Personally I saw enough to make me feel like this team has the ability to make a deep run. They turned a corner on Saturday and now I think we have some momentum heading into Nebraska. Momentum of positive execution and mitigation of mistakes. Were there a couple of loose ends, sure , but overall a much better performance all around .. maybe sans the kicking game ... not sure what happened there maybe just shaking the cobwebs off from being hurt .. that said I'm much more confident in this team than I was a week ago. Now let's go steam roll the Huskers
maybe sans the kicking game
Not worried about this until it carries over for more than a game. Nico has been so good and so consistent, figuring those misses in to his overall performance barely changes percentages. I remember seeing Steve Alford miss 2 free throws once, and that didn't make me think he might've lost it as a shooter. Until I see it again, that's how I'm looking at it.
Personally I saw enough to make me feel like this team has the ability to make a deep run. They turned a corner on Saturday and now I think we have some momentum heading into Nebraska. Momentum of positive execution and mitigation of mistakes. Were there a couple of loose ends, sure , but overall a much better performance all around .. maybe sans the kicking game ... not sure what happened there maybe just shaking the cobwebs off from being hurt .. that said I'm much more confident in this team than I was a week ago. Now let's go steam roll the Huskers
Personally I saw enough to make me feel like this team has the ability to make a deep run. They turned a corner on Saturday and now I think we have some momentum heading into Nebraska. Momentum of positive execution and mitigation of mistakes. Were there a couple of loose ends, sure , but overall a much better performance all around .. maybe sans the kicking game ... not sure what happened there maybe just shaking the cobwebs off from being hurt .. that said I'm much more confident in this team than I was a week ago. Now let's go steam roll the Huskers
I agree with everything you said here, but to me this year appears to be a far bigger challenge.
Last year's final 12 teams:
1.IU; 2.GA; 3.OSU; 4.TT; 5.Oregon; 6.Ole Ms; 7.A&M; 8.OK; 9.ND; 10.Miami; 11.Bama; 12.BYU
This year:
1.TX; 2.GA; 3.ND; 4.Miami; 5.OSU; 6.Bama; 7.IU; 8.BYU; 9.Ole Ms; 10.LSU; 11.TT; 12.Utah
Last year, going into the playoffs, I really felt that only IU, GA, and OSU had a reasonably good chance to win the NC. If you'll recall, Bama lost by 2-3 TDs the week before the Rose Bowl. And Miami had been up & down all year. Not too many people expected them to beat OSU. Last year, going into the playoffs, I felt like the only team that might really be better than us was GA. And I would not have been surprised by a close loss to OSU. I would not have been shocked by a loss to Bama or Oregon, but I would have been very surprised.
This year, I feel that 5/6 of the teams ahead of IU have as good or better chance to win the NC as IU.....namely everyone other than TX. Texas is, to me, this year's version of Texas Tech. I feel that one or more of GA, Miami and/or Alabama could even be near-great teams....it's really too early to tell. And that games against OSU and ND would be pick ems. LSU COULD be this year's version of Miami, but they have a Sam Leavett problem similar to Miami's Beck problem last year.
I think it would be very helpful to our chances of a repeat were we able to secure a 1st round bye. LSU or Ole MS would be difficult games.
@mushroomgod Way too early for me to even start thinking about the CFP. IU is a good to very good team but as mentioned they still have a lot of things to clean up. The biggest challenge yet is coming up this weekend and then the next, so let’s see where we after that. IU could have lost at least a couple of those games last year with a bad call of some other small error and been in a completely different position so I can’t even think about CFP until well, maybe before PU week.
Personally I saw enough to make me feel like this team has the ability to make a deep run. They turned a corner on Saturday and now I think we have some momentum heading into Nebraska. Momentum of positive execution and mitigation of mistakes. Were there a couple of loose ends, sure , but overall a much better performance all around .. maybe sans the kicking game ... not sure what happened there maybe just shaking the cobwebs off from being hurt .. that said I'm much more confident in this team than I was a week ago. Now let's go steam roll the Huskers
Nico had the yips for a few minutes that is for sure
Personally I saw enough to make me feel like this team has the ability to make a deep run. They turned a corner on Saturday and now I think we have some momentum heading into Nebraska. Momentum of positive execution and mitigation of mistakes. Were there a couple of loose ends, sure , but overall a much better performance all around .. maybe sans the kicking game ... not sure what happened there maybe just shaking the cobwebs off from being hurt .. that said I'm much more confident in this team than I was a week ago. Now let's go steam roll the Huskers
I agree with everything you said here, but to me this year appears to be a far bigger challenge.
Last year's final 12 teams:
1.IU; 2.GA; 3.OSU; 4.TT; 5.Oregon; 6.Ole Ms; 7.A&M; 8.OK; 9.ND; 10.Miami; 11.Bama; 12.BYU
This year:
1.TX; 2.GA; 3.ND; 4.Miami; 5.OSU; 6.Bama; 7.IU; 8.BYU; 9.Ole Ms; 10.LSU; 11.TT; 12.Utah
Last year, going into the playoffs, I really felt that only IU, GA, and OSU had a reasonably good chance to win the NC. If you'll recall, Bama lost by 2-3 TDs the week before the Rose Bowl. And Miami had been up & down all year. Not too many people expected them to beat OSU. Last year, going into the playoffs, I felt like the only team that might really be better than us was GA. And I would not have been surprised by a close loss to OSU. I would not have been shocked by a loss to Bama or Oregon, but I would have been very surprised.
This year, I feel that 5/6 of the teams ahead of IU have as good or better chance to win the NC as IU.....namely everyone other than TX. Texas is, to me, this year's version of Texas Tech. I feel that one or more of GA, Miami and/or Alabama could even be near-great teams....it's really too early to tell. And that games against OSU and ND would be pick ems. LSU COULD be this year's version of Miami, but they have a Sam Leavett problem similar to Miami's Beck problem last year.
I think it would be very helpful to our chances of a repeat were we able to secure a 1st round bye. LSU or Ole MS would be difficult games.
The week before the Rose Bowl, Alabama beat OU in Norman. Otherwise they would not have been in the Rose Bowl.
Miami lost 2 games in a span of 3 weeks, aside from that they kicked the shit out of everyone in the regular season. That's not really up and down in my book.
Texas' win over OSU is 10x any win TT had last year. Hell, their win over Tenn is 5x any win TT had last year.
@mushroomgod IU is difficult to judge, right now.
Lets make an Ohio State comp.
Ohio State, without question, has played a much more difficult schedule. And obviously that needs factored in. But they did lose one of those games. And didn't look overly dominant in the other one. What would IU have done at Texas and at Iowa? No way to know, but 1-1 seems fairly realistic.
IUs toughest game has been NW. I think they'll prove, by years end, that they're a B10 contending level team. Not saying they're gonna run the table or anything, but 9 or 10 wins would not surprise me, at all. I think they're better than Iowa, as an example, maybe by more than a little bit. IU gets very little credit for thumping a then "top 10" Illinois team last year, because they finished well outside that ranking. I suspect OSU will get less and less credit for the Iowa win as the year goes on, and IU will get more and more credit for the NW win.
The other B10 games... OSU struggled, for long stretches, at home against a bad Illinois team. And IU dominated a bad Rutgers team, on the road.
I think the logos on the helmets are still influencing these early season rankings. As has been mentioned on here, and by many national pundits... if UGA, Texas, UND, OSU, probably a decent amount of other teams were defending a national championship, had a quarterback like Hoover, had other transfers like Nick Marsh, got back all conference level guys like Daley and Wyatt... there'd be zero question what their ranking would be.
What happens to their ranking if they beat Nebraska, and then beat OSU? And they look better beating OSU than Texas did? They'll leap frog everyone and be number 1, right? Of course they won't. Texas, ND, Georgia, will all stay ranked above IU as long as they remain undefeated.
We're improving in every aspect (kicking aside). Just keep getting better every day. Continue stacking Ws.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan.
POTFB
@iunorth - The biggest difference is when a perceived bad SEC team beats or plays a close game to a top SEC team, the pundits dont punish the good team, they just elevate the bad team. Take Florida for example.
However, when a perceived bad B1G team beats or plays a good B1G team close (ala Northwestern vs IU), then the perceived bad team simply weighs down the good team. They are quick to give lower tiered SEC teams CFP qualifications off one win but will brutally punish a B1G team for the same.
yeah I certainly believe it was likely due to being injured and out for some period of time. He's earned enough equity to give him the benefit of the doubt
Remember the first kick by McAteer, total shank job. The look on Cig's face, lol . McAteer recovered to kick many right down the middle.
It's hard to believe how good Nico has been. Felt like we got lucky getting him, except I know Cig's recruits aren't by luck.
Nico was here before Cig. He is an Allen holdover. Glad to have himRemember the first kick by McAteer, total shank job. The look on Cig's face, lol . McAteer recovered to kick many right down the middle.
It's hard to believe how good Nico has been. Felt like we got lucky getting him, except I know Cig's recruits aren't by luck.
Oh, durp! Didn't remember that. TY! (Good job Tom Allen on the recruiting.)Nico was here before Cig. He is an Allen holdover. Glad to have him
Had to check 2023 stats. Man, I didn't even remember Chris Freeman! But now I remember a bit of hand wringing over whether we would be in good shape the next year after he left. We were...
"Logos on the helmet" is the exact thought I was trying to associate with the rankings. My belief about the Buckeye/Texas game is OSU lost the game way more than Texas won. Ryan had them prepared for a battle but he wasn't prepared to hold a big lead. His failing. Cignetti takes a better process to game planning details. It's a business trip. My opinion is Nebraska is in an inferior position even at home.