Minny, PSU, MD, and NW. We are 9-5. Could easily be 13-1. Can only imagine.
Sure, each of the losses is a woulda shoulda coulda. But I think you can only look at the most recent one, the Northwestern game on the road as a "what if" since had also just come off a comeback road win at Lincoln three days prior. They dug themselves a huge hole again at NW, got it to OT, and then lost on the final shot to win it. That's the one that slipped out of their hands. And coming up short may have been the final straw for this team and has helped fuel them for the past 3 games (and hopefully further).
That night at halftime in Evanston, the calendar having turned to February, something changed mentally with this team. There were only so many games remaining in front of them on the schedule to overcome the out of conference stumbles and make a push for March. Seems like something clicked in Paul as he took a massive leap forward in deciding he was not going to just let the game come to him, rather he was going to have to assert himself as one of the team leaders and take the bull by the horns.