Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Is Fresno Afraid of Pat Hill?


Last night I tuned into the Fox-26 Monday Night interview with Pat Hill (I am not sure if the interview is actually Monday night, but it took place after the Utah State loss). Ralph Wood chose very interesting questions to ask Hill and I found it funny that not one of these questions actually addressed what is wrong with the Bulldogs. Every single fan that reads this website knows there are problems with the QB position, the defensive secondary, special teams, and the offense as a whole. Not one question from Ralph Wood addressed any of these problems. Instead Wood asked Hill the following question:

"When something is wrong with the team what is the process you go about in order to fix that problem?"

Why is it that regardless of who is interviewing Hill they never choose to address any of the actual problems the Dogs are currently going through? Why is it the press cannot ask questions such as:

"Why is Brandstater still playing when he clearly is not doing the job?"
"Why do you continue to try and run the ball when the other team knows what is coming next?"
"Why have you not inserted someone else at corner in place of Jenkins or Simmons seeing that they have not covered anyone this year?"
"Why did your team lose to the second worst team in the nation in Utah State? Where is the fire yuo used to brgin to Fresno State?"

To me these are all questions that should be addressed and answered by Hill. As fans we pay at least $25 a game to watch the Dogs per game. The Oregon game ran most people $40 and Hill refuses to answer questions such as this. In truth he owes us as fans these answers because we are the ones that make his 1.3 million dollar salary possible. It is not like we are asking him for his daughter (or son) in marriage. We are only wondering why he has not made changes and what his thought process is with respect to each of these situations the Dogs are currently struggling through. Pat Hill is obviously against the media and some fans have told me he is completely against the BarkBoard because we find out far too much information. Hill needs to realize that is the way the world works today and that information is available everywhere we look. We will find out who is hurt early and we will find out what players are playing and who is on the bench before he wants us to. Word of mouth travels further today than it ever has before. I just don't understand why he is so cold to the public. If Hill ever does leave hopefully Boeh will look into finding a coach who is media and fan friendly. I don't expect Hill to leave anytime soon nor do I necessarily want him to. I just want him to open up to Bulldog nation a little bit more.

QB Situation - Now how is it possible Tom Brandstater is still starting this week? I don't know if I have the patience for this anymore. Tom will start with Sean being a viable option finally. It took four games of mistakes and poorly played football in order for Hill to consider Norton. There is no way Norton is as bad as Hill is making him look and when he says he might use him does that mean Norton will come in when Hawaii scores 42 points in the first half? Last night in the interview Hill stated :

"We are not a prolific offense like Hawaii. We need to control the clock and keep their offense off of the field."

My answer to that is no, no, no. You are wrong Pat, you need to score and score in bunches. We have the offensive weapons to do so if you can figure out how to get a QB in there to throw the ball. With Williams (if he plays), West, Fernandez, and Pascoe our receivers are as talented as any in the WAC. Wright and Miller at RB are a great combo and Vercher is an outstanding fullback. You cannot tell me we can't perform on offense like Hawaii, we have the tools to have a prolific offense. The pro set clock controlling offense goes down the drain in college football because you can bleed seven minutes off the clock, but what good does that do when Hawaii scores in two minutes? This is the wrong mindset against Hawaii. We need to score 35 points to beat them, and with Hill's mindset we will be lucky to put up 24. Hawaii will score at least 30 so where does it make sense to control the clock and hope they don't score?

This Saturday could be very ugly and I realize that Hill wants the best for the team, but opening the playbook and running some unconventional plays similar to how Arkansas has been doing is what Hill needs to begin trying. We shall see how Saturday goes. One thing is for sure. If Norton doesn't play at all Hill is going to lose many of his followers, something I really don't want to see happen.

7 comments:

nsc said...

I have to agree. I feel like if we are the ones that make Fresno State football so successful with respect to monetary issues the least they can do is answer the questions we have as fans. I mean how many fans right now are wondering why Hill wont put Norton in? We all want to know what exactly he is afraid of. I at the same time want to know why Jefferson is playing on special teams but not on defense. I mean he played one good game, so does that mean bench him after that? I just feel like we as fans deserve answers, that is all.

nsc said...

Well I dont think Fresno Fans are necessarily what you say. I think the media is however pus*ies. I should have titled that blog is the media afraid of Pat Hill? Because quite honestly the public has plenty to say to the man but he wont listen to us. So like I said they definitely owe us as fans for being loyal and getting no answers. However, what does that mean in the end? Probably nothing, but I wish we could get some answers.

nsc said...

Well I won't argue with that. I did the numbers and Hill has a 73-47 record and the teams we have beat have a record around 340-511 which is about 40% winning rate. The only BCS team we beat with a great record is Colorado in 2001. They were the highest rank team at the end of the year we defeated. Hill is a good coach yes but we do lose a bit too many games. I don't disagree with that.

Anonymous said...

I would like to answer the cornerback question. We have no one else to put at corner back because #1) Richard Marshall left a year early. #2) Clifton Smith was recruited as a cornerback. #3) Jenkins has been injury prone the past two years. #4) Simmons is what we have left.

nsc said...

Ok so we have no one else to put at corner but in the first game of the year Jefferson played corner in the second half. He has not played corner since and last I remember he did a very good job at corner. Not having someone to put there may be a problem, that is true. You don't have to point out that Marshall left or that Smith was moved, any bulldog fan knows these facts already. Tell me about the younger guys that we can try out since the ones in the position right now are not doing the job. That's all I am saying. Maybe we have someone we can try out, and it's better to try than to let players talent go to waste.

Anonymous said...

Pat Hill acts as if he invented the tough guy attitude. What has that gotten him? A 1-4 start. He should have known that Norton, who threw for over 8,500 yards and 79 TDs in High School, is much better than Tommy Gun. I think tom threw for maybe 1,200 yards and 8 TDs in High School for Turlock, who plays in a crappy conference. The level of competition that Norton faced was some of the best in the country. He was facing guys that are now starting on Pac-10 teams, not guys that are making meth in their mothers basement. Tom is taller, but that hasn't meant a thing. Hill is afraid that he will now look like an idiot for wasting the season by having one of the most prolific high school quarterbacks ever, sit on the bench. Pat Hill needs to pull his head out of his A$$ and throw his pride out the window. He is not Pete Carroll and never will be.

Anonymous said...

I agree with anonymous on this one.