Lamb still has faith in Bucs despite heartbreaking loss

“I told the team you better start believing because I just saw it,” Lamb said at his weekly news conference Monday. “I saw it with my own eyes, we outplayed them physically, we outplayed them and I have visual proof now that we are a good football team. You better start raising your expectations here if you wear the blue and gold.”

Lamb was still in disbelief at his news conference Monday that the Buccaneers let that opportunity slip away.

“I’ve been to a lot of Southern Conference football games in my life, too many to count, and this is the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen with over 11,000 people here right above you,” Lamb said. “(They) certainly made an impact in this football game with the number two team in the country playing them at home and pretty much winning the game in my opinion.

“We did everything right. We had fewer penalties, no turnovers except for the free kick at the end, we outplayed them, we played cleanly. We were 12 points ahead with three minutes to go with the ball, with a 98.1% chance of winning.”

After studying the film, Lamb said there were four plays that determined the outcome of the final three minutes, any of which could have led to ETSU’s loss if the ball had bounced their way.

“There’s nothing I would change as a coach, there’s nothing I would change as a player,” Lamb said. “I’ve been doing this 11 years now, I played five years at this level, I played high school football, this is the worst loss I’ve ever had and it’s not close.”

Lamb has experienced this kind of heartbreak before, during the 2019 season against Samford as an assistant coach.

“When I was calling games at Tennessee Tech, the first game of 2019, we were down 16 with 2 1/2 minutes left,” Lamb said. “We scored, went for a two-pointer, got the kickoff, scored, went for a two-pointer and won 59-58 in overtime.”

Call it a tough lesson for the Bucs.

“We played hard, we couldn’t do anything,” said ETSU running back Bryson Irby, who ran for 147 yards and three touchdowns in the loss to the Bison. “We had three minutes left and the ball went the wrong way. It was a good fight.”

ETSU linebacker Ty Anderson, who had seven tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, broke up a pass and even scored on a goal-line run as a running back, understands what needs to happen next for the Buccaneers.

“We know what we have to work on and what we have to do to finish games,” he said. “I think the only thing we have to work on now is finishing.”

That might not be so bad, according to ETSU defensive tackle Brenden LeBlanc, who said the Bucs now know they can play anyone on their schedule who doesn’t enter the Southern Conference stage until Sept. 28 at The Citadel.

“It could be a blessing in disguise, we showed what we can do and it gives a lot of confidence to our players and coaches to show that we can compete with the best,” LeBlanc said. “It could be good for us in the future.”

ETSU had no choice but to turn the page Sunday when the Buccaneers gathered for practice before heading into the final non-conference game of the season Saturday against Big South Conference foe Elon. The Phoenix, like the Bucs, are 1-2 on the season, with both receiving votes in the top two Football Championship Series polls recognized by the NCAA.

“The message to our team is simple: We’re not going to change what we’re doing. It’s clearly working,” Lamb said. “We give our fans hope, we give our players hope that we can play with anybody in the country and we’re not going to change that.”

“It wasn’t a choke, it wasn’t a collapse, it was just bad luck. There were four plays that ended this game that didn’t go our way. Every single one of them bounced back the other way. We could sit here and sulk, it’s been a tough 24 hours, a lot of tears, not much sleep. We put a lot into this and we need to get over it quickly.

“I think we need to use this as a springboard for Elon this week and the conference championship at The Citadel in two weeks… We need to move on and move on to Elon.”

The teams have met three times, with ETSU winning two of them. Lamb, who spent the previous three years at Gardner-Webb coaching against the Phoenix, is 2-1 against Elon head coach Tony Trisciani. Kickoff is Saturday at 6 p.m.

Elon will be led on offense by quarterback Matt Downing, who is playing his seventh year of college football at his fourth different school after stints at Georgia, Texas Christian and Louisiana Tech. While ETSU lost 38-10 to Appalachian State to open the season, the Phoenix lost 26-3 to Duke before beating North Carolina Central 41-19 and losing last week to Western Carolina, 24-17.

ETSU followed up its loss to the Mountaineers by beating UVa-Wise 61-0 before the heartbreaking loss to the Bison.

“I’m excited to see our football team motivated to go win a game,” Lamb said. “I don’t think I’m going to have to do a lot of motivating this week. They have a bad taste in their mouth after what happened in the last three minutes of that football game Saturday night in front of our home crowd. We better be angry at practice (Tuesday) and be ready to play.”

ETSU quarterback Jaylen King said after Saturday’s loss that better days are ahead.

“I thought it was an unbelievable game against a great opponent. I want to give credit to our defense, they held the ball for most of the quarter, they stayed on the field, got stops,” said King, whose Bucs led 35-23 with 8:39 left in the game. “They’re a great team, they’re the best team I’ve ever played on in my life, I want to say that. We just have to get back to work, stay back and be patient. Our time will come.”

Lamb has been outspoken about his feelings that ETSU could eventually contend for an FCS national championship, something North Dakota State has done nine times since 2011. He felt Saturday’s game could be an indicator of how far behind they are.

“Based on the way we played Saturday night, I think we’re pretty close,” he said. “Can we do it consistently, can we stay healthy at our key positions, can the quarterback continue to improve his game, can we be better in the special teams game?

“There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but from what I’ve seen on film, we’re not that far off.”

BUC NOTES: Irby (offense), Cam Sims (defense) and Xavier Gaillardetz (special teams) won MVP awards against the Bison.