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Fitz #4

N

NJCat

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2016
21,391
1,559
113
Collegefootballnews ranked all Div. coaches on their 2018, and my man Fitz ended up #4, just behind Dabo and ahead of Brian Kelly. Great recognition for the B1G COTY.

4. Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern
2017 Final Coach Ranking: 21
2017 Record: 9-5

Good luck figuring out how Northwestern won nine games. The Wildcats started out 1-3 with an embarrassing loss to Akron as part of the rough run, but they pulled off an all-timer of a comeback to beat Nebraska, stomped on Wisconsin, and survived at Iowa to win the Big Ten West. Forget the final score – just getting to the Big Ten Championship was special. Beating Utah in the Holiday Bowl sealed the season.

https://collegefootballnews.com/201...30-head-coaches-how-good-were-their-seasons/6
 
H

Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
37,558
3,040
67
Turnovers obviously played a huge role in the wins vs. Iowa and Utah, and the home loss to Akron. Duke flat out beat us. Ohio State too. We really had no business beating Nebraska down 2 scores with 3 minutes to go. Michigan and ND were effectively late game, single-possession games. The ability to not make mistakes, and force opponents in mistakes was a big factor in games where talent was similar.
 
P

pawildcat_rivals209725

Senior
Sep 15, 2006
12,698
996
0
Hungry Jack said:
Turnovers obviously played a huge role in the wins vs. Iowa and Utah, and the home loss to Akron. Duke flat out beat us. Ohio State too. We really had no business beating Nebraska down 2 scores with 3 minutes to go. Michigan and ND were effectively late game, single-possession games. The ability to not make mistakes, and force opponents in mistakes was a big factor in games where talent was similar.
Click to expand...

Needless turnovers are probably the most important stat in almost any game played with a ball. The BB team having only five turnovers was a big part of their win against Indiana this week. The best defense is always limiting your opponent's possession time. It certainly worked well in the AFC championship game where Mahomes didn't even see the field in OT thanks to the NFL's inane overtime system.
 
S

SciCat_rivals

Sophomore
Mar 7, 2005
1,848
185
0
Hungry Jack said:
Turnovers obviously played a huge role in the wins vs. Iowa and Utah, and the home loss to Akron. Duke flat out beat us. Ohio State too. We really had no business beating Nebraska down 2 scores with 3 minutes to go. Michigan and ND were effectively late game, single-possession games. The ability to not make mistakes, and force opponents in mistakes was a big factor in games where talent was similar.
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Had no business beating Nebraska? Last time I checked, games lasted 60 minutes or more. Every second counts.
 
H

Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
37,558
3,040
67
SciCat said:
Had no business beating Nebraska? Last time I checked, games lasted 60 minutes or more. Every second counts.
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Nebraska's win probability topped out at 98.2% with a Thorson incompletion on 1st and 10 from the 16 with 1:54 to go.
 
Z

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
3,651
277
83
Nebraska and Akron game results were equally unlikely. They are what they are, and the article captioned them fairly imo.

I don't think @Hungry Jack was meaning to downplay the victory; it was one of the great comebacks we've ever had. We made every play, and Nebraska made none of them.

Either way, most important thing about this season is how the team bounced back from a 1-3 start.

Ran the table in the West and fought Ohio State hard. That's all you can ask for, and it was Fitz's best coaching job to date.


I'd also argue that McCall was excellent throughout the season. We had 3-4 different offensive gameplans during the season: the first to handle CT rejoining the team on a play count, the second to handle the situation post-Larkin as we become an all-passing team, the third to handle the emergence of Bowser as CT struggled, and then the game plan for the final 2 games where we tried to put it all together and succeeded for the most part in the 2nd half of those games.

Not sure our offense has ever featured as many changes in a single season as it did this one.
 
P

phatcat_rivals223240

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2001
18,914
1,061
113
[/QUOTE]
I don't think @Hungry Jack was meaning to downplay the victory; it was one of the great comebacks AKRON ever had. Akron made every play, and Northwestern made none of them.
[/QUOTE]

Perspective
 
H

Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
37,558
3,040
67
zeek55 said:
Nebraska and Akron game results were equally unlikely. They are what they are, and the article captioned them fairly imo.

I don't think @Hungry Jack was meaning to downplay the victory; it was one of the great comebacks we've ever had. We made every play, and Nebraska made none of them.
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#getsit

I was at the Nebraska game. I was pretty happy that the win probability flipped over completely in the space of a few minutes. My friend in attendance with me, a Nebraska alum, was not so happy. He looked physically ill after the game. I was not sure if I should take him to the hospital, or to the bar.
 
Purple Pile Driver

Purple Pile Driver

All-Conference
May 14, 2014
27,757
3,064
113
Hungry Jack said:
#getsit

I was at the Nebraska game. I was pretty happy that the win probability flipped over completely in the space of a few minutes. My friend in attendance with me, a Nebraska alum, was not so happy. He looked physically ill after the game. I was not sure if I should take him to the hospital, or to the bar.
Click to expand...
Don’t worry the Nebraska fans have issued a Frost Warning so your friend will not get physically ill for the next 30 years.
 
H

hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
37,784
1,299
113
Fitzphile said:
Collegefootballnews ranked all Div. coaches on their 2018, and my man Fitz ended up #4, just behind Dabo and ahead of Brian Kelly. Great recognition for the B1G COTY.

4. Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern
2017 Final Coach Ranking: 21
2017 Record: 9-5

Good luck figuring out how Northwestern won nine games. The Wildcats started out 1-3 with an embarrassing loss to Akron as part of the rough run, but they pulled off an all-timer of a comeback to beat Nebraska, stomped on Wisconsin, and survived at Iowa to win the Big Ten West. Forget the final score – just getting to the Big Ten Championship was special. Beating Utah in the Holiday Bowl sealed the season.

https://collegefootballnews.com/201...30-head-coaches-how-good-were-their-seasons/6
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Except it was 2018
 
H

hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
37,784
1,299
113
Hungry Jack said:
#getsit

I was at the Nebraska game. I was pretty happy that the win probability flipped over completely in the space of a few minutes. My friend in attendance with me, a Nebraska alum, was not so happy. He looked physically ill after the game. I was not sure if I should take him to the hospital, or to the bar.
Click to expand...
Didn't that just give you the warm fuzzies???
 
D

Deeringfish

All-Conference
Jun 23, 2008
21,167
1,396
63
Hungry Jack said:
#getsit

I was at the Nebraska game. I was pretty happy that the win probability flipped over completely in the space of a few minutes. My friend in attendance with me, a Nebraska alum, was not so happy. He looked physically ill after the game. I was not sure if I should take him to the hospital, or to the bar.
Click to expand...
Unless you are a doctor you should take him to a bar. Stay in your lane, Man.;)
 
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