You haven't been listening to people. They're not as upset about the win/loss record but by the effort and lack of fundamentals. Wisconsin is another team that's gone in the crapper, largely because of injuries, but they're generally keeping people in front of them on defense, and I haven't seen where their players have been walking back on defense as the other team scores, as both Mason and Murphy have been observed doing in recent games.
Oh, I've been listening/reading all of the bs.
Maybe you aren't listening to me and others trying to point out that a team with so little to work with, is easier to defend against, is easier to score upon, is easier to outrun and out hustle, especially as the games progress and OUR team gets tired and worn out. Especially when some of our players are playing hurt, and whose injuries and pain they suffer through while playing slows them down?
Maybe you aren't listening when I and others point to OUR team playing mostly road games, and with very few days in between games, and absolutely zero home games played back to back so that the team doesn't have to travel. Playing one home game sandwiched between 2 road games doesn't mean the players don't have to travel as much?
Has there been a team that has traveled as much as us? 6 road games over an 8 game stretch?? First 5 games of those games over an 11 day period?
OSU played 4 home games in a row prior to their road game vs Purdue. Wow, must be nice.
OSU has played 8 conf games at home, 1 at a neutral site and 5 on the road, the first 3 of those road games being @UW, @Iowa & @ Rutgers. The 4th was @ NW.
Their toughest game, the road game vs Purdue, they got to play those 4 home games in a row just prior to that game.
IU's played an easy schedule, as has Nebraska.
UMn's schedule has them playing the bottom 6 teams just 6 times, but the top 8 teams 12 times.
Even though McBrayer played in most of those games, he was playing in a lot of pain, and was visibly slowed down by it, and not even allowed to practice between games. Either was Coffey.
So lets talk about practices. Who did they get to practice against?
A team with 1 or 2 injuries at least has 10-12 scholarship players left with which to practice with, 2 teams of 5 practicing against each other.
A team of just 7 or 8 or even 9, needs what? Several walk-ons to make practices work?
Not all of our opponents can be small balled like we did to Michigan.
WE ARE STARTING, our 12th best player, and another who might only be 9th or 10th best and a 3rd who was 7th best, at best, coming into the season. Some will claim he is better than 7th now, but we just can't know that, now can we?