There are no excuses.

[Deej]

JDL: I don't think I've ever seen someone who could be so wrong and so right all in the same paragraph. The injury excuse is acceptable. (It may be one of the few that are!) 10-2 is not a failure. Conversely IN & NW are not that good and it is time that we beat these teams without exception. A loss to either of these teams will tend to substantiate the detractors.

I guess my point is this: A very famous college football coach lost 10-7 to a then powerhouse Nebraska. After the end of the game he entered the lockeroom, put his fist up against a locker and made it known to every player on the team that if he saw anyone smiling, he'd, in effect, punch them in the mouth.

Now is not the time to be smiling....not yet. Nuff Said!

As Coach Fry said, 'There only two columns, Wins, and Losses. There isn't a third column for lost but looked good doing it."

But this has been a great year. 8-0 is fantastic and I can't imagine any team that wouldn't love to be where Iowa is. I'll worry about Indiana this week, Northwestern next week. If it's good enough for KF, it's good enough for me.

 

[Bassfuser]

I think that saying the season would be a failure if the Hawks don't finish 11-1 is a bit harsh, but at the same time I don't think we can use injuries as an excuse to lose any of the home games. All teams are fighting the injury bug this time of year. We may not have the depth of the big boys, but I would contend our depth is just as good or deeper than the teams we play at home the rest of the year. I'm not sure what Indiana has going on but I'm sure, at the least, they have some nagging injuries. It was stated on Jon's show this morning the NW is playing walk-ons and Minn has lost Decker for the rest of the year.

It's been a great to start 8-0 and I believe the expectations at this point should be 11-1 at the minimum. Great programs have high expectations, and if we ever want to get to that level we need to raise the bar a bit. The season won't be a failure if we don't get to 11 wins, but it surely would be a shame to lose one of the home games considering the competition.