[NU Sports] The "quota game" ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Got to see most of the "quota game" (i.e. - we have to show PSU and NU once according to contract so let's get it out of the way midday on New Year's Eve against each other :) ) today ... disappointing loss for the Cats. Particularly after being up so big and then just looking like they were spent.

I can see some small steps this year, but not enough to do any real damage. Especially with the Big Ten this year. The announcer had a pretty good line when he talked about how no one really has anyone from the Big Ten as a threat for the Final Four, but they're #2 in the RPI for a reason - no dominant team, but a lot of good ones this year. Aside from Indiana, it's hard to see many Ws on the slate.

I do hope we can keep these freshmen together to see if they progress as they grow, though. We've had trouble keeping kids from transferring before, and with all the early departures in the NCAAs today, if you can get a nucleus to stay four years together, you can really overcome a lot in terms of talent gaps with experience.

On the gridiron, another bad day for the Big Ten in the Insight Bowl. But it was interesting how Minny seemed more interested in using the bowl game to work on their new offense for the outdoor stadium rather than really try and win. I guess it really wasn't a huge bowl game and can help in the long run, but Brewster was pretty stubborn in weening the Gophers off the spread and working on that ground game for the cold weather games next year outdoors. Hopefully he's that stubborn next year when he comes to Evanston and keeps running up the gut three times and punting all day. :)

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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