[NU Sports] One week from today....

[cherron604 at aol.com]

This season was going to be tough, even before the coaching change
 
New OC, new QB (BB was so experienced with this offense, there would have to be a fall-off, with whoever replaced him), low-ranked defense.
 
New head coach just makes it that much more difficult.
 
The Miami game should be a good one, Vegas has us -3, but Sagarin has Miami -2.  Night game, small stadium, lots of emotion and underdog conference vs. BCS would tend to warn of one of those trap games...has anyone heard what kind of officiating crew will be there ?
 
Right now, we would seem to have 4 'likely' wins - New Hampshire, Eastern Michigan (awful), at Nevada and Illinois.  Also, 5 'likely' losses -  at Penn State, at Wisconsin, at Michigan, at Iowa and hosting Ohio State.
 
If 6-6 is the goal, that means we have to take 2 out of 3 in the remaining games - at Miami, host Purdue and host Michigan State.
 
5-7 would represent a good coaching job, 6-6 would represent a very good coaching job.
 
Also - it is my understanding that the NCAA will allow 6-6 teams to be bowl-eligible as long as the conference has sufficient tie-ins.  Since the Big Ten has 7 tie-ins, do we have to finish in the top 7 to guarantee bowl-eligibility ?  If we go 4-0 non-conference 2-6 conference, will that be sufficient ?  or will there be 7 conference teams with better records ?
 
Chuck Herron   Tech '85
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