Seems like many are excusing the performance last night on Tarleton just being a better team with more money. Both may be true but correlation is not causation. The VERY FIRST PLAY of the football game, the offense jogs out to the field stands around and the play doesn’t get called until 5 seconds left on the play clock. Delay of game gets called. Pure Comedy. The coaching staff is not prepared to play football games much less against teams that are talented.
Tarleton is a really good team, but they are not some crazy juggernaut. UCA has beaten mid level FBS teams before and recently (last year should have been the last one in Jonesboro). This isn’t some magical money wall we will never climb, this is a lack of accountability, plain and simple. The football team is a reflection of the entire athletic department as a whole. The team, the stadium, the environment, everything is just not managed well. Therefore, what little money we have (which the gap isn’t that large), is likely not being optimized. Small or mid sized operations wanting to compete simply can’t afford this.
Last night was the manifestation of bad management and a mickey mouse approach to division 1 football. I’ve been going to games since i was a kid and have been a purple circle member for over a decade, and last night was the worst display I’ve seen yet. Lights can’t get turned on, half of them work when turned on, the speakers in the stadium playing ridiculously loud levels of hip hop (why exactly?) and the speakers are bottoming out, the chair backs are literally falling apart, etc. These are cracks in a foundation in bad need of repair.
Basketball is FINALLY showing signs of life after being neglected for 2 decades although it hasn’t translated to wins yet. Unless swift changes are made immediately, football will slide to a similar point that’s unrecognizable to UCA football alums and fans alike, if it hasn’t already.
I would venture to say that 56-10 is probably the worst home defeat in history. The handwriting is on the wall.
