sticks with Hill, I am fine with that, too. I think he was just trying to energize the offense and the team. I will never concede that R. Hill is NOT a good BSC-level quarterback. R. Hill or K Blum, it won't make a difference if they have to score 40-50 points a game to win.

Saying that, I would like to see what Blum can do over the final two games. That will allow Idaho State the time to evaluate the QB position and to decide if as a team they have the talent they need or if they need to look elsewhere.

I would also like to see what the young pups can do during the final two games. I saw quite a bit of QUIT on the field this weekend.

As for bringing fans back to the stands--no need for big promotions. If the team wins half of its games or more, the crowds will come. O-fer and the fans won't show up and won't care. It was the same at Weber State this year when the Cats beat Montana in front of 3,500 fans. Now, the fans are showing up. Fans are fair-weather and they will only support a winner.

Dude Looks Like a Lady, huh? I didn't get to hear that one on the tube.

 

[blackfootbengal]

Yes, there is some frustration. No, I was not Hill's QB coach. Now answer this, did the move make any difference? Blum was if anything less effective. My point is simple, we made the QB the problem by making the move. And because of the move we now have a QB controversy created by the coaching staff, not by anything the players did on the field to lose or earn a job, but by a coaching stall unwilling to look at themselves as part of the problem. They did not the defense, the coaching, or the recievers, they blame the QB. And the QB is not the problem. It's a smoke screen. Bench a high profile position to show you are trying to do something even though that was not the problem. It was an ineffective ploy to distract blame from the real problem which is we cannot stop anyones offense. If Blum were actually better, I would be out there cheering him on, he is not and showed it on the field. I don't care who plays at any position as long as it is the best player. Throwing your QB or any player under the bus is unacceptable to me, place the blame where it belongs on the defense. Now the next question; are we really as bad athletically as we look on defense, or are we that badly coached? I don't know the answer but the question has to be answered and fixed if we are going to progress as a team.

 

[bengalbeliever]

Blackfoot, it is obvious we don't have the players to compete adequately on defense.
We all know that. Almost the entire defense was substututed and replaced in the beginning of 3 rd qtr. What more could have been done other than perhaps some different schemes or coverage or blitz calls?
He gave the backups an opportunity to play and see what they could do.

Blum was giving the same chance, completley exclusive of defensive performance.
Hill's performance didn't justify him playing in the second half. Blum's performance is not as bad as u are making it out to be either. Go back and take a look at it if you have it recorded. Some obvious mistakes on reads which is to be expected since this was his ONLY legitimate game time exposure in his entire ISU career.
I will say this with conviction: HE THROWS A MUCH BETTER BALL than Hill and can run when necessary equally as good.
His decision making will only get better with game experience.
It is arguable certainly it is, but I say Blum was more effective in his 2 qtrs of play vs. Hill's 2 qtrs.
Not to mention I believe the team was inspired to see him out there also.
Ask any of them if you are at length to.

 

[isusid]

If anyone wants to know, the decision to announce Trevyn Smith's breaking of Weber State's all-time rushing record was 100% mine. No matter what, Idaho State will always in area's that I can control attempt to be a class organization, and in my mind, recognizing his accomplishment was a small thing we could go ahead and recognize.

Mind you, when Josh Barnett broke the all-time rushing record for Idaho State in Sacramento, not only did Sacramento State announce it, they made sure that they had a SAC paid photographer there to capture the moment in pictures. I would like to think that other conference schools would exude the same type of class that we showed in that regard. Maybe some would, maybe some wouldn't, but that's not for me to decide. I also had my photographer shoot pictures of WSU with the championship trophy as well.

And yes, I've had to answer to a player or two about it, and I respected how they brought it up to me, and I think they understood my answer.

Of course, it would better to have that on a nice replay/message board, but that's a different discussion.

ISUSID

P.S. I didn't hear the song thing either, but I had headsets on working with the TV folks

 

[spudbowl]

In regard to announcing Trevyn Smith's record, I thought it was classy. I am a Big Sky Fan as well as a very loyal Bengal fan. I appreciate wonderful athletes like Smith, enjoy watching them play even when they beat us and I was glad to give him a hand along with the Weber State fans.

 

[john_clayton]

If anyone wants to know, the decision to announce Trevyn Smith's breaking of Weber State's all-time rushing record was 100% mine. No matter what, Idaho State will always in area's that I can control attempt to be a class organization, and in my mind, recognizing his accomplishment was a small thing we could go ahead and recognize.

Mind you, when Josh Barnett broke the all-time rushing record for Idaho State in Sacramento, not only did Sacramento State announce it, they made sure that they had a SAC paid photographer there to capture the moment in pictures. I would like to think that other conference schools would exude the same type of class that we showed in that regard. Maybe some would, maybe some wouldn't, but that's not for me to decide. I also had my photographer shoot pictures of WSU with the championship trophy as well.

Thanks for the explanation, Frank. Like other posters on this board, when ISU can show it's a class institution, I'm for it. While it's a class gesture to announce the opposing team's/player's accomplishments, the context in which it was announced was troublesome.

To me it's one thing to announce the record when ISU is soundly beating the opponent or when the game is close, but it's another thing when the record is announced when the opponent is trouncing ISU.
Reverting back to the Sac St. game and context when Barnett set the ISU record, the game was in the 2Q with ISU down 21-14 and the outcome of the contest still up in the air at that point.

Now, about that replay screen/message board...

From Holt Arena, this is John Clayton, BengalDen.com

 

[bhumble2]

Hill is not the problem nor is he the solution, he is one of the better players on the team but not the team. I think it absolutley appropriate to get some others in the game, Blum included. In these last two games they need to get the young guys as many minutes as possible.

On a different note, I thought Jason Wright played well and I also liked what I saw from AJ. D Tew played OK and made a couple of nice plays on special teams, I like that he is getting a shot.