I've been as critical as Leach as anyone on here over the past 3 years. Hell, for a while, the guy could do no wrong in most peoples eyes. Every time someone (like me) would fume about the Colorado home loss, the Colorado State bowl meltdown, the Cal game last year, etc.; most everyone would defend Leach.
Yea, the loss on Saturday to Portland State was awful. It was embarrassing and it never should have happened, but do people honestly think we should fire Leach now? After week 1? Seriously? Apart from that being a horrible football decision, can you imagine how the players would feel who've gutted out Spring and Fall camp?
Nobody is more sick of the "wait til next year" rallying cry than I am. Trust me on that. Still, when you look at the game conditions last Saturday, the fact that we're breaking in a new defensive coordinator, virtually an entirely different defense, a still very inexperienced QB, a new place kicker, punter, kick returner, and a WR group that's settling into a different rotation and having to replace two of it's top-3 pass catchers, it's not THAT surprising we struggled last weekend; particularly given the horrendous weather conditions.
Firing Leach now, or even at the end of the season, would be a huge mistake. We have to let this season play out. As much as we all want a bowl game, what if the season doesn't yield a winning record, but we rally and show a lot of promise in the 2nd half of the season? Next Spring, we'll have 3 returning QB's, our entire WR group, a much more experienced back-7, and the continued development of our scholarship offensive linemen.
There is a lot of football left to be played, and as unlikely as it seems right now, we can still turn things around, even if we lose to Rutgers. Let's not lose sight of the fact that many teams on our schedule didn't exactly look like world beaters last weekend. Oregon State and Colorado? Still winnable games. UW? That wasn't the Boise State of old they lost to. Stanford? Now clearly in a post Harbaugh decline. Wyoming?
I said it when Wulff was the coach, and I'll say it again. There's plenty of time for message board dumpster fires after the season ends. I noticed that BEFORE the games last Saturday, Rutgers was favored by 5.5 points against us, yet the betting line actually dropped to a "pickem" game yesterday before adjusting back to Rutgers being favored by 2 today. Why?
Let's see where we're at after our Stanford game on October 31st.
Yea, the loss on Saturday to Portland State was awful. It was embarrassing and it never should have happened, but do people honestly think we should fire Leach now? After week 1? Seriously? Apart from that being a horrible football decision, can you imagine how the players would feel who've gutted out Spring and Fall camp?
Nobody is more sick of the "wait til next year" rallying cry than I am. Trust me on that. Still, when you look at the game conditions last Saturday, the fact that we're breaking in a new defensive coordinator, virtually an entirely different defense, a still very inexperienced QB, a new place kicker, punter, kick returner, and a WR group that's settling into a different rotation and having to replace two of it's top-3 pass catchers, it's not THAT surprising we struggled last weekend; particularly given the horrendous weather conditions.
Firing Leach now, or even at the end of the season, would be a huge mistake. We have to let this season play out. As much as we all want a bowl game, what if the season doesn't yield a winning record, but we rally and show a lot of promise in the 2nd half of the season? Next Spring, we'll have 3 returning QB's, our entire WR group, a much more experienced back-7, and the continued development of our scholarship offensive linemen.
There is a lot of football left to be played, and as unlikely as it seems right now, we can still turn things around, even if we lose to Rutgers. Let's not lose sight of the fact that many teams on our schedule didn't exactly look like world beaters last weekend. Oregon State and Colorado? Still winnable games. UW? That wasn't the Boise State of old they lost to. Stanford? Now clearly in a post Harbaugh decline. Wyoming?
I said it when Wulff was the coach, and I'll say it again. There's plenty of time for message board dumpster fires after the season ends. I noticed that BEFORE the games last Saturday, Rutgers was favored by 5.5 points against us, yet the betting line actually dropped to a "pickem" game yesterday before adjusting back to Rutgers being favored by 2 today. Why?
Let's see where we're at after our Stanford game on October 31st.