Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

[gobears2010]

2002-Bears travel to Missoula and give the defending champion Griz everything they want and more before finally falling, 31-17.
2007-Bears travel to Montana, fall behind 45-0 before getting a consolation touchdown and losing, 52-7.

2003-Bears travel to Pocatello and play a back-and-forth game with Idaho State before Mark Passard throws an interception in the end zone that is returned 102 yards fot a clinching TD in a 42-33 Bengal win.
2007-Bears travel to Pocatello, fail to score in the first three quarters before falling 26-14.

2003-Bears travel to Bozeman and take down Montana State, 14-10.
2007-My prediction: Bobcats 27-Bears 0 at Nottingham.

Feel free to comment.

 

[bearsfan]

Don't forget 2004 Bears 15 NDST 13 2007 Bears 0-8 NDST 7-0 with 2 wins over DIA teams, to add to the Montana in 04 27-16 in montana, again giving them all they wanted and then some, and correct me if im wrong but i think it was tony christensen who was the QB in 03 against idaho state not passard.

 

[Phineas J. Whoopee]

How would UNC do in the RMAC? I think they are a middle to bottom RMAC team which is a conference with like 25 scholarships...

Downing, Hinrichs... resign please, you're terrible.

 

[Blofeld]

This is an excellent break down of how far we have fallen. It seems like the athletic department likes to paint a picture that we are so terrible because we've moved up a divison but the reality is our team is worse, and the program is worse, than it ever was as a D II. You can hardly predict a team will have less talent and play worse with more scholarships, it defies logic (and has not been the case at NDSU, SDUS, and UC Davis). So that puts the blame back on the coaches and AD for lousing this thing up. If we were able to just maintain the level the program was at when we moved up, sure we would be struggling, but I think we'd at least be winning 4 or 5 games a year and that would be a strong foundation to grow on. Instead we will be 1-22 over a two year stretch with no hope in sight and terrible leadership. :roll: :x :evil: :twisted:

 

[gobears]

I agree!

We are worse than we have been at any point since the national championships, and probably well before then.

That does not mean that I am a 'we should have stuck with Dalton' fan. The decline started while he was here. I think that speaks to problems at a higher level. Bottom line UNC's admin screwed up the transition. None of the other schools who moved with us, or shortly after have the problems we have had. We were better than most of those schools 5 years ago. As our record in 2003 showed.

The athletic department needs a top to bottom overhaul. Bring a new AD on who can excite the donor/fan base, give coaches the support they need and then set high expectations. (Heck while we are at it, maybe we could show Kay the door too).

 

[Phineas J. Whoopee]

I'm all for showing Kay the door. What has she done exactly? Everything at the university is in decline... When Hank Brown left the wheels fell off this apple cart. We need a charismatic, energetic president and AD. Now all we get are no comment quotes from the AD, way to relate to the public... I see the CU AD, Bohn in the paper all the time, on the radio all the time trying to pump up the athletic program, showing enthusiasm, a positive attitude... What communication do we get from the AD? "No comment, talk to the SID." OK sure, do we have one hired yet? We only went without one for 10 months...

 

[hoel4800]

The bottom line is Jay Hinrichs is the problem.......He better hope the basketball programs win more than 9 games between em this year if he wants to keep his job.

 

[PSUVikings]

I was a supporter of the "Give Downing time" statement. Rome wasn't built in a day....well tell that to Jim Harbaugh over at Stanford :wink: This guy has to go, for the programs sake.......

 

[Blofeld]

It's probably not fair to only give him 2 years but sports and life aren't usually fair.

But what happens in a situation like this is that a culture of losing develops and I think that has happened here. The Downing quotes are a good indication of that, oh we tried hard, oh I see improvement in practice, etc... that sort of wishy washy type language essentially is excusing the losing, saying it's OK because we "tried hard." The players buy into it, they think they're doing enough, they accept their fate because why not, the coach seems OK with it... and they continue to lose, it becomes more of a habit and it becomes easier. They forget how to win, they have a losing mentality, winning becomes just a distant memory from high school.

And that's when you have a culture of losing.

But, Downing won't be fired with a year left on his contract so he needs to be "encouraged" by us fans to RESIGN.

 

[Brian]

What else is Downing going to say? "We suck, our players suck..."

It may be the truth, but he can't say it. I am not too worried about a culture of losing. We have seen remarkable turn arounds under the right leadership (which we clearly do not have). Is it basketball season yet?

 

[Beardown]

I don't mind what Downing says. He's better then Dalton in that sense. Dalton would just throw the players under the bus.

He and Troy were talking yesteray on the coaches show about the youth of this football team and how it is a factor. MSU has a player that has played in 50 straight football games. Our only player that comes close to that is Pallone who has played like 20 something games. This team has no experience and yes it does play a factor. I still think we should have at least a couple wins by now but we're just so young.

I still have mixed feelings about whether or not he should go but we all must admit this team has very little experience and it IS a factor.

 

[Blofeld]

I understand the point on the youth, etc. and I think people would be more patient and willing to accept that if the team was even barely competetive.

But there really should not be a point in time no matter how young the team is that they get destroyed as bad as they do now.

Our average score is 42-9 and to me that is not acceptable regardless of how many Freshman we have.