MissouriHerk
Well-Known Member
Warning: Kind of a long post:
If before the season the gods of college fball said to you, you cannot go undefeated this year, but pick your loss, what team would you have picked to lose to? Then if the gods said to you, okay, pick how you lose? I would have said, we lose to Arizona before Big Ten play, in a close game because we do things that are uncharacteristic of our teams, making errors in fundamentals that are usually the mark of Ferentz teams, that are correctable. We lose but outside of blunders such as turnovers on punt blocks and kick returns, we still "beat" the other team when it was just our offense v. their defense, and their offense v. our defense, running plays. We make a big comeback but fall short. I would have said, I don't want to lose because we play a good solid game but just get beat. I would have said that I would prefer that we beat ourselves.
If you had been asked before the season started: Do you think the Hawks have a better chance of winning the Big Ten and playing in the Rose Bowl, if they go undefeated in nonconference play, or if they have one tough loss in non-conference play that they can learn from?
Think of all of those wins last year where the Hawks came out flat and had to come from behind to win. Maybe if had an early loss in nonconference play we wouldn't have come out so "non chalant" vs. teams like Indiana, and carry over to this season, Arizona (the loss to AZ was largely mental). Just a thought.
We know, based on last year and the number of good experienced starters, that this team is capable, talent-wise, to win the Big Ten. (yes some guys to replace on OL and LB and one DB but on the whole compared with other teams, alot coming back). The only question mark coming into the season, for me, was their mental approach. It helps to learn the areas we need to improve on before conference play. But mostly it helps with our mental toughness and attitude from here out. 2002 is a perfect example, and Kirk referenced that season today in his press conference. If there was any problem with overconfidence or distraction from all of the NC talk, that's gone now. If what the team needed to go on a tear through their conference schedule was some new doubters and a deep desire to prove themselves, to prove that they weren't overrated going into the season, they surely have that now. Historically, under Ferentz, an early season stumble has been common, and so has a late season tear. The loss to Arizona will be the motivating factor that might just propel us to a Big Ten championship, and a Rose Bowl.
Bring on the negative.
If before the season the gods of college fball said to you, you cannot go undefeated this year, but pick your loss, what team would you have picked to lose to? Then if the gods said to you, okay, pick how you lose? I would have said, we lose to Arizona before Big Ten play, in a close game because we do things that are uncharacteristic of our teams, making errors in fundamentals that are usually the mark of Ferentz teams, that are correctable. We lose but outside of blunders such as turnovers on punt blocks and kick returns, we still "beat" the other team when it was just our offense v. their defense, and their offense v. our defense, running plays. We make a big comeback but fall short. I would have said, I don't want to lose because we play a good solid game but just get beat. I would have said that I would prefer that we beat ourselves.
If you had been asked before the season started: Do you think the Hawks have a better chance of winning the Big Ten and playing in the Rose Bowl, if they go undefeated in nonconference play, or if they have one tough loss in non-conference play that they can learn from?
Think of all of those wins last year where the Hawks came out flat and had to come from behind to win. Maybe if had an early loss in nonconference play we wouldn't have come out so "non chalant" vs. teams like Indiana, and carry over to this season, Arizona (the loss to AZ was largely mental). Just a thought.
We know, based on last year and the number of good experienced starters, that this team is capable, talent-wise, to win the Big Ten. (yes some guys to replace on OL and LB and one DB but on the whole compared with other teams, alot coming back). The only question mark coming into the season, for me, was their mental approach. It helps to learn the areas we need to improve on before conference play. But mostly it helps with our mental toughness and attitude from here out. 2002 is a perfect example, and Kirk referenced that season today in his press conference. If there was any problem with overconfidence or distraction from all of the NC talk, that's gone now. If what the team needed to go on a tear through their conference schedule was some new doubters and a deep desire to prove themselves, to prove that they weren't overrated going into the season, they surely have that now. Historically, under Ferentz, an early season stumble has been common, and so has a late season tear. The loss to Arizona will be the motivating factor that might just propel us to a Big Ten championship, and a Rose Bowl.
Bring on the negative.