Golfman25

Yeah, I would rather "seal it" by beating Wisconsin at home. The other two would just be gravy. :)

No clue about Girls basketball. Closest I ever came was 1986, in speech class when a player gave a speech on why we should care. But, a bad season is a grind. Bad things happen, and worse things happen from there. You begin to question your existence, the meaning of life, and whether you should kick the dog when you get home. She may be burned out. Or she just may be ready for a reset. I suppose only Scott and Pam will know that when the time comes. Good luck to her.

So show me the 3. Why I am saying UCLA and USC are ultra important.

Yeah, but by my count, only 4 Big 10 teams got in that year. Nebraska got jobbed. We won't be anywhere close to top 4/5.

Yeah, I get it -- "on any given Sunday." But we have to face reality. Win now, and our chances become that much easier. Lose now, and that fat lady is warming up.

But there is nothing in our "body of work" that suggests we should get in over any other joe lunch bucket team. That's why, IMO, beating UCLA is a big one. Followed up by beating USC. The rest is just noise.

And monkeys may fly out of my butt. :)

Sure but does it really matter what the other "bubble" teams are doing? We have to be, what, top half of Big10? So 9th or 10th. Well to do that we need to beat teams around us like: Minny (missed 1), USC (TBD), Iowa (miss), Ohio State (TBD). Wins against those programs move us up 1 and them down 1. Make no mistake, this west coast trip is vital to our future. We can't lose and expect things to fall in place. And that is because we missed against Minny and Iowa, and to a lesser extent, we let Nebraska get away from us.

No chit. Got to win games. But if you don't get by UCLA and USC the odds start to decline dramatically. Would have been extremely helpful to beat Minny and Iowa, but here we are.

We have 10 games left. If we want to control our destiny, I think we need to win 6. 5 could work, but 6 is better. Find me 6, or even 5 wins in the next 10 games. It starts with UCLA and then USC. Win those two, and the table is set. Split and we are in a world of hurt. Of the 10 games left, IL, Purdon't and MSU are all potential losses. Which leaves 1 (maybe 2) losses in play. An early Sat AM game against Wis. never goes right given recent history. Bottom line, we have our work cut out for us. A win at UCLA gets us going in the right direction.

Tomorrow against UCLA is the make or break game of the season. We’ll either be pointing up or down based on that game.

It should be match up based. No reason to keep sending the same line up every game.

Well we got an unexpected win to make up for Iowa. Lets not have a let down.

One more run here and finish.

Coming down off my high from Charlie Becker's catch to set it up. :)

What makes him a better passer? Mendoza was incredibly accurate and missed very few. Big shoes to fill. :)

Like I said in another post -- Just think if we could have beaten Minn on the road and Iowa at HOME.

I don’t see him leaving. He wanted to be at IU under Allen and now we’re good.

There is no rule on tampering. Mainly because there is no organization, like the NFL, to enforce it. The best you have is maybe a contract lawsuit based on tortious interference. But that is a stretch.

That’s the scary part. :)

Imagine if they just beat Minn and Iowa. 6-3. :)

First win at their place since 2018. Yikes.

I think we are "only" losing Fischer at LB. Jones filled in pretty good when he was out. Got some freshmen coming in for depth. TE, I think we'll be fine. Doesn't seem like a "featured" position, but incredibly important when used. TE is really about heart. QB, backup, is a problem. Hopefully one of these kids can get on the development train. We are one bad hit away from a disaster. I actually had pretty good confidence in Alberto to hold his own if needed. Not sure with these other guys.

But here's the thing. Why would any competent coach need to "learn a lesson" about playing in the Big10? It would seem to me, if you didn't already know, then step one would be watch a few games and get a feel for your competition. I watched an interview with Aiden Fischer the other day. They talked about Cig recruiting him to IU. He says Cig went over the schedule and told him exactly why they would win each game. :)

What is this mythical standard you refer to? At least compete against a similarly crappy Iowa team at home?