I am headed home today from the weekend in Philly. Normal posting schedule will be delayed this week as it will take me a couple of days to get the Yuengling and cheese steaks out of my system -- but Iowa awaits.When the season started, I had one goal in mind. Make a bowl game. 5 games into the season, we are ahead of where I thought we would be. We already have 4 wins. That is a good thing. We beat Notre Dame. That is a great thing. Freshman QB Tate Forcier has become a national conversation topic. That is unbelievable.
Losing to Sparty sucks. Losing to them twice in a row is something I have never had to experience until now. We will survive. I have not gotten a chance to watch the entire game again, but it was pretty clear they played better than we did. Congrats to them. The future for the rivalry looks great. Enjoy it. Given what I have seen so far this season, I would still rather have our team, our coach, and our future than theirs.
Iowa. How can a team go into Happy Valley and dominate the Nits and look so pedestrian against Northern Iowa and Arkansas State ? I just don't get it ?Looking a the rest of the schedule, we ABSOLUTELY have to win against Delaware State and Purdue. That gets us to 6 wins. That gets us into a bowl game. Outside of Delaware State and Purdue, the remaining games (Iowa, Penn State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State) we will be underdogs looking to pull an upset. Gotta get Delaware State and Purdue.
6 wins. Bowl game. That is still the goal. Everything else is gravy.
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I don't see them being underdogs to Illinois.. Have you watched Illinois play a game this year? Iowa plays a lot like MSU did this last game. They got up for their one BIG game and managed to dominate. Then against normal competition they tend to stutter. If M can put away it's uncoordinated effort it had Sat then they have a good chance of coming out of Iowa with a victory. Which would also get them back in the polls as I don't see them being ranked this week.
Andy,
seconded all around.
many pundits had predicted we could be 2-3 by now, w/ EMU & IU the only likely wins.
we'll have D State & Purdue both at home, and be favored in both.
we have Illinois on the road and likely be favored in it.
that leaves Wisco & Iowa on the road; PSU & tosu both at home. while we shan't be favored in any of those 4, none of those teams look particularly like a juggernaut either. we'll steal one. maybe two if we're lucky.
point being that going 7-5 or better is a nice rebound to last year. more importantly, you can see the improvement and begin to see the future. it's not a bad look.
Hamm:This is my opinion - having a spot in the polls is soooo not important. I would rather be unranked an win some games we were supposed to lose AND play a football game in December.
I am not so confident about Iowa. From what I saw against Penn State - their defense is strong. I imagine they relaxed a lot against Northern Iowa and Arky State. They won't relax against us because they did not get to pound us like the other B10 teams did last year.
Illinois is a dangerous game. It is there and they have not forgotten the last time we played there and won with some dumb luck. Juice and Bend are the type of players that typically kill us. I feel better about Wisconsin than Illinois.
as of this morning, ESPN was reporting that Zook might bench Juice and start playing an under classman. i watched parts of both their games against PSU & tosu. they very much look like a team in disarray, and Zook isn't known for being the kind of coach that can pull it altogether (just the opposite in fact). however, that game is still 4 weeks away, so we'll have to wait & see.
Wisconsin is 6 weeks away, but oddly far more predictable. they run between the tackles. pass on third & long. punt. also, their D has not been impressive, giving up lots of points to MSU (30), Fresno (20), and NIU (31).
i'd say we have a good chance in both (god willing, the creek don't rise, and Tate's arm don't fall off).
Unless you are Sparty coached by Bobby Williams...teams in disarray always seems to get it together when they line up against us.
We made Cousins look good. Juice will look like Vince Young and Troy Smith wrapped up in one package by the time we head down there.
wv = thirddownconversionskillme
i don't think delaware state counts towards bowl eligibility no?
unless i'm missing something
Sru,
very good question. i think you are allowed to count one win over an FCS team on your way to 6. at least that was the rule a couple of years ago.
i don't know if they've changed that, but i imagine someone will look it up.
I never knew that 1-AA teams were inelligible towards your win total for bowls? If that's ever been the case why the hell would any 1-A (fbs) team schedule a 1-aa team? That would be a waste of a game imo.
"Under current regulations, in order for this to occur, a team must record at least six wins in the standard 12-game schedule, which may include one win against a Division I FCS scholarship-awarding[1] opponent, and the team must not be on probation."
you guys aren't on probation yet right? i know the season's early and there's been a ton of indiscretions but i don't think they've actually investigated anything yet ;)
no, Sru, no probation "yet".
we're still in what the NCAA calls the "Tressel Stage" of an investigation. that's where an NCAA violation has been alleged, and the school's administrators/lawyers go around and bury the evidence (and in some cases like Clarett, the witnesses) to prevent the investigation from ever finding anything.
we should be good to go.
wait have you gotten past the "blame the freep/ann arbor news" stage yet?
about as over it as tosu fans are over the NY Times (you know, i have neighbors who still boo Herbstreit for interviewing Maurice on GameDay).
Who is this NY Times you speak of?
SiC--
you are incorrect. In the Pre-Tressel stage there is subterfuge and obfuscation. RR and staff ain't that smart.
nothing to see here folks--just a hard workin' down home program makin' progress.
Iowa is going to be ugly. Night game, on the road, mid-semester when the underclassmen are starting to get into mid-terms and home sickness. I agree with Andy, we will be lucky to get to 6.
As far as the State game...
I just have to say that while it sucks to lose to them, it cracks me up that we were down 6-20 late in the 4th with no time outs and we get them to overtime. I mean, seariously. Poor Sparty. Even in victory they have to hear about how Michigan almost beat them as opposed to how they won.
Makes me smile--cuz I'm evil like that ;-)
One thing's for sure after that loss I could use some healing...
Bigasshammm- I've sent a nurse for you:
http://www.infobarrel.com/media/image/378.jpg
I'll take two and call you next week!
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