• The KillerFrogs

I wondered why Duggan didn't start while watching the 2nd half

It made me angrier and angrier as the game wore on and then the game went final. All I could think of was, if he could play why didn't they play him all game... we could have one this stupid game. Not to mention, if he plays well early, maybe we open up a lead and we can rest him late... Drove me nuts, then I read this and it confirmed what I was thinking... Does anyone know what the logic was? Did Gary just believe in Downing that much??? The part about TCU is the second one in the other takeaways section, for those like me who were too peeved to read about the other teams that played...

https://cfbsaturdays.com/college-football-weekend-recap-sep-26-2020/
 

LisaLT

Active Member
I agree 100%. Unless there was some very good reason to hold him out for the first half, this was a HUGE mistake on the part of the coaches. I am convinced after re-watching some of the game that Max might have hit some of those passes that Downing was unable to make. Max's passes look much better this year - accurate and crisp. He's not throwing bullets, and his long passes were spot on. I was impressed with what I saw - especially for only 2 quarters.

I think we would have won the game with Max starting. It's one of the strangest decisions I have seen them make. With all those offensive geniuses on staff, how did any of them think this was the right call? Downing, although he was not completely terrible, definitely does not have the 'it" factor going on. Max does. It was easy to see that after the 1st quarter.

Another winnable game flushed down the toilet by bad decision making by the coaching staff. Well that, and a terrible OL effort. That was another coaching disaster.

They better get it figured out by Saturday or the Horns will have a field day.
 

Froggy Style

Active Member
Any sports writer on Monday is smarter than any head coach on Saturday.
Any first grader can make the right decision...after the first practice or the first series...the eye test tells you he's a defensive end, not a running back.

Oh sorry...we're into the next year...

The eye test tells you to stop messing around with a fourth string QB. One day our football coach will answer for his mistakes and stop deferring to Cummeachum.
 

TRF51

Active Member
Max not playing was one of about 5 head scratching decisions made by the coaching staff regarding who played and how much. Someone needs to tell Gary his job is to win games not teach life lessons by benching his better players.
 

froginmn

Full Member
I don't know, maybe the kid has been recovering from a heart condition and there was question whether he'd play at all this year. And with no lead up game, and limited practice, they wanted him to see game speed for a while before putting him in.
 

Long Time Lurker

Active Member
Gary’s conventional wisdom wins the day again.
I don’t know why he wasn’t the starting, BUT If they are suspended for going to a party, let’s start with sitting one quarter instead of a half.
 
I don't know, maybe the kid has been recovering from a heart condition and there was question whether he'd play at all this year. And with no lead up game, and limited practice, they wanted him to see game speed for a while before putting him in.

I am pretty sure the doctor didn't clear him to play at halftime. The risk was no greater in the first half than the second half.
 

froginmn

Full Member

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
According to the Startlegram link below, Max was not suspended. He was held out due to lack of practice time/health concerns.
 

LisaLT

Active Member
I didn't say anything about medical clearance, but GP said yesterday that he didn't want him in at all, and that he's only had two weeks of practice.

If it was my kid who had a heart condition, I'd want him brought back slowly too.

https://forum.killerfrogs.com/index.php?threads/fwst-tcu-football-coach-explains-why-he-waited-to-make-qb-change-to-max-duggan-in-opener.22515

For only two weeks of practice, he looked better than he did last year in many ways. That’s a good sign.
 

froginmn

Full Member
For only two weeks of practice, he looked better than he did last year in many ways. That’s a good sign.
Absolutely. People on here freak out about a couple down years, but QB play has been the biggest issue. The SR year was rough, and Max's true freshman year was a bad situation given the fact that JR didn't pan out either.

But Max as a Soph, Jr, and Sr may very well be something special, which will allow this team to be very good.
 

Froggish

Active Member
Whether anyone believes GP or not he stated the plan was to give Max only 2 possessions due to stamina issues and having only been in 6 practices. When those two possessions went well from a stamina perspective they decided to leave him in there. They really didn’t want to play him at all and wanted to save him for UT. I get why people wish he would have played the whole game but if they held him out due to conditioning concerns than the logic was sound.

It was a 10-7 game late in the first half until of our statue of a LT decided to take a knap. Ultimately we lost that game because GPs defense once again became a slot machine at the games most critical moments.
 
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