[NU Sports] Season (was: Hoeppner)

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

>   OK Wildcat gang, I was the yahoo that forecasted a
> 56-10 Cat  win.  While 

Hey, some of us may have expected closer, but I think
we all expected victory. Hopefully we got all the
mistakes out last week.:)

> I've been a Cat fan since 1978, and the loss vs.
> Duke in  ...98, 99 by , what 
> was it, 157-6 or something like that, is the worst
> I've felt  until satuday.

Yeah - it felt a lot like that. Miami '95 was a punch
in the gut ... Wake '96 a bad case of deja vu and ASU
'05 an embarassing thumping ... but losing to a team
like Duke or UNH by a big margin just feels bad.

>    The question may be, what is a successful season?
>  I  would say 5-6 wins 

I'd echo that - especially with our schedule. I hear
pundit after pundit on TV yap on and on about how
"tough" and "challenging" Notre Dame's schedule is
this year. In reality, ND's schedule is **HALF** a Big
Ten schedule. If they were like the 11 teams in the
league, their schedule would STILL include trips to
Madison, Columbus and Iowa City instead of the three
service academies and UNC. Gimme a break, aside from
the Big Ten teams and USC, this is cupcake city for
the Domers! A mediocre schedule at best.

But I digress:) ... our schedule has so many big-names
that it's tough to look at it any other way than one
week at a time or you feel overwhelmed. Beat EMU!

>   I echo the sentiment of why Brewer has been
> relegated to the  bench.  I 
> figured hime to be a slotback/WR/QB ala Randle-El.  

Maybe get him in on some slash plays, but I think Fitz
knows that any QB change other than on gadget plays
might be a blow to Kafka's shaky confidence after last
week - and Kafka looks like he has the tools to be our
starting QB, so I don't want to damage the psyche.

>    Sutton/Jordan: In the second half, we were so
> discombobulated,  no one 
> knew who was doing what.  The poster who commented
> on inexperience  was right; it 
> was alearning experience for players and coaches
> alike.

Good point - the new OC needs to find his rhythm just
as the new QB needs to find his go-to receivers and
confidence. I like the mixup of Jordan and Sutton - or
even better, a 2-back backfield! - but to ignore #19
for a half is horrible unless he was injured.

>   Schedule/recruiting:Boston is still close enough
> to help with  recruiting 

Eh, PSU helps us get east coast press and we recruit
well nationally (we'll never get the blue chippers but
we have a good mix of kids from the sun belt along
with midwest). Until there is an incentive to do so by
the NCAA (i.e. schedule strength points), there's no
reason to schedule tough nonconference opponents for
teams in the Big Ten and SEC since they play such a
brutal schedule in league play (the kind of slate
where half of a league schedule gets called "brutal"
if it's Notre Dame playing it!). Why kill yourself and
be out of the bowl hunt before the league race begins?
No reward for the risk. It'd be fun for fans, but
makes no sense for the program. Especially when we
still struggle with the likes of Miami and UNH.

I think Fitz passes an early coaching test and gets
the team focused on the future this week and NU
rebounds.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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

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