[NU Sports] What's the mood this week?

[Mike Nolan]

I am guardedly optimistic for the season, less optimistic perhaps for
this game due to Persa's still-unproven status.  

The next four weeks will be difficult, with road games against
Illinois and Iowa and home games against Michigan and Penn State.

The Big Ten has committments for 9 bowl games, right now the only
teams that looks unlikely to get to bowl eligibility are Minnesota
and Indiana.  Purdue's 2-1 but may have trouble finding 4 more
winnable games.  

ESPN's bloggers are currently pencilling us in for the Little Ceasars
Pizza Bowl in Detroit.

If we wind up at 6-6, we could be the odd man out if Purdue also gets to
6-6, especially if they notch up a win against a school like Notre Dame, 
unless one of the unaffiliated bowl games picks up a Big Ten school.

Seven wins might get us to a better bowl game.  Getting to 8 wins will
probably be a significant accomplishment in any season the way the Big Ten
is configured.  

Right now we're 2-1, to get to 6 wins we need to defeat Indiana, Minnesota
and Rice (all games in which we should be favored) plus one other win.

In terms of which games we are most likely to win, I'd rank the other 
games in this order at this point:

at Iowa
Michigan State
Michigan
at Illinois
Penn State
at Nebraska

I do not expect us to be favored in any of these games, we could easily
be double digit dogs in them all.  

I put Iowa at the top only because we've got a three game winning
streak in Iowa City.  I was tempted to put Illinois in second place,
but until I see how Persa performs I put it further down, below Michigan,
even with Robinson getting some Heisman chatter.

I think we'll all hold our breath the first few time he gets hit or takes off
in the open field on Saturday.

There is, however the Pam Ward factor to consider, since the Illinois
game is on ESPN2.  :-)

I put Penn State further down the list because they've seemed to own us
like we've owned Iowa.  Michigan State I put towards the top because, dammit,
we've blown too many leads against them, surely it's our turn, and
it's the home finale.  
--
Mike Nolan