In the classroom, if you're grading on straight percentage, I'm competing against a numerical goal, not against other students. It's not at all comparable to two football teams playing where one team is actually trying to thwart the other. A closer example might be if I'm in a math class of 15 students graded on a straight curve, in which two students will get As, two will fail, and the rest will be somewhere in the middle. I might be a good math student, but if there happen to be 5-6 math Einsteins in the class with me, I'm probably not going to do better than B or C. And I am a baseball fan. Cubs did pretty well this year.
6-6 is a yawner, sorry all !!!
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In the classroom, if you're grading on straight percentage, I'm competing against a numerical goal, not against other students. It's not at all comparable to two football teams playing where one team is actually trying to thwart the other. A closer example might be if I'm in a math class of 15 students graded on a straight curve, in which two students will get As, two will fail, and the rest will be somewhere in the middle. I might be a good math student, but if there happen to be 5-6 math Einsteins in the class with me, I'm probably not going to do better than B or C. And I am a baseball fan. Cubs did pretty well this year.
That's a potential issue. Heard good things about Fischer. Potentially a guy like McGee moves down. Whillock seems a bit undersized, though his tape had that kind of look. If we don't have more "usable" LBs, I suspect we see a ton of nickel.
You may have forgotten a NC game for ND too.
Relevance means national rankings, especially at the end after playing for a bowl. Contention and or participation in conference championships. Regular discussion on a national basis. Strings of seasons up with short windows of reloading.
Which technically doesn't count anymore... but you didn't specify vacated wins, eh? /s
If you're an NU fan and those are your definitions of relevance, you might as well find another team. I'll probably be shouted down for "accepting mediocrity" or some such bullshit, but it's INCREDIBLY hard to win at that level with consistency at NU given the school/program's limitations (some of which are "self-inflicted" to some degree, some of which are simply part of "being NU.").
Ok, Cats on the curve are what? Average, excellent? Do you use the Cats FB team to help guide your kids, grandkids towards your expectations for their success? Of course not, you want them to excel, but you will be quite happy w the Cats performing unnotably. That's what makes us different types of fans.
What do you do with AA? Is he just not a B1G starter, trapped behind better talent? If the former, how do we get our best athletes on the field?
Yes, I will begin it. Mediocracy - you should find another team. Its exceptionally difficult to become an internationally acclaimed academic institution. It takes dedication, a plan, money, etc. NU achieved it. Same for becoming a nationally acclaimed D1 revenue sport power house and several academic institutions have done so including small private school Duke.
So I reject your apogist acceptance of mediocracy. The right AD and President committing the readily available resources could most definitely bring a culture of winning to FB or BB or both.
Wonder what will happen on this board if CCC gets to the NCAA this year, and next year and starts making some noise. Wonder what will happen if the AD starts throwing money towards BB? PF is the golden boy today, but can become the irrelevant guy with all his coaches and greater fan apathy if CCC finds success. That would be ironic.
I will be happy if my kids and grandkids perform to their potential. If I expect them all to be Einstein, I'll probably be a little frustrated. Here are the BIG teams and the number of championships since 1960: Ohio State, 24; Michigan, 22; Michigan State, 8; Wisconsin, 7; Iowa, 6; Illinois, 4; Northwestern, 3; Penn State, 3, Minnesota, 2; Purdue, 2; Indiana 1. Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers (recent members, no championships). Obviously, it's been Ohio State, Michigan and pretty much everyone else. Of the schools not named Ohio State or Michigan, which do you think is at a significant recruiting disadvantage versus Northwestern?
Have to give credit where credit is due today. Stupor soul-owning this thread, with tons of people taking the bait.....
Well, how many times has NU has the third best recruiting class since 1960? Crazy OSU and MI didn't win every year with their incredible recruiting advantages.
And PSU is also a newer member of the B1G. So that is 7th most of the original 10 for NU. And they all came in the last 20 years. So, going into the Fitz era, NU actually rated higher - a program of the rise. One giving a newer generation the reason to expect, demand success.
Back to your kids, are you saying you simply accept results? Never pressured to work harder? You never worked harder to excel, simply accepted whatever god given intelligence bestowed upon you? Never demanded, strove for excellence?
You never offered the lecture 'I wasn't the smartest or best, but I worked the hardest and look at me now' bit? Good for you, I always hated those lectures as a regular underachiever. Glad to know that I would have made you proud.
I think he has potential, but there are a lot of good players in the RB room and only so many carries to go around (especially the way Jackson has been playing). He's still just a RS SO, so you don't really have to "do anything."
Those schools/teams have relaxed academic standards for athletes in ways the NU administration is unwilling to do.
As for CCC, it is much easier to build a quick winner on the hard court where a single player can essentially carry a team. There's a reason football is called the "ultimate team game."
Seems like we have three guys lined up at RB, two proven. So you see AA breakiing the two deep at RB over the two years?
I don't know, but don't know where else AA would be successful given his size/stature.
Love this argument. Those schools have high graduation rates and are internationally acclaimed academic institutions, despite whatever you believe those standards to be.
Requires a commitment by the AD and the president to become a nationally respected program. I, as one fan, want to see that commitment.
Maybe a move to DB (height shouldnt be a problem, weight is training table/weight room thing). Then a S could be moved up to LB. Not saying it would create a star, just saying it could fill a need by moving one guy not in the rotation.
Love the basketball excuse. Then why hasn't it been done before? Why is OSU not dominant in BB like FB?
I'm not arguing that NU COULDN'T relax their standards more while preserving their academic reputation. I actually think Fitz should be given much more latitude because of the team's consistently excellent academic performance and should be given more room to operate, with standards tightening again only if the team's performance slips meaningfully.
I'm explaining a key difference between those schools and NU. Every school does things a little differently.
Maybe if the NU staff can hang AA by his feet with kettle bells in each hand (gotta purchase those state of the art kettle bells first) they can stretch him into a linebacker.
Yup, xyz's post was the 2nd dumb post I've read here today (along w/ Woolly's "special training techniques" post).
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Height is definitely a problem at 5-8. There's a reason you don't see too many safeties that size (and the ones you do see are physical freaks otherwise).
When you're in the B1G and you have a 10 win season, it's NOT a fluke. Just like having a stinky offense in the same year is not a fluke. There are real reasons for it. So instead of criticizing everything, please focus (on the real problem).
The season was a disappointment but it was a good comeback from a disastrous start. It is hard to lose the starting corners like we did and every team went after our secondary. That loosened up the safeties and made it harder to stop the run. The Oline didn't hold together enough to give our offense more legs. We suffered on both sides.
But I always hate this discussion about always being doomed or always coming up roses. The argument about the past big ten championships are old. The 2000 team was demolished by Nebraska. The 1996 team was beaten do badly by Tennessee. The 1995 team was just not as good as USC. None of those teams faced Ohio State. So, please add reality into the argument. To be the Big Ten champion today means you have a team that can win the national championship. We have not had any team worthy of a national championship game in the last 50 years, Can we win the west? Yes. We are not that far away. But what good is this negative cheering of the team?
But I always hate this discussion about always being doomed or always coming up roses. The argument about the past big ten championships are old. The 2000 team was demolished by Nebraska. The 1996 team was beaten do badly by Tennessee. The 1995 team was just not as good as USC. None of those teams faced Ohio State. So, please add reality into the argument. To be the Big Ten champion today means you have a team that can win the national championship. We have not had any team worthy of a national championship game in the last 50 years, Can we win the west? Yes. We are not that far away. But what good is this negative cheering of the team?
We had a few stand out performers playing at an All Big Ten level on an otherwise bad team which resulted in a 6-6 year.
... and when you're good and you're ranked, not having every talking head idiot blathering about "surprising/Cinderella Northwestern", i.e., getting the respect to the point where people are SHOCKED that we're having a 7-5 season and are going to a Toilet Bowl, i.e., playing games in November that matter for the consistent the Conference title and at least the division title. That's what relevance means.
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Woody, all of us hold unrealistic expectations. But this doesn't mean unrealistic expectations are healthy. Quite the opposite, they can chip away at our relationships, shut down realistic goals, and steer our lives in an unhealthy direction.
Here's a primer on how to let go of your unrealistic expectations.
http://www.joyfuldays.com/how-to-get-rid-of-unrealistic-expectations/
Woody, all of us hold unrealistic expectations. But this doesn't mean unrealistic expectations are healthy. Quite the opposite, they can chip away at our relationships, shut down realistic goals, and steer our lives in an unhealthy direction.
Here's a primer on how to let go of your unrealistic expectations.
http://www.joyfuldays.com/how-to-get-rid-of-unrealistic-expectations/
I don't think anyone around here is really beating their chest over a 6-6 season, but we can appreciate the fact that the team and coaches kept fighting after an awful start. You like to poo poo wins over Purdue and Illinois, but the wins over Iowa and MSU don't look too bad at this point. You lobbied Walker's career as an benchmark for Fitz on InsideNU and the "one or two games over .500 despite a winning conference record" is classic Walker... but you didn't see anyone calling for his job.
As I've said repeatedly, my over/under for considering a season successful is 6.5 regular season wins. A 6 win season is pretty empty to me, even if backed up by a bowl win. Even 7 wins isn't great because you're likely looking at a sub-.500 conference record in most cases; this year is atypical in that respect. In all, I don't consider this season a true success because the first two losses were pretty bad but there were signs of improvement over the course of the season. I still think a couple changes in the coaching staff could do some good, but wouldn't anticipate Fitz making those changes.
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And as I've said repeatedly, if that's all you think we're capable of, it's pathetic and a lasting echo of of a past we need to rid ourselves of once and for all.
We are capable of much more than that.
So back to "big scary internet fan" it is.
Edit: what are your expectations for a successful season anyway? How about what would be a successful string of three seasons? Or five?
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I am not going after you, but your post is convenient.
Earlier in the year after the loss to ISU, I posted that as long as PF is coach, NU will never win the B10. The only home game I missed this year was Duke due to a wedding. I even went down to Purdue. Not a single thing occurred this year to dissuade me of this opinion. Frankly, I do not see a West Division crown as long as PF is the coach.
A good football coach does not always mean that person will be a good college coach. There is the consistent complaint of academic disadvantages, since other schools can admit goats, that justifies NU giving PF a long leash. I completely understand the academic limitations, but a look at JJTBC and CT shows that NU can get talent. I have seen backs since Mike Adamle and can not evaluate talent, but JJTBC is the best back I have ever seen at NU in running, picking up blitzes, and catching passes. John Moten will be very good. We have good athletes in the secondary which shows the talent can be found and admitted. Further, NU should be able to get good o-line personnel since they tend to be better students. The peformance in that departemetn has been disconcerting. I think NU will have seasons like last year on occasion and some down years, but NU will be the definition of mediocre for the foreseeable future with PF at the helm. Nice guy. Good face of the program; but after 10 years, we know what we have.
Further, a critical look at the other teams in the West Division offers the explanation of why these two events will not occur:
1) Wiscy. They have a better coach. They develop talent. I look forward to someone who will tell me that Wisconnsin is a gold mine for football talent. This gives Wiscy a disadvantage. Stability of coaches will help;
2) Nebby. Mike Riley is a better coach. Dearth of local talent and it is Nebraska for goodness sake. Have you been to that state? Ugh. If Armstrong could throw, much better results would have occurred. Program had a number of coaches and stability will help. Please tell me Nebby is a better state than Illinois for recruiiting which should be our recrutiing base;
3) Iowa. We get our wins against them, but Ferentz is a better coach. Dearth of local talent in Iowa, but they develop it. We may leapfrog Iowa when Ferentz leaves No better geographically than Nebby;
4) Minny. Better coach. Geez, they won more than 7 games with Leidner at QB. Their touughness mirrors Wiscy. If they get some talent, watch out. I think they jump NU;
5) Illini. Lovie is a good coach, but can he translate that to college? Jury out; and
6) Purdue. It will take a long time for anything to occur.
Based on what I have seen, I see NU fighting to get into the top three, but PF's conservative mantra and game management brain farts will keep NU in the mmiddle of the pack. I am sure I will get blasted for this submission, but PF's prior hssitory and NU's commitment pegs it as mediocre. I do not think the practice facility will mae that much of a difference since it is no different than the other schools have.
3) Iowa. Dearth of local talent
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And I am explaining my protest. While I hold PF responsible for his coaching staff, I hold those up the tree responsible for their commitment. We seemingly have admin that consider our revenue sports relevant. Besides building some pretty stuff, its time for greater support from within.
The '95 team would have made the College Football Playoff as it stands today, along with Nebraska, Florida, and either Ohio State or Tennessee.
Academic requirements have a greater impact on NU's depth of competitive talent rather than the "top shelf" talent. It's no coincidence that our most successful seasons have usually been our healthiest.
"OL tend to be better students" is largely a myth, especially amongst the top-flight recruits. It's really not all that different than other positions in that respect, where there is a lot of middling talent that meet NU's admission requirements, but not a lot of top guys. Plus the top guys are going to be recruited by everyone whether an "academic school" or not, partially mitigating whatever advantage we might have in terms of academics. At the end of the day, most P5 recruits view themselves as football players first and foremost; the challenge for NU in recruiting is to identify quality football players for whom academics are TRULY a priority rather than just lip service.
I don't think the west is nearly as strong as you make it out to be. Either way, I would much rather be in this division than the east; seems like OSU and UM should have a stranglehold on that division with PSU rising up on occasion (I'm still not sold on Franklin, though this season is obviously a good one). The west could pretty easily be won or lost by a handful of bounces and/or injuries. For NU, it's mostly about having enough talent in-house to take advantage of those seasons.
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