[Beetle01]

Wow, all I have read is fans sitting here bashing the players. Real fans stand behind their team whether they are mad at first they look past it and just say its okay guys you win some you lose some so regroup and take what you can from this game and get better. And Devilologist why dont you go and watch film my god, every lineman was on someone and there was still more guys coming. If all you Russell fans are going to sit here and do is criticize your team for their game then you all aren't the fans i really thought you all were. And i know if i was one of those Russell players i would hate everyone of you that is sitting here bashing them. And im sure they do, you all are wrong for doing that. What would have happened if Russell would have beaten Ashland?.........NOTHING AT ALL!!! Life goes on... you all would be saying oh well just another win. We are all grown men so why dont you all act like ones.

From a stands view and a neutral side on this it looked like Ashland played their best tonight they studied Russell inside and out. It didn't matter who the lineman blocked there was still 3 guys coming.
Russell never capitalized on any of Ashlands mistakes. Russell got beat in every aspect of the game including coaching.
And coming from a past player

And Russell should have passed, but on 1st down rather than 3rd down.

Well, from a neutral party, if the players see the game get out of hand and if the players see the coaching staff doing the same thing over and over and it isn't working, then wouldn't you expect the players to give up. You can only try to topple a brick wall for so long before the fire is gone. I don't know the Russell players and I didn't watch the game, but from what I am hearing the coaching staff wasn't as prepared as they needed to be, didn't apparently make the necessary adjustments and brought down the morale of the team. That is surprising considering the coaching staff Russell has, but that is what you guys seem to be saying. If that is the case, then I would blame this performance (not necessarily this loss because Ashland is a good team) squarely on the coaching staff and give the players a break. There comes a point when effort becomes futile!

I can't believe that some of these kids for Ruseell have even been to a practice this year. This is the most unconditioned team I have seen Russell have. Also, congrats to Ashland and the freshman QB, they made adjustments to win, and that they did.

The determination may not have been what everyone liked, but EKYsportster hit the nail on the head. These kids aren't stupid, they know what they need to do to win. When you spend the last two weeks putting in new plays and only use one of them one time and it went for 60+ yds.

Pburg is right also, even if our line was outmatched, it didn't matter, they could all pancake their assignment and there would still be 3 or 4 guys untouched. Ashland had 2 DB's in the game. TWO!!! They brought the house and all we did was run play action passes or Abrams off tackle. Which is what the bootleg is, playaction doesn't work if the other team is bringing 9 guys.

sore_looser,, you obviously know nothing about the Russell conditioning program. It's a play yourself into shape program. So when you spend 2 of the first 3 games on the sidelines the entire second half, you get the kind of effort we saw in the 4th quarter.

Our line is not as bad as it looked, are they great? no but they have some very talented linemen. They also have some young inexperienced ones. Ashland coaches knew that and brought everything they had, they know Ivan like the rest of us do. He's gonna run the off tackle play, if we win we win, if we lose we lose. It's how its always been, its how it will be until he is gone.

I still can't get over the no defensive adjustments, why do you stay with the same thing if it is not working? Why have 4 DB's in the game when their QB has a noodle for an arm, I promise I can pass better left handed than that kid can. Noone can answer these questions. Russell should have been running the same D Ashland was using. I guess we will see if things change, however, they never did in the past and I don't expect they will now. They have a game now to work on some new things. Also, sorry for EC but I don't care if its 90-0 the first team needs to stay in, they have to get in shape. I know you don't want to risk injury but its halway through the season and these kids have about 1 half in them right now.