[NU Sports] Our 2005 schedule in retrospect ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

As an NU fan excited about the team's sixth bowl
appearance in school history, I'm a bit dismayed that
our main topic for the past two weeks has been calling
for our coach's head after a 7-4 season.

As a teacher, however, I've read this grade discussion
with a bit more interest ... Walker certainly didn't
ace the 2005 season (not going for the kill early in
the PSU game bit us), but I'm amazed that anyone could
give the coach a failing grade.

Not only were expectations low at season's start (the
"experts" and many on the list) ... but they worsened
after the preseason injuries and the disaster in the
desert against (what was then a pretty good) ASU and
the heartbreak to PSU (who no one expected to win the
Big Ten back then). To get a 7-4 mark by season's end
against the #3 schedule in the country has to take
SOME coaching ability, no matter how much some folks
dislike the guy (and personally, I like a coach who's
no-nonsense and all football instead of one who loves
the camera on him, plays games in the press and likes
getting his picture taken around town).

But now that the season's over and ASU and NIU have
won necessary games this weekend, let's look back
again at that schedule, because as a teacher, you do
need to remember to grade on the level of test
attempted. And NU's 2005 test was pretty steep, making
the 7-4 mark even more remarkable.

We knew coming into the season that we had a tough
schedule - and even some fans like me who wear
purple-colored glasses were hard pressed to find six
wins. But preseason can be deceiving at times (look at
Notre Dame's schedule), so upon post-season review ...

* 7 of our 11 games were against teams going bowling
in 2005-06
* 4 of our 11 foes were top 10 at some point in the
season
* 8 of our 11 foes were top 15 at some point in the
season (MSU and Purdue peaked at #11, UW and ASU at
#14)
* 2 of our losses will come to BCS teams if OSU is
chosen
* 2 of our 4 non-bowl foes were teams ranked at one
point in the season (MSU, Purdue) and just missed a
bowl at 5-6.
* Our 2 "easy" games were the season opener against a
better-than-expected Ohio team and a final game
against rival Illinois.

So finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten with a 7-4
mark for that schedule clearly merits a passing grade.
I'd say a B for 2005.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


	
		
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