I couldn’t be prouder of the Tigers as I was last night. Look at the things that worked against them going into the game. They were playing their third game in 11 days. That’s harder to do than you think. They lost the previous two games in fashions that would lead one to think they would lose the third. They lost a teammate within 48 hours of kickoff. Grief is a very difficult thing to cope with while you have to concentrate. I lost a friend two years ago and I know I struggled to focus on the easiest of tasks. To play a football game would have been out of the question for me, especially at that level. Then on top of all that they were on a national stage where the spotlight on them was even brighter. ESPN2 broadcasted the game and Sportscenter lead with a game between an 1-3 and an 0-4 team because of the tragedy. Their cameras of ESPN, local TV stations and national news networks were on the Tigers a lot leading up to game and the kids had to deal with that. Imagine grieving and having a camera stuck in your face. Then ask yourself if you would be able to do your job. I would guess that many of us would falter but they didn’t. They played and they won. And that is enough. Now I’m going to make a couple of comments about the game but it is really all secondary.

Will Hudgens will make it hard for TW to bring Martin back as the starter. When Will gets the timing down better he will be pretty good. The kid throws the best long ball I’ve seen a Tigers QB throw in a while. 345 yards passing and many thought he had a bad night. Wow

If you are calling for TW to be fired I’ve got some things to say to you. First, make sure you’re doing your part for the program. If you’re not giving to the TSF, HH or some other part of the school then I think you’re out of place making that call. The fact of the matter is that supporting college football is more than occasionally showing up for games; coaching from the stands, your couch or on a bar stool; or making calls into the post-game show or radio shows. It is about supporting with hearts, minds and dollars. That is the only way we’ll ever get to the next level. As far as letting Coach West go, that would be the absolute worst thing to do. We’ve really got to remain stable for our long term future. Firing coaches every 7-9 years just isn’t the way to develop that stability. We’ve got enough things other schools use against us in recruiting. Letting them say, “They fire coaches a lot so you don’t know if the coach that is recruiting you will be there” will only hurt us even more. Coach West is a credit to our schools so let’s stay the course.

The three keys to the success of our defense are:
1. Pressure on the QB
2. Pressure on the QB
3. You guessed it, pressure on the QB

Who else was happy to see more slants last night?

C-USA officials are horrible. Yes, I even notice that when we win. They call games so disjointed that you often wonder what constitutes a penalty every now and again.

Memo to fans, PA announcer, the guy/gal that is operating the music and scoreboard and the band: If our offense has the ball then be quiet. This is so they can hear the signals. When our defense is on the field that’s when you make noise. Let’s recap the right way to do things.
Our offense means BE QUIET.
Our defense means BE LOUD.
Class dismissed.