The AntiBowden

Tommy Bowden post game press conference.

Q. What did you tell your team after this one?

A. "I told them I thought Maryland played well and confident but the reason I think we lost was in our room, not theirs. We kind of self destructed on offense, penalties, tried to get a drive going, getting a 60-yard touchdown called back, converted in the red zone and had a penalty… and not to take away from them, but any time you have two pretty good teams and one self destructs, that's the one that will probably lose the game."

Boy that's a brilliant observation.

Q. What had been a major concern going in, your offensive line, they seemed to play well.

A. "Yeah. I think we rushed for over 200 yards. Usually when we do that, we're fairly successful. In the second half they made some adjustments. We moved the ball but had some penalties. It's hard to be productive against a good team when you do that."

Yep, we were able to rush the ball pretty well yesterday... which is why in the second half we gave James Davis the job of shutting the game out... or wait, no we didn't.

Q. Were you over-pursuing on defense?

A. "I'd say on the reverse, the one for 80 yards. One of them, we stopped it, I thought. I'll have to go look at the tape. That's usually what you do with an aggressive defense. You usually run misdirection."

A reverse is a trick play Tommy, a trick play. Misdirection is a counter or a zone read or a belly. Reverses are trick plays.

Q. Did you feel good at halftime?

A. "No. I never really feel good. You play 60 minutes, not 30. As a head coach, in 12 years, I've never felt real good at half."

There is a God.

Q. What about the fourth quarter?

A. "The fourth quarter, I felt worse."

"We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We withstood an earlier barrage, fumbling a punt and giving them six. We gave them some early points and had a chance to convert in the second half but didn't do it."

Maybe we didn't convert because instead of running James Davis you run the worst QB sneak in college football history? Maybe?

Q. The way you were running the ball in the first half, it appeared you had control of the game.

A. "We did. But you have to give them credit for making adjustments, Then we kind of slowed ourselves down in the second half."

"They've got a good staff, they've got good players. You know they're going to make adjustments. I believe the California game… all of a sudden they jumped out on them and got a big lead, and Cal came back. I'm more disappointed in the self destruction on offense."

We did slow ourselves down in the second half, thanks to Bowden and Spence. The playcalling in the second half was atrocious. I'm sure Bowden was talking about the penalties (trying to place all of the blame on the players) but the playcalling was clearly horrible.

Q. Is that mental?

A. "Yeah. One was alignment, one was a late hit and one was a hold. We got a touchdown called back, then they score on that reverse two points later. That's a two-touchdown swing just like that."

There it is. Blame the players.

Q. A lot of people had this one circled as a win for you coming into the season. Where do this put your team psychologically?

A. "Well… we've got seven games left. They play 12. We have to line up and play 12. Surely it's discouraging, disappointment with the players, the fans are disappointed and it'll be a long ten days or two weeks, whatever it is before we've got before the next game. But that's the way this sport is."

Yep, football is very discouraging and disappointing under Tommy Bowden.

Q. What do you say to the fan base after this one?

A. "Well, you know, what I'm telling y'all, they're going to read what y'all write. I guess I'm more or less talking to them. You self-destruct on offense, and you can't beat good teams doing that. We played well enough to win on defense. For the first time we weren't very productive on special teams. We fumbled a punt, got a block in the back, didn't cover kickoffs real good, so that was our least productive in five games."

Translation: Don't blame me y'all, blame the players

Q. Does it feel like you've got a game like this every year where you can't seem to get it going?

A. "You never really anticipate. I can't remember that many penalties that late offensively that were so critical. We even got a substitution penalty. I don't think we've had that called in four or five years."

Obviously you never anticipate anything... especially not halftime adjustments. I mean who'da thunk Fridge would go in at halftime and "reinvent the wheel" and come out and beat you in the second half? What kind of a coach would do such a thing?

Q. During this open date do you have to evaluate your offense, what you're doing with your scheme or personnel, overall?

A. "I think the biggest thing is number one, we have to start correcting those penalties that we had. Those were alignment errors, late hits, holding, that's more technique and fundamentals than anything else. I just don't think you can go out there and run the ball up and down the field, move it and score it at will when you play good teams. We had 370-something yards, rushed for over 200, and I'm sure there were some things in the passing game we could have done differently."

Of course we don't need to adjust our philosophy or strategy any, why it's blessed by God as the word of Tommy Bowden and Rob Spence, it must be absolutely perfect. No, we're just going to blame the players for getting a few penalties and stick to the same ingenious gameplan.

Q. Have you given up on your downfield passing game?

A. "No, but we threw one down there deep to Aaron and the guy intercepted it. We forced it and it was two-deep. That's what happens when you force it."

Yes, because any time you throw the ball more than 5 yards that is "forcing it." We tried to "force it" once and it got intercepted so we should never throw downfield again, right Tommy? Seriously though, it is pretty dangerous for Harper to throw the ball downfield, considering we only practice screens.

Q. Did you give up on your running game in the second half?

A. "I'd have to look and see how things happened. I'd have to see why and when. I can't recall off the top of my head when we ran it and what we didn't get. A penalty might have thrown us in a bad situation, and I think we lost four or five yards on a bad snap. I'd have to look at the tape to make an evaluation on whether or not we gave up too early."

Correct answer: Yes. Tommy's Answer: blah blah blah, blame the players

Q. How do you make sure this doesn't happen again?

A. "I think the players, they'll respond. Like I said… I can't remember where we've had that many (Penalities) in critical situations. It's not something that has happened a whole bunch. I seriously doubt it'll happen again this year… that many back to back to back. I think they're pretty coachable guys. They'll respond."

They are pretty coachable. Unfortunately, they don't have a coach.

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Posted by Tom on Sunday, September 28, 2008 | Permalink