Topic: I could see something like 2000

[MUther]

Where we drop several games but still end up winning conference.  We were 2-4 at midway point of season, with only wins vs FCS and hapless Buffalo team.  WMU would be the 12th game for us as we only played 11 season games back then.  So we could end up ahead of where we were in 2000 but have some later losses rather than early.  Pretty sure after Toledo stomped a mudhole in us no one was thinking conference champs back then.  And there were a lot of unfriendly things said about Byron Leftwich both on the boards and in the stands. 

PS That second WMU game for the championship pi$$ed them off so bad they changed the rules so that the game would be alternated East/West from that point forward.

Code: [Select]

                                                                                   
G           Date Day        School                 Opponent         Conf Pts Opp W L
1    Aug 31 2000 Thu      Marshall Southeast Missouri State Non-Major  W  63   7 1 0
2     Sep 9 2000 Sat      Marshall      (24) Michigan State   Big Ten  L  24  34 1 1
3    Sep 23 2000 Sat      Marshall           North Carolina       ACC  L  15  20 1 2
4    Sep 30 2000 Sat      Marshall                  Buffalo       MAC  W  47  14 2 2
5     Oct 5 2000 Thu      Marshall         Western Michigan       MAC  L  10  30 2 3
6    Oct 14 2000 Sat      Marshall                   Toledo       MAC  L   0  42 2 4
7    Oct 21 2000 Sat      Marshall               Kent State       MAC  W  34  12 3 4
8    Oct 28 2000 Sat      Marshall                    Akron       MAC  W  31  28 4 4
9     Nov 4 2000 Sat      Marshall            Bowling Green       MAC  W  20  13 5 4
10   Nov 11 2000 Sat      Marshall               Miami (OH)       MAC  W  51  31 6 4
11   Nov 18 2000 Sat      Marshall                     Ohio       MAC  L  28  38 6 5
12    Dec 2 2000 Sat      Marshall         Western Michigan       MAC  W  19  14 7 5
13   Dec 27 2000 Wed Marshall    N               Cincinnati      CUSA  W  25  14 8 5

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 9/23/2024.

[CharlestonHerdGuy]

I hope, but am afraid you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. Notice how competitive those scores were against Michigan State and North Carolina. When we're good, we're at least competitive with the P4 programs.

[herd2win]

Interesting comparison.  We were talent wise very close to Va Tech but didn't play well.  OSU is like no team we have played with all of those weapons and upper class led.

Defense needs to tackle better and Stone needs to continue to grow.  JMU in the road will be tough but I can see us going 8-4 now if the defense learns to tackle.

[Johns1124]

Only a -5.5 fav? @home no less

Not sure.

[JeremyBlake23]

Are we really comparing teams with Pruett/Leftwich to Earle/Huff? lol.

[jdonaccbus]

We had offensive line issues the first half of that 2000 season. McHale did wonders throughout the course of the season to get that line developed. Leftwich took some shots that would have injured 99% of the QBs in the country. After the beat down at the hands of Toledo, the schedule got waaaaayyyyyyy easier and gave us a chance to get the line fixed. I wouldn't put much stock in the Michigan State and UNC scores that year. Williams underachieved and went 5-6 and UNC fired Torbush.

[bbcard1]

I have no idea what the final record will be, but I think we will be very solid in Sunbelt play. That said a good decisive win over Western Michigan would go a long way toward convincing others we are on the right track.

[svherd]

At this point, we have to go through JMU, App and GSU to win the east. Two of those games are on the road. Can we do it, sure, but the O will have to continue to improve, and we'll have to stay healthy as a team, especially on defense. Gonna be a tall order. jmho

[Herdiowa]

I think we will be fine in the Sunbelt.  We are playing better offensively,  defense will be fine in The Belt.  There is not dominant team in the conference this year.  We just played the best college team that money can buy.  Looks like we came out healthy.  Despite what people thought we had Zero chance of winning this game.  Not this year with their team.

[MUfan08]

I mean, for us to win the conference our QB play is going to have to be all conference honors.
Outside of Chad and Leftwich (NFL players) have we ever won the conference when we had average to below average QB play?
Heck people ripped on Todd Donnan, but that sucker was all conference and the league offensive player of the year in 1994.

[gochneaur645]

I hope, but am afraid you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. Notice how competitive those scores were against Michigan State and North Carolina. When we're good, we're at least competitive with the P4 programs.

Not always true. We were embarrassed by power opponents in each of Leftwich's final two seasons

[Flat Tire 2]

I hope, but am afraid you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. Notice how competitive those scores were against Michigan State and North Carolina. When we're good, we're at least competitive with the P4 programs.

I attended the UNC game in Chapel Hill. UNC lost the previous week's game to FSU 63-14 so I figured we might have a chance to win that game. UNC finished 6-5 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. Michigan State finished the season at 5-6 overall and 2-6 in the B10.

Obviously, neither team was on the P4 level of OSU.

[marshallmark]

I attended the UNC game in Chapel Hill. UNC lost the previous week's game to FSU 63-14 so I figured we might have a chance to win that game. UNC finished 6-5 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. Michigan State finished the season at 5-6 overall and 2-6 in the B10.

Obviously, neither team was on the P4 level of OSU.

Next year at Georgia and 2026 at Penn State won't give us much reprieve. 

[MUther]

Not always true. We were embarrassed by power opponents in each of Leftwich's final two seasons

And by the Toledo game a LOT of people were calling for Leftwich's removal.  And saying how he didn't have it, constantly comparing him to Chad, etc.  He wasn't the gritty, smart, cannon-armed QB we all loved at that point.  I went to Florida and VT in subsequent years.  We got killed.  And those weren't teams like OSU is this year.

I was simply pointing out that we've still met goals even in rough years with unproven QBs and other problems.


Leftwich Story:

We were at a practice in the Joan in 2000 before the season started, on the field.  We were talking to Byron, such a nice guy.  One of the other players said something smart alecky to him from over by the wall at the foot of the stands.  Byron says "excuse me a moment" and throws the ball he was holding against the wall about 6 inches from the other guy's head.  The sound was like a shotgun blast.  The other player turned pale as a ghost.  And Byron turned back to us with that boyish grin on his face and chuckled. 

I knew 3 things at that moment.  He was a leader and knew how to keep people in line.  He had an absolute cannon of an arm.  He was extremely accurate.  I never questioned the right guy was on the field, even though it took a while for things to come together.

[MUther]

Are we really comparing teams with Pruett/Leftwich to Earle/Huff? lol.

No.  The MAC East was a joke back then, compared to the Sun Belt East.  Akron, Kent, Buffalo, Miami, Ohio, Bowling Green.  We had a free pass to the championship game every year.  Letfwich was an unknown in 2000 on a 7-5 squad.  Just looking at similarities of the seasons.

[MicDrass1]

The Fla team was the best college team I ever saw Herd play.  I don?t remember the years but the MAC used to get multiple teams ranked.  Michael The Burner Turner years ring a bell. 

[MUther]

The Fla team was the best college team I ever saw Herd play.  I don?t remember the years but the MAC used to get multiple teams ranked.  Michael The Burner Turner years ring a bell.

That was 2003+, the year that Maryland Pitt KState all went down to the MAC and Miami had Roethlisberger at QB and kicked our butt.

And the Florida team did have the benefit of having 6 of our starters suspended right before the game and the announcement of sanctions coming from the NCAA put a bit of a damper on our confidence.

I don't think they had multiple rankings until after we left for CUSA.  One year Kent and NIU got ranked and winner of the championship got the access bowl or last bcs bowl or something like that.  And WMU got the Access bowl one year but don't recall multiple rankings out of the MAC.

Irks me that we opened the door for all that for non-power teams but never benefited from it.  None of them were ranked #10 as we were.  No conference has ever gotten prestigious post-season play at the FBS level while we were in it, but both of our previous conferences got the good bowls after we left.