If that doesn't motivate our lads then nothing will.
Instead, going against normal operating procedure, they just had a walk through. What a message coming from the top. Couple that with the disrespect shown NIU by MF during the A&M post game presser.That was childish. There are a whole lot of isssues with this team but it all starts with the problem at the HC position. What sense is it to play any Iriish QB on the roster and expect results if the HC, OL, SP, and defense with their bend then break philosophyare all going to be the supporting cast? I am giving both coordinators and Riley a little room here because who the hell knows what control and decisions MF is making that would hinder any success from those three. Plus, did Riley play hurt last Saturday? If he diid, how hurt?
Is it possible this has been a little misunderstood. I thought when he said "I don't even know who we are playing this week," or words to that effect, he wasn't saying "NIU is too unworthy for me to notice," but rather, "I have been so engaged with this game, and with taking it all one game at a time, that I haven't looked that far ahead." Not that he was saying "NIU sucks so bad I don't even think about them." But maybe I am giving him too much credit.
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against Colorado was negated due to a bullshit clip call and ND ended up losing the game. Not that any of us are happy with a loss, but the NIU loss was really bad and unacceptable. Now ND will have to run the table. Not impossible, but highly unlikely especially with the QB and offense floundering right now, so any margin of error the team had, has already been used in only Week 2. I think most of us thought the team would most likely lose at least a game to one of the tougher opponents as it's difficult for anyone to go a full season undefeated, but NONE of us were expecting it to be to NIU.
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PJ Fleck could do that.
10 from end of 2015 to 2016 (year 1-2)
10 in 2018 (year 4)
7 then 5 (split by 1 loss) in 2021 (year 7)
13 in 2022 (year 8)
15 in 2023 (year 9)
So I would say if 5 is still the best we've seen from Freeman after year 3 (instead of say 8-10+) that's a big red flag.
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And that's just off the top of my head
The NIU game reminds me painfully about the 1990 Stanford game.
While that Stanford team was decent, we should have blown that team out by 30+ points, but we gave the game away. That 1990 team was flat-out loaded with NFL talent.
All we had to do was simply sit on the ball, but two lost punt return fumbles by Ricky Watters and one by Adrian Jarrell, kept giving them new life after the defense had stopped them cold. Two of our best players, Todd Lyght and Rocket, were hobbled with leg injuries, and Jason Palumbis looked like the second coming of Steve Walsh during that 2nd half.
Lyght was hampered for a stretch of several games, that concluded with the loss to Penn State that year. That "deep thigh bruise" was actually one that was complete with a nasty bone bruise as well, and after he took a hit on that same spot on his thigh, he was getting badly burnt in coverage.
Heck, we even had a chance to win the game with 36 seconds left in the game, but a dropped pass by Derek Brown in the end zone sealed a cruel fate for that day.
In the end, this was a game we should have won running away, and given our 2nd and 3rd teamers a lot of playing time, but because of all of those miscues, and shooting ourselves in the foot several times, we got beat in a terrible way.
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