is not the 2009 season, in my opinion, poor recruiting and plain bad luck led to what we now see for 2009 and although Ralph should be held accountable for the recruiting mistakes regarding this offensive line, the 2006 and 2008 seasons is where he really came up short.
2006 season
The team finished 9-4 and with a nice win over Purdue. But this season should have been so much more.
Granted, they won a lot of close games (Clemson, MIA, FSU) but the fact that they had a chance to win the Atlantic in the last game of the regular season, at home and blew it really was a dagger to this program.
Wake ran wild over the Terps and was likely the worst coaching job by Cosh while at MD, losing 38-24.
2008 season
Forget the fact that the loss at MTSU was out of the blue, how do you lose to UVA on the road 31-0? Somehow, we ended up being in a position to win the Atlantic if we could win the final home game against FSU. MD proceeded to get blown out, was never even in the game.
Would the heat be as hot on Ol' Fridge had we at least made an appearance in the ACC Championship Game in at least one of those years?
[quote=RigginsTerp;809081] Would the heat be as hot on Ol' Fridge had we at least made an appearance in the ACC Championship Game in at least one of those years?[/QUOTE]
What's interesting about this is Chan Gailey guided GT to the ACC CG in 2006Then followed that up with a winning season in 2007. AND GOT FIRED
In fact Chan Gailey never had a losing season at GT, yet got canned. This makes it all the more mind-boggling that Fridge still has a job. He's had losing seasons 4 of the last 6. Even mid-level FB programs like GT fire their coaches after 6 straight winning seasons, and one year removed from an ACC CG performance.
Shows you what a small time program we have.
Was Gailey a terrible coach? No. Would GT be a 7-5, 8-4 program if Gailey was still there? Probably. Was that good enough for GT? Hell no. So they made a change.
It is really frustrating that we are so weak when the ACC is in a "down year", the 3 best teams in the conference are in the other division. It would not have taken a powerhouse team to make the ACCCG this season.
Some might say the 2006 season was Fridge's best coaching job. That team got outgained in almost every game and yet they finished 9-4. Very easily could've had a losing record.
2006 was a great accomplishment considering the team definitely outperformed their talent. Terrible to include them based on the one game where circumstances and luck caught up with them.
Some might say the 2006 season was Fridge's best coaching job. That team got outgained in almost every game and yet they finished 9-4. Very easily could've had a losing record.
I believe the point differential that year was something like +12 for the Terps. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.
__________________ Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe.--Bruce Springsteen
I believe the point differential that year was something like +12 for the Terps. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.
And the yardage differential was like negative one billion. We got to 9-4 via smoke and mirrors that season - nobody should be complaining about those results. A few bounces here and there, and we easily could have been under .500.
The 2008 team didn't have the same yardage/points differential that the 2006 team had, but it's not like they were that much better. Both teams probably overacheived given the talent on the squad.
I think most folks would point to 2004-2005. Mediocre results on the field, even with some talent on the field, particularly the defensive end. The QB situation as a harbinger of bad decision-making to come. And devastatingly bad recruiting, particularly at the local level. Set the course for everything that was to come.
2007 was just as bad as 2004 and 2005. All three years we went 3-5 in the ACC.
The only difference was that 2007 was a 12 game regular season, allowing us to schedule a 1AA team and allowing us to be 6-6 instead of 5-6 like in 2004 and 2005.
It's called the 2004 season was atrocious coaching. Any other QB besides Joel Statham...we win the ACC title. We had incredible talent on both sides of the ball...but you had a turnover loser machine who took anxiety pillls running the show....whom Fridge kept sticking with.
Sr QB
Gaither and Heyer are both starting NFL tackles.
Haynos is an NFL Tight End.
Heyward-Bey would become a top ten pick, and some could say the 2006 season was his best.
You had an NFL corner in Wilson and an NFL punter in Podlesh.
The team was very talented.
Good point though, that 2004 team was a total waste. They had the best defense in the ACC.
Sr QB
Gaither and Heyer are both starting NFL tackles.
Haynos is an NFL Tight End.
Heyward-Bey would become a top ten pick, and some could say the 2006 season was his best.
You had an NFL corner in Wilson and an NFL punter in Podlesh.
The team was very talented.
Good point though, that 2004 team was a total waste. They had the best defense in the ACC.
That was arguably Ralph's most talented team excluding his first three years here. They were still very lucky to be 9-4. Probably not Ralph's best coaching job after looking through the roster, although the DL was a weak link.
Dane Randolph played more at RT that year (2006) than Gaither. And when Gaither played, he didn't play particularly well.
The staff kinda messed him up moving him to RT after he had started to dominate the year before at LT, but they felt Heyer should be given his LT spot back after missing all of the 2005 season.
In hindsight, Heyer probably would have been better able to move to RT than Gaither.
The defensive talent on that team was nothing special as I recall. Teams were basically able to move the ball at will on us, and we survived by getting a bunch of well timed turnovers, blocked FGs, and the like.
Plus DHB was only a frosh and didn't really run anything other than go patterns.
That may have been the worst 9-4 team in history. Lots of individual talent, but horrific coaching. Lots of those close wins were only close wins because NuRalph ran nothing but dives after we got the lead, and Cosh's defense held on for dear life.
__________________ "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."
The seasons where Fridge really blew it...
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