I posted after that game that no other opponent of ISU would score fewer than we did. Nice to know they all easily outdid that. It's outrageous any way you look at it.
Our non-conf schedule has not been the toughest around overall. It's ISU, then two MAC-like teams/UNI-ish teams, then an FBS team that usually is not a world-beater (Pitt and Syracuse come to mind, though Arizona was a little tougher than our usual). Minimum, EVERY YEAR, we should win 3/4 of those games. I'd say that MOST years we should win all four.
Our B10 schedule is going to usually supply 2-4 losses, but my goal would always be to be 5-3 minimum. That's losing to Wisconsin, OSU, and Nebraska, but beating NW, Illini, IU, Minnesota, and Maryland. Or something like that. But certainly do-able.
Putting these together: it should be expected that, most seasons, we would win 8/12 reg season games. That's maybe going 5-3 in the B10 and dropping a non-conf game, or going 4-4 in the B10 and winning all 4 non-conf games. That's NOT too much to ask from a $4 mil/year coach.
In other words, looking at the teams we schedule year in and out, there's already 6 should-wins on the schedule: 3 non-conf games plus 3 B10 games (teams like IU, Illini, and Purdue). You only then have to win 2/6 games against 'real' opponents to make the required 8 wins. Well, we don't do this very often anymore, just once since 2009 ended. At any other school, this would likely mean a coaching change.
