Assuming you picked us to beat Wisconsin wouldn't have always came down to the Wisconsin game? Sounds like we are right where you thought we would be and where a lot of people thought we would be? And yet like in 2016 people are angry that we are where we thought we would be. I guess I don't get the anx of it all (As long as we beat Wisconsin)
Well, before I saw the team play, I was expecting we'd win the Wisconsin game. The game I didn't know which way it would go was Nebraska, which is why my prediction varied and why I phrased it the way I did in my post.
I can tell you I was in the minority when I thought we'd be 6-6/7-6. Most here were expecting things I did not - the challenges of a RS Freshman QB, a rebuilt O-line would work out, and that we'd finally been able to have more than one functional WR on the roster were finally solved after Bateman and Johnson left. I also expressed concern about the secondary given the changeover there (and was one of the few to raise it).
With Fleck's boast that there is no lid on the team this season, the high expectations on the board rose, particularly among the Flecktites, with only the Ohio State and Oregon games seen as likely losses.
Where the angst comes from is:
- How absolutely unprepared we've been in games we've won and lost.
- That outside of Drake proving we've got a different level of QB behind center we had:
- The o-line has been a mess, playing one single good game for 60 minutes.
- The receiving additions were not upgrades.
- The poor secondary play and a total regression on defense.
- The inability to have a functioning running game for the second year in a row (the cornerstone of Fleck's offensive philosophy
- A lack of progression in the OC and what can best be described as an overreach in the hiring of the DC.
- Fleck's public comments about not being able to compete with the big boys because we want to, when teams similar to us have put up more of a fight
- How thoroughly beaten by an Iowa program that we are on par with in terms of NIL, talent, and reality.
If we'd played like we did against Nebraska and were 6-5 at this point, losing to teams that beat us, I'd be excited about next year, and I think the general mood on the board would be better.
Instead, we've backed into a 6-5 record, are facing a worst-case scenario for a bowl game based on our results and "style" of play, and an offseason trying to address problems that are very similar to last offseason, but at least it doesn't include concerns over another new QB; it's not hard to get there.
