Reminder that @Oregon was always rated the 2nd toughest of our remaining games.

[zeek55]

Let's see how the team does against Iowa and Minnesota before jumping off the bandwagon.

Iowa looked amazing against Wisconsin today, but like Oregon, they've played poorly offensively in a half their games. Which Iowa we get matters more than anything else and being at home is a lot more favorable than being on the road like we were at Oregon.

Minnesota is the same story, their defense is stout like Iowa, but the offense is full of questions. Neither of them have the playmakers that Oregon had today.

None of these games will be easy; but outside of Ohio State, none of the other 3 teams features rosters as athletically talented as Oregon's..., and we're at home for 2 of them.

Okay, so we're probably not a playoff team. Can still get to 8 or 9 wins with this schedule, get to a good showcase bowl, and set ourselves up for next year with Chiles hopefully returning for another year of seasoning.

 

[Fanaticat98]

Let's see how the team does against Iowa and Minnesota before jumping off the bandwagon.

Iowa looked amazing against Wisconsin today, but like Oregon, they've played poorly offensively in a half their games. Which Iowa we get matters more than anything else and being at home is a lot more favorable than being on the road like we were at Oregon.

Minnesota is the same story, their defense is stout like Iowa, but the offense is full of questions.

None of these games will be easy; but outside of Ohio State, none of the other 3 teams features rosters as athletically talented as Oregon's..., and we're at home for 2 of them.

Okay, so we're probably not a playoff team. Can still get to 8 or 9 wins with this schedule, get to a good showcase bowl, and set ourselves up for next year with Chiles hopefully returning for another year of seasoning.

Iowa we’ve got a good chance at home. Illinois I think we can win at home too although they shut down Oregon. I don’t see us winning either of the away games at this point as they have good D’s and they will have enough on O to sit back on our ineffective pass rush until someone gets open and throw it over our DBs heads. Not to mention Minnesota has a good returner and we all know how our kick coverage is. We will be a road dog to Minnesota, think of that.

crazy this season started so well and now we may end up the same as Braun’s first year at 8 wins.

 

[AtlantaCat]

Right.

 

[zeek55]

Iowa we’ve got a good chance at home. Illinois I think we can win at home too although they shut down Oregon. I don’t see us winning either of the away games at this point as they have good D’s and they will have enough on O to sit back on our ineffective pass rush until someone gets open and throw it over our DBs heads. Not to mention Minnesota has a good returner and we all know how our kick coverage is. We will be a road dog to Minnesota, think of that.

crazy this season started so well and now we may end up the same as Braun’s first year at 8 wins.

We'll still be a 2 or 3 point favorite against Minnesota even on the road. Losing to Oregon on the road won't affect our analytics much (most analytics still have Oregon as a top 15 team due to their talent levels) so we won't get docked for losing to them on the road.

As far as scheduling goes, yeah 2023 was the last year of the Big Ten West schedule and a lot of the West teams underperformed that year (and we got Penn State/Maryland/Rutgers as our crossovers). That was the easiest schedule Braun will probably ever get as a coach (fortunate for him and us because he got to prove he could be HC and he's grown into it the past 3 years against tougher schedules)

This 18 team conference since 2024 has much harder schedules, going 8 wins against this year's schedule is a harder to obtain result (with potential for a 9th in a bowl game).

 

[Baz = Heisman]

Nobody really gives a **** about bowl games anymore - sadly - so I don’t think that really matters as a “showcase.” Plus, so many players will opt out anyways because it’s not about the teams. It’s about the I. Thanks NIL!

Oh and doubtful Childs gets another year. Do we have any scummy NU judges we can get though to get it for us?

 

[NU Houston]

Nobody really gives a **** about bowl games anymore - sadly - so I don’t think that really matters as a “showcase.” Plus, so many players will opt out anyways because it’s not about the teams. It’s about the I. Thanks NIL!

Oh and doubtful Childs gets another year. Do we have any scummy NU judges we can get though to get it for us?

Both Chiles and Wilde should have another year of eligibility under the new rules. No lawsuits or friendly judges needed.

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

Playing Oregon at home is always a challenge. They had a lot of incentive to play well and they had a gritty game esp their qb passed well (maybe because he had so much time in the pocket.) We lost traction late in the 2nd quarter when it felt we could put the game away. Definitely mixed emotions about the loss but we did play well enough to win. Losses on defense seemed to highlight our issues with personnel depth. At this point we can’t match the semi-pro teams like Oregon and Ohio State to deal with our depth issues which have plagued the program forever. Still a great effort by the Cats against a top program given all the obstacles including a long trip to the West Coast. Never great to have to travel across time zones to play. Go Cats!

 

[zeek55]

Nobody really gives a **** about bowl games anymore - sadly - so I don’t think that really matters as a “showcase.” Plus, so many players will opt out anyways because it’s not about the teams. It’s about the I. Thanks NIL!

Oh and doubtful Childs gets another year. Do we have any scummy NU judges we can get though to get it for us?

I wish we had the 24 team playoff this year tbh. The big bowls will still matter somewhat this year though I agree that they don't matter as much and especially won't in the 24 team era starting next year. At that point it really is CFP or bust.

As mentioned above for Chiles and others, the new "5 seasons of competition over 5 years rule" would let them play another year.

 

[Baz = Heisman]

I wish we had the 24 team playoff this year tbh. The big bowls will still matter somewhat this year though I agree that they don't matter as much and especially won't in the 24 team era starting next year. At that point it really is CFP or bust.

As mentioned above for Chiles and others, the new "5 seasons of competition over 5 years rule" would let them play another year.

The 24 team CFP is insulting to a one great sport. You’re going to have 4 loss teams in. It’s pathetic. 12 right now is too much. We just reward mediocrity (G5 teams) and NOT every week matters (OSU loses, they’re still ok).

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Nobody really gives a **** about bowl games anymore - sadly - so I don’t think that really matters as a “showcase.” Plus, so many players will opt out anyways because it’s not about the teams. It’s about the I. Thanks NIL!

Oh and doubtful Childs gets another year. Do we have any scummy NU judges we can get though to get it for us?

You should probably pay enough attention while the team is winning and you’ve crawled into a hole that you know how much eligibility guys have left so when you come back to stir up **** once they finally lose a game that you make a bit of sense

 

[Baz = Heisman]

You should probably pay enough attention while the team is winning and you’ve crawled into a hole that you know how much eligibility guys have left so when you come back to stir up **** once they finally lose a game that you make a bit of sense

Bro, I’d pipe down. You literally support everything that’s ruined college football! Talk about being on the wrong side of history.

 

[Deeringfish]

The 24 team CFP is insulting to a one great sport. You’re going to have 4 loss teams in. It’s pathetic. 12 right now is too much. We just reward mediocrity (G5 teams) and NOT every week matters (OSU loses, they’re still ok).

For me the one upside of the 24 team playoff is the occational good team that has early injuries like NU this year. They for what ever reason reach their prime late and now have chance to perform. The down side is a poor team egts lucky and eliminates a better team.

 

[Figrating II]

NU played well enough to win most of the game. Too bad they were unable to close it with that weak 4th qtr.

OR O and QB showed up. Did NU ever get any pressure on the QB?

Was thinking before the game that NU has had very few drops, but seems there were several against OR and a couple missed screens.

NU still looking for that signature upset.

 

[JustGary]

I’m going to say sacrilege but really a great coaching jo by Dan Lanning. He had a team that just got knocked out of the college playoff talks, a quarterback that was playing confused, and a locker room that could easily have checked out. He saw his team come out flat and then he coached the hell out if them. He told Riola to just play free and throw the ball, he called plays that got the ball into the hands of their best players, and when momentum shifted toward them, he went for the kill choosing a TD try over an easy field goal.!The man can coach.

We got lost in the game. Their crowd allowed to roar that had to effect the psyche, the fact we were settling for field goals instead of pushing through for TD, the demoralized defense that could not wrap up that gave them big chunks, an offense that let their d-line take control, lineman that were just not disciplined and moved before the snap, and the inability to regroup and play to our potential. It’s disappointing but we need to learn from this, both coaches and players.

We are still a really good team that already changed the narrative. We just need to complete the story.

 

[JustGary]

NU played well enough to win most of the game. Too bad they were unable to close it with that weak 4th qtr.

OR O and QB showed up. Did NU ever get any pressure on the QB?

Was thinking before the game that NU has had very few drops, but seems there were several against OR and a couple missed screens.

NU still looking for that signature upset.

We never got close to Riola, except the late hit that wasn’t called.

 

[zeek55]

I’m going to say sacrilege but really a great coaching jo by Dan Lanning. He had a team that just got knocked out of the college playoff talks, a quarterback that was playing confused, and a locker room that could easily have checked out. He saw his team come out flat and then he coached the hell out if them. He told Riola to just play free and throw the ball, he called plays that got the ball into the hands of their best players, and when momentum shifted toward them, he went for the kill choosing a TD try over an easy field goal.!The man can coach.

We got lost in the game. Their crowd allowed to roar that had to effect the psyche, the fact we were settling for field goals instead of pushing through for TD, the demoralized defense that could not wrap up that gave them big chunks, an offense that let their d-line take control, lineman that were just not disciplined and moved before the snap, and the inability to regroup and play to our potential. It’s disappointing but we need to learn from this, both coaches and players.

We are still a really good team that already changed the narrative. We just need to complete the story.

All this is why it's hard to win on the road against high talented teams.

The teams that beat Oregon last month would have lost to them yesterday (i.e. Illinois).

Just look at how USC played at Wisconsin and then against Ohio State at home. It's like a totally different team. Ironically, I'm somewhat heartened by the fact that we haven't ever looked that lost and have mostly played up to competition or at a high level against low competition.

 

[NU'06er]

Nobody really gives a **** about bowl games anymore

I'm not sure you can say that as a universal truth. They've certainly been devalued by the expansion of the playoff, particularly for teams with national title aspirations.

But if Northwestern is playing in Florida on New Year's, that'll still be treated as a milestone by our program. (Maybe the argument is that it shouldn't be in order to advance our own ambitions, I dunno -- but regardless how we "should" feel about that kind of game, NU people will be happy about it, if I had to venture a guess...)

 

[NU'06er]

The 24 team CFP is insulting to a one great sport. You’re going to have 4 loss teams in. It’s pathetic. 12 right now is too much. We just reward mediocrity (G5 teams) and NOT every week matters (OSU loses, they’re still ok).

I do agree the 24-team playoff is unwarranted and clearly just a money grab.

All fun and games till someone's trying to pretend Iowa vs. SMU or its equivalent is worthwhile TV or in any way relevant to who the best team in the country is...

 

[Fanaticat98]

The Oregon game was partly as we’d feared, Lanning said in his pregame comments on the sideline he just wanted them to play football and make plays. That’s all it was, it didn’t seem like there was anything crazy they did, basically getting pass protection and waiting for Raiola to see an open receiver and throw it o we our DBs head. Plus their RBs getting 20 yards after 4 contacts.

Had they not fired their OC last week he probably would be trying too hard to force some gameplan and we probably would’ve won.

Had Adeyi made 5% extra effort to go up and meet that meatball sub Raiola threw on their TD drive before half, it’s probably a huge momentum killer, we score again and I doubt they recover after halftime.

second half offensive performance has been an issue in many of our games aside from Indiana, but has been explained away as not needing it due to aa significant lead.

However, there have been consistent comments by players and coaches even in our blowouts that they wanted to keep scoring but were dissatisfied that they didn’t (no reason a prolific Kelly offense shouldn’t have put up >50 on Ball State or > 40 on Penn State the way we were going). We saw that finally come back to bite us this weekend. Were we able to even get 75% of the first half output, and keep them from one TD drive because of it, we win 35-27.

 

[Deeringfish]

It's funny to me that before the season began, some people were moaning that our three ardest games were away making them nearly impossible. I had the opposite opinion, thinking, "Why waste the home field advantage against a team we won't beat" . As I look at the Indiana and Oregon games, I think I was wrong. Had those been home games NU could very well have won. This team is so much better than I had hoped. A very exciting season so far.

 

[Fanaticat98]

It's funny to me that before the season began, some people were moaning that our three ardest games were away making them nearly impossible. I had the opposite opinion, thinking, "Why waste the home field advantage against a team we won't beat" . As I look at the Indiana and Oregon games, I think I was wrong. Had those been home games NU could very well have won. This team is so much better than I had hoped. A very exciting season so far.

Had Oregon come to Evanston last week instead of Champaign, we probably would’ve beat them 42-7.

 

[DaCat]

Had Adeyi made 5% extra effort to go up and meet that meatball sub Raiola threw on their TD drive before half, it’s probably a huge momentum killer, we score again and I doubt they recover after halftime.

This. Adeyi had the ball in his hands, and the Oregon freshman just reached over and plucked the ball right out. That was probably the turning point.