So? We won’t know if our signing class is a good one for 4-5 years. Yet you eagerly hang on the Rock for our fluid list of committed teenagers!
The Cats are better when they have low outside expectations. Catch their prey with some stalking. Very rarely does Fitz and co. have 2 stinker years in a row. That is why I picked just good enuf to get to a bowl. Motown to play a Mac team like niu that we win.
I’d normally pick that 7-5 threshold. We’re better off if we always stick in the 7-8 win territory we seem to live around. When we’re up, we should temper ourselves to 7-8 wins. When we’re down, we should temper ourselves to 7-8 wins. History has proven this.
I agree that it’s almost impossible to predict at this point. Based on what we witnessed in 2019, who would have predicted a Western division title in 2020?
Just like me -and any other Wildcat fan who wants all of their premium basketball information neatly organized.
Yeesh, 5 seems way out of the realm of possibility. (I optimistically voted 3.)
Our non conference schedule is weak. Duke is by far the hardest challenge, but perhaps their new coach won’t be the offensive coach that Curcliffe.
No confidence to predict any particular win. We could seriously go 0-12. I don't think we will, we have too many good athletes, and are too deep at RB to lose every game. But - JON...
we have no home field advantage anyway. Can anyone say what our B1G home v road record is in Fitz era?
This is entertaining, well written. The pure fiction about Fitz being on the hot seat is laughable, though. He'll be the coach even after I'm dead.
I hope not, but I don't feel good about the direction of Portal/NIL for us and others of our ilk. We've always been sort of a novelty/curiosity in our conference/P5 even before the payouts started. Now what?
A super Ivy league? We already play Duke every season. How about these four for starters.
F no to the Service Academies. The triple option is a pain to play against and wrecks knees.
Baylor, to me, is a criminal program. There is no statute of Limitations on rape
Good point.
I believe those four should be invited to join the Ivy League (easy for me to say), then divide the conference in two divisions. Think of the joy of NU beating Harvard in something. NU would need to start a hockey program only to be creamed by Harvard and Cornell. It now appears that NU will have no chance, ever, at a national championship in football or basketball, much less a B1G championship. If it hasn't happened by now, given the recent changes in college sports, it ain't gonna. Why not play in a league that is fun more of the time than not, and against peers, not sem-pro teams. It's a new day, although the Ivies realized that 70 years ago when they determined not to be the minor leagues for professional sports.
Did Gary Barnett, in the final analysis, accomplish basically nothing? I know we can't be competitive playing win-with-defense deadly-dull-offense Fitzball with a bad defense. Either get a DC who's a star, or open up the offense, or both.
Ridiculous. I love ya @stpaulcat , but NU already “beats” Harvard at several things.
The teams led by Gary Barnett, Randy Walker, and Pat Fitzgerald each accomplished great things. And we have what we largely need to compete at a higher level as a result. Modern facilities, a proven recent track record of success, and a stadium renovation on the way.
What Barnett accomplished was truly astounding. The times are changing though, and given NU's shadow "dark ages" attitude toward major sports (I exclude our major donors' from that statement), that's not likely to happen again, but it doesn't really need to. We can probably hold on somewhere in the middle third of the conference indefinitely (that accounts for second last one year and second last the next). Snooze....
Maybe Purdue, but Illinois would make such a cut. Easy win for the big boys, yet a huge alumni base (largely concentrated in two large markets - Chicago and St. Louis) and one of the better academic schools left on the table ($$$).
