By Tom Stosberg
Now that the Eastern Kentucky game has brought us all down out of the clouds with a resounding thud, it’s time to take the next step into reality.
Although we’re grateful for a win, we must now accept the fact that it’s going to take much more time than we would like for our former championship program to rise from the ashes.[pullquote]
‘Don’t be disappointed if there’s a blowout instead of a miraculous transformation this week …’
[/pullquote]
Let it be duly noted that it would be horribly unfair to expect any coach to make the kind of radical improvements many of us hoped for, Â given the less than nine months Charlie Strong has been at the helm.
No doubt the lack of well-executed blocking Saturday was as disappointing as blown defensive assignments, silly penalties and dropped passes. Poor tackling somewhat akin to the hugs of middle school girls, resulted in longer than acceptable runs for EKU.
Warning: Don’t be disappointed if there’s a blowout instead of a miraculous transformation this week at Oregon State. That would require a couple of 300-pound studs to miraculously appear in the middle of the defensive line, an offensive line to repeatedly knock someone off the ball, and a quarterback who can find and hit receivers with capable hands.
We just have to keep reminding each other:
Baby steps.
Before the Kentucky game I was holding out hope that Kragthorpe’s statement that this team had the talent to win 8 or 9 games might hold some truth and this might not be a three or four year program rebuild. After the first two games it is apparent that Kragthorpe was indeed as incompetent and unqualifed as we had all thought. This is going to take some time. Hopefully this year we will witness a game or two where the team plays beyond its capabilities and surprises a couple of teams. The Big East is looking like it is living up to its reputation as the weakest BCS conference, so who knows what can happen.
It will take a long time and a lot of hard work to climb out of a hole as deep as the one in which we find ourselves after the three years of Kragthorpe.
All of us need patience. It will take time to reload our deck of Cards. I believe in Charlie Strong we have the man to do it.