Damn straight! The odds seem stacked against him but don’t sleep on Coach Braun. He continues to prove doubters wrong.
All he has to do is get the recruiting back on track and improve it with hiring an innovative OC that shared his hunger for winning. We probably be need to be patient for a few more seasons. I looked at the 2024-27 schedules. We really get slammed through '26. We get stuck with Oregon for two years straight. 2025 is just as bad as '24. Every legacy team from the West will face a hard time making it to bowl eligiblity. I think we will be fine, but Purdue, Indiana, MSU, etc will have a really hard go of it. This isn't our daddy's B1G anymore!
I agree, somewhat. Each coach took over a very different program.
Fitz had to replace Basanez, Philmore, Fields and Strief on offense, along with Cofield and McGarigle on defense. What sunk him in 2006 was the Brewfka disaster.
Statistically, we are exactly what our record indicates, just an above average team. Our rushing defense was the worst in the B1G this season for instance. Only our secondary stood out.
He is COTY because he did well under a unique set of circumstances. Inappropriate to compare how long it took people to get there
Wait, so Fitz left him a good hand on O? What exactly is the reasonably good hand that Fitz left him?
Veteran QB with an experienced backup. Solid and deep WR group. Capable RBs.
We were last in rushing in the B1G.
I would argue that OL play influenced a lot of the struggles. When defenders are reaching the QB untouched, it is fairly irrelevant if your starting QB looks like a Heisman candidate ahead of the season, and your RBs look like speedy, malevolent giants.
It’s all Braun, players had nothing to do with turnaround. They were finally unleashed, haven’t you heard?
It was abundantly clear that we were a completely different offense with or without Ben Bryant. So, you could credit Fitz for getting Bryant in the portal, but he certainly left a pretty bare cupboard when it came to QBs. The WRs were also two transfers and one original Wildcat coming back from injury. I'm not sure I remember any other WR catching a pass! (I'm sure there were some, but not very often). So, again, Fitz did get some good portal players, but seems to have done a terrible job in development of offensive talent.
The offense loosened up because we had an experienced QB. We still have the same OC as last year. It’s a whole new ballgame with recruiting. Every school in the country will need to use the Portal. We can hang our hopes on the best development program around ( code for we can’t land 4-5 star players) and even execute it fairly well, but it won’t be enough by itself to make us a top 20 program. I don’t foresee a time where we won’t have at least one transfer QB on the roster. The portal is a way to cover recruiting mistakes.
Self inflicted wound. He had Bacher sitting on the bench behind that mess. A sign of things to come really
Sometimes I wonder what Hunter could have been for us or even Hilinski with good solid protection.
