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Post by rebar619 on Dec 1, 2015 9:11:05 GMT -8
at least give him a stern talking to. Listening to his interview on 1090 yesterday I was disturbed to hear him reiterate his position on bowl games that we have heard in the past. link (about the 9:30 mark) In short, Rocky feels that a bowl game is a reward for the players and that while they prepare his intent is for them to go out and have a good time rather than have the focus of a championship game. Basically he feels that the result of the game does not matter. This is complete and utter nonsense. A bowl game is extra exposure for the program before a national audience. I get that there are too many bowl games, but SDSU must take every bowl seriously to grow the fan base, impress network decision makers, and wow leadership in other conferences. Getting pasted by BYU or losing to Navy does nothing but set the program back by making SDSU FB look minor league. Hell, how do you sell alumni on spending their time and money to go to a bowl game when the head coach sees it as "play time" instead of time to finish work? If I am taking his words wrong feel free to say so. Unfortunately I don't think I am. In the event SDSU gets to play in the Cactus bowl, Sterk must let Rocky know this is a must win game. Otherwise this season and our program will be written off as a triumph over weak competition by an SDSU FB team that should forever be relegated to the ranks of the forgotten. |
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Post by hoobs on Dec 1, 2015 9:15:49 GMT -8
Winning a notable OOC game (i.e. Cal next season) is MUCH more important than winning a Bowl game (*unless the Bowl game is one of the Access Bowls).
It's laughable to suggest that the Cactus Bowl (or LV Bowl or whatever) is "must win."
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Post by biotec on Dec 1, 2015 9:24:34 GMT -8
Well, I don't want to wade into a war zone but I just listened to the comment and it sure sounded like he is treating this MWC championship game differently (i.e., with more focus on winning) than a bowl game. It really is a strange position to take but I do like to hear how important he's treating this upcoming game with AFA.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 9:27:33 GMT -8
Beating P5's either in Bowls or OOC is imperative.
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Post by vision on Dec 1, 2015 9:28:40 GMT -8
Winning a notable OOC game (i.e. Cal next season) is MUCH more important than winning a Bowl game (*unless the Bowl game is one of the Access Bowls). It's laughable to suggest that the Cactus Bowl (or LV Bowl or whatever) is "must win." Winning a bowl WILL be like winning a quality OOC game. Unless we play Buffalo again. |
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Post by 🥸 Hopeless Aztec on Dec 1, 2015 9:28:33 GMT -8
Beating P5's either in Bowls or OOC is imperative. This is the recipe Boise State used to get national recognition. Beat the big boys and others will take notice. |
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Post by sdcoug on Dec 1, 2015 9:41:33 GMT -8
at least give him a stern talking to. Listening to his interview on 1090 yesterday I was disturbed to hear him reiterate his position on bowl games that we have heard in the past. link (about the 9:30 mark) In short, Rocky feels that a bowl game is a reward for the players and that while they prepare his intent is for them to go out and have a good time rather than have the focus of a championship game. Basically he feels that the result of the game does not matter.
This is complete and utter nonsense. A bowl game is extra exposure for the program before a national audience. I get that there are too many bowl games, but SDSU must take every bowl seriously to grow the fan base, impress network decision makers, and wow leadership in other conferences. Getting pasted by BYU or losing to Navy does nothing but set the program back by making SDSU FB look minor league. Hell, how do you sell alumni on spending their time and money to go to a bowl game when the head coach sees it as "play time" instead of time to finish work? If I am taking his words wrong feel free to say so. Unfortunately I don't think I am. In the event SDSU gets to play in the Cactus bowl, Sterk must let Rocky know this is a must win game. Otherwise this season and our program will be written off as a triumph over weak competition by an SDSU FB team that should forever be relegated to the ranks of the forgotten. Yes, you are COMPLETELY misinterpreting what he's saying. What he is saying is what MOST coaches say all the damn time.
Bowl games are a reward for the players. Bowl games, if they're more than a couple weeks after the last game, allow for player development because NO TEAM spends every day of practice prepping for the opponent. It's much like a bye week where the first week you spend on drills & some time off, while the second you spend prepping for the game. You don't spend 2 weeks preparing for the next game. NOBODY does.
To think winning is not important to Rocky is stupid. It is. He's just stating facts - getting to a bowl allows for EXTRA practice time, beyond what's necessary to prep for your bowl opponent. It's about developing youth.
We lost to a good Navy team because we missed a FG; not due to game prep. BYU was simply better than us.
Here's just 1 of 1000's of articles about the importance of bowl games, and how only some of the practices are actually spent on prepping for the game - most are spent on development:
"Bowl preparations allow for 15 practices, the equivalent of spring practices condensed in one month of preparation for the bowl game. Between five to eight of those practices are utilized to focus on younger players, who get a jumpstart on spring drills within the system."
www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2015/11/why_any_bowl_game_is_important_for_auburn.html
People have this misguided perception that if a coach has 15 practices to prepare for a game all 15 are used for that purpose. NOBODY does that. That's OVERKILL and can actually work against you. Most spend half the practices on drills, which includes developing younger players. Many even have a scrimmage among ONLY their 2nd/3rd string players, giving the starters the day off (or lifting). That's the norm. The #1 priority initially is allowing your starters time to heal.
Here's another quote from an article in the Ann Arbor News:
Initial workouts will focus on fundamentals and developing the young players before moving on to implementing the game plan.
"We've done (bowl practice) a couple different ways, but things we want to stress are the fundamentals, getting back into the fundamentals and techniques we want to play with," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said by phone Sunday night.
People need to quit reading too much into quotes if you simply don't understand what goes on in college football.
And having a post titled "fire Rocky", while planning for the Championship game of your conference after going 8-0 is plain stupidity. Seriously, change the title to "Bowl prep" or something that doesn't sound so ridiculous.
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Post by aztecfan1 on Dec 1, 2015 9:43:40 GMT -8
Winning a notable OOC game (i.e. Cal next season) is MUCH more important than winning a Bowl game (*unless the Bowl game is one of the Access Bowls). It's laughable to suggest that the Cactus Bowl (or LV Bowl or whatever) is "must win." You are much more on track than thread author. Bowls have no carry over good or bad. Recruiting wise the fact that you are in one is important but will not influence a kids decision . Also win or lose has no bearing next seasons rankings as the season starts. Finally the biggest value is more weeks to work with the freshmen, evaluate them and leverage the pizzazz in recruiting battles . To me it is silly to think you have to win a bowl game. The only games that matter are for the four anointed teams vying for the national championship . |
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Post by sdcoug on Dec 1, 2015 9:43:51 GMT -8
Well, I don't want to wade into a war zone but I just listened to the comment and it sure sounded like he is treating this MWC championship game differently (i.e., with more focus on winning) than a bowl game. It really is a strange position to take but I do like to hear how important he's treating this upcoming game with AFA. You have 3-4 practices to prepare for the championship game. Every one is necessary for game prep.
A bowl you have 15 practices. You do NOT NEED 15 practices to prepare for an opponent. EVER! You use many of those practices to develop players. It's more like fall camp. You don't start prepping for game 1 in the first week of practice - not even close.
It's not rocket science people. It's basic football 101.
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Post by SDSU-Alum2003 on Dec 1, 2015 9:48:05 GMT -8
I also heard that interview & found it a bit disturbing. He said he treats the bowl games differently; it is a reward for the players; they still practice hard but he lets them have fun. I agree it is a reward for the players but IMO perhaps Rocky should re-think how he approaches his bowl games (particularly now that this will be our sixth consecutive bowl). After all, his bowl record is terrible.
I want to win our bowl games but if we are playing a P5 team I REALLY want to win. Based on his bowl record he should not continue to treat them as he has in the past. IMO he should re-think how he approaches the bowl games from a perception & preparation (mental & physical) angle. Rocky seems a bit set in his ways so I doubt he will change.
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Post by legkick on Dec 1, 2015 10:05:49 GMT -8
I heard the Long interview as well, and I cringed when he said that, not because what he said was wrong, but because I knew that it would cause an outburst on this board by those who don't understand how college football actually works.
All you need to know is what coug stated about how bowl game practice works.
Long's bowl game record, particularly at SDSU, is no indication of an alleged care free attitude towards bowls. If he didn't care about preparing his teams to win the game, you would expect the Aztecs to come out flat and get steamrolled by equal or inferior talent, as occasionally happens to disappointed/unmotivated P5 teams in other bowls. Instead, they have not been unprepared to play any bowl game in Long's tenure - they lost one game due to a ridiculous stemming call at the end; they got worn down by a better BYU team (and that game was 6-3 Aztecs at the end of the 3rd; BYU got TWO defensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter); and they missed a relatively easy game winning FG against a solid Navy team last year.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 10:17:26 GMT -8
To me it is silly to think you have to win a bowl game. The only games that matter are for the four anointed teams vying for the national championship . That may be the case for P5 schools in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but for a G5 school trying to become nationally relevant and/or become a P5, these bowls MATTER. |
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Post by sdcoug on Dec 1, 2015 10:24:10 GMT -8
To me it is silly to think you have to win a bowl game. The only games that matter are for the four anointed teams vying for the national championship . That may be the case for P5 schools in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but for a G5 school trying to become nationally relevant and/or become a P5, these bowls MATTER. Every game matters. Nobody has ever said anything differently, including Rocky.
Not targeting every practice towards prepping for your opponent doesn't mean you're not taking it serious or that you don't want to win.
It baffles me how people don't get that every coach wants to win every game, and how that's the same thing with the players. It also amazes me that people think you can't have fun at a bowl and you can't develop younger players, given 15 practices.
If every bowl game only allowed 5-6 practices, like the national championship game, that'd be a completely different scenario. They have zoo tours, big dinner events and parades for a reason at bowls, and EVERY team also participates in those for a reason.
Every day I'm stunned by some people on this board (not meant towards you andre).
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Post by thetruth on Dec 1, 2015 10:40:37 GMT -8
My favorite part of this thread is watching the Rocky Bowl supporters come up with excuses as to why Rocky's Bowl record is as bad as it is. (Terrible stemming call, terrible FG kicker, terrible venue), and why winning a Bowl isn't important.
Keep telling yourself that games played in front of national audiences aren't important, or that more eyes aren't on a Bowl game than the sum total of all of our MWC victories this season.
Believe that the few times that SDSU is matched up against a P5 team, it really doesn't matter whether we win or lose.
Believe that the results of being on a national stage has no impact on local and national perception.
Keep believing...
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Post by rebar619 on Dec 1, 2015 10:42:23 GMT -8
To me it is silly to think you have to win a bowl game. The only games that matter are for the four anointed teams vying for the national championship . That may be the case for P5 schools in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but for a G5 school trying to become nationally relevant and/or become a P5, these bowls MATTER. This is the beginning and end of my argument. For SDSU these bowls matter. Well said aztecandre. |
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Post by laaztec on Dec 1, 2015 10:43:36 GMT -8
That's why his bowl record sucks.
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Post by sdcoug on Dec 1, 2015 10:47:40 GMT -8
That may be the case for P5 schools in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but for a G5 school trying to become nationally relevant and/or become a P5, these bowls MATTER. This is the beginning and end of my argument. For SDSU these bowls matter. Well said aztecandre. And who has ever said they don't? Yes, they matter, and Rocky prepares for them as such. Just as every other coaches does.
They're also fun and allow a lot of time for development of younger players.
Exposure, recruiting, practice time & fun are what it's about, but winning every game is important. The coaches & players all know this. To think the players don't want to win every game is an insult to student athletes everywhere, and to think that the coaches don't have winning in mind at all times is simply ridiculous.
It's not about being a "Rocky supporter" - we all should support the entire team, including the coach. It's about actually having a clue about how practices work during bowl prep. Many on here apparently have no clue.
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Post by rebar619 on Dec 1, 2015 10:52:30 GMT -8
That may be the case for P5 schools in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but for a G5 school trying to become nationally relevant and/or become a P5, these bowls MATTER. Every game matters. Nobody has ever said anything differently, including Rocky.
Not targeting every practice towards prepping for your opponent doesn't mean you're not taking it serious or that you don't want to win.
It baffles me how people don't get that every coach wants to win every game, and how that's the same thing with the players. It also amazes me that people think you can't have fun at a bowl and you can't develop younger players, given 15 practices.
If every bowl game only allowed 5-6 practices, like the national championship game, that'd be a completely different scenario. They have zoo tours, big dinner events and parades for a reason at bowls, and EVERY team also participates in those for a reason.
Every day I'm stunned by some people on this board (not meant towards you andre).
I love how instead of addressing the concern ( Rocky playing the game just for fun) you throw out how I and other just don't understand college football and practice time before a bowl game. Saying you are playing for fun is much different than saying we are going to lay it all out on the field and do anything to win. I am certain that the Boise teams that won bowl games in the past didnt just show up and play for fun. I do understand that the extra practice time is huge for developing players. On the other hand, SDSU MUST grow the name and brand. Setting a culture of winning EVERY game does that, not "playing to have fun". If we were already in a P5 conference I would likely feel differently, but with ever changing landscape of college football I know that SDSU needs to do everything possible to justify it's existence. Hopefully that existence is in a new and better conference. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 11:03:04 GMT -8
Every game matters. Nobody has ever said anything differently, including Rocky. Bowl games, in particular against P5s, matter MORE. As for them being a reward for the players, sure I'll buy into that, but with the addition of more and more bowls and 5-7 teams being eligible, the reward is analogous to a participation ribbon. Certainly its watered down. Also, we may find ourselves in a not so desirable bowl destination with a team that has 10 wins, or DOUBLE that of some P5s. You think if it were BOISE in our position, they'd suffer the same fate? No way, no chance. That's because they beat P5s in OOC and in bowl games. |
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Post by hoobs on Dec 1, 2015 11:03:44 GMT -8
Winning a notable OOC game (i.e. Cal next season) is MUCH more important than winning a Bowl game (*unless the Bowl game is one of the Access Bowls). It's laughable to suggest that the Cactus Bowl (or LV Bowl or whatever) is "must win." Winning a bowl WILL be like winning a quality OOC game. Unless we play Buffalo again. Sorry to disagree, but actually no... it won't. Winning or losing a bowl game has just about zero impact whatsoever on the Aztecs reaching a top-25 ranking next season. There's no carry over benefit to winning a bowl game. Maaaaybe there's an exception for the Access Bowls, which might have some influence into the following season -- but mostly for *making* one of those bowls, not necessarily winning or losing. Winning an OOC game against a P5 school... well, that *obviously* has a significant impact on rankings. I would happily made a deal for the Aztecs to lose whatever bowl game we play in exchange for beating Cal & NIU next season. |
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