Tom, you are SOOOO right! How Bo and his staff didn't win a conference title with the 'outstanding' talent we have onboard is a direct indictment of their abilities as a coaching staff. Thank you, thank you, thank you for clearing that up for us.
I got a feeling we go on a very long winning streak...
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Tom, you are SOOOO right! How Bo and his staff didn't win a conference title with the 'outstanding' talent we have onboard is a direct indictment of their abilities as a coaching staff. Thank you, thank you, thank you for clearing that up for us.
At this point, I don't disagree that it would be an upset. There is a lot of time between now and November 7th however to get things worked out defensively and get players back from injuries. Home advantage is also a major factor and I don't think that we would come out flat like we did against Miami. By the time we play them, I also doubt that they will be #2. They play Michigan at Michigan and MSU has always had problems winning in Ann Arbor.
I expect a 7-5 year. We'll lose to MSU (and I doubt it will be as close as the experts or certain fans think), and then we'll split the games between NW, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
There is good talent, but in terms of the line comments from the BTN crew and us looking like OSU and MSU, I do believe we have players who look great in uniform, but the actual results suggest the players are not quite as good as what we thought going into the season.
Additionally, I just don't think the team is mentally tough enough to pull things out in crunch time. The constant mental errors at crucial times indicate that the team just doesn't know how to win when things get tough. The fact that we're 5-6 the last 11 games and have lost some close ones during that stretch indicates this isn't a new problem with Riley, it goes back a bit. It may take a long time to develop the confidence and mental toughness to win the difficult games.
There is good talent, but in terms of the line comments from the BTN crew and us looking like OSU and MSU, I do believe we have players who look great in uniform, but the actual results suggest the players are not quite as good as what we thought going into the season.
Additionally, I just don't think the team is mentally tough enough to pull things out in crunch time. The constant mental errors at crucial times indicate that the team just doesn't know how to win when things get tough. The fact that we're 5-6 the last 11 games and have lost some close ones during that stretch indicates this isn't a new problem with Riley, it goes back a bit. It may take a long time to develop the confidence and mental toughness to win the difficult games.
I kind of approach games/match-ups in two different ways. The first, every game is winnable given the right circumstances. Then second, what's the MOST realistic outcome. At this very point in time, looking forward, we could beat MSU, but it's more likely that we lose.
I can only think of two groups of people that would consider NU's football team on par with MSU's football team (i.e. includes coaches, players, skillsets, game plans, etc). Those two groups are some NU fans and people that hate MSU.
Now, in TT's defense, I'd have to go back and look at previous seasons for sure, but I feel/have felt the B1G West is ours to lose, and this year is no different as far as I'm concerned. And we've lost it in the past in resounding fashion.
Are we going to be favored in games (not all the games) as the season progresses? If we start winning we will, but that's not really the point. The West is ours to lose, just like it has been in years past.
It's not really fair of you or anyone else to hand select the 'top moments' from a game (e.g., the picture TT posted above) and omit the fact that we played like crap for significant portions of the rest of the game. It's not a reflection of the game we played that day.
A loss is a loss. We start pulling the argument of nearly beating someone we will be Iowa. We lost. Scoreboard the last two years says 0-2.
Our o-line is bad, our d-line is not great, and our DB's havent held a QB below 300 yards passing... You guys have been chugging the koolaid and got amnesia.
Hasn't a DB had an INT in every game so far? Strange thing to start off your rant with.
Of course you have a shot against MSU. It should be another very competitive game just like the last 3 meetings. A couple of things to consider is we're 26-3 with Connor Cook as the starting QB. Only losses were to teams that played in National Championship game. (ND in 2013, Oregon/OSU in 2014). Also under Dantonio MSU is 30-1 when ranked and playing an unranked opponent.
The only bad INT (his fault) was the last one and at least you could see what he was trying to do. He just didn't get enough on it throwing on the run to get it to an open guy. TA has made huge strides and I'm really looking forward to watching him the rest of this year and next season.
