Yes and No
+1. It is also why Kill wanted UNC off the schedule - to avoid a physical game that had a higher likelihood to create injuries... not because he thought we would lose like so many on here incorrectly preach. Kill was right to get out of UNC. Teague was a tool for scheduling TCU in their place. Not because we went 0-2, but because the physical game in week 1 has had a very negative impact on the rest of our season thus far.
The greatest impact from the TCU game was losing it. We invested all winter, spring and summer to beating TCU and came up short. That to me is the negative impact. Would I have scheduled it? Not in football. Basketball, you need tough games sprinkled in to mentally prepare for the grind of 18 tough conference games...even then not the first game. Football? No, injuries are definitely more common versus higher competition...plus bowl eligibility etc.
But we did have the game scheduled and with it came positives: By practicing to prepare to defend TCU's no huddle we developed a no huddle offense we did not have before. The players also worked harder than any other summer preparing for the TCU challenge. We got more publicity and buildup for the season than any time in recent memory. This has us playing sold out games.
Had we beaten Troy in game one, in my opinion there is no way are playing to sold out crowds of Minnesota fans. The attention on Gopher football is at it's highest because of TCU getting people's attention.
Plesek, Duke, Campion, Lauer, Bjorklund, Jones, and others were all hurt before the TCU game. Didn't we only have one injury during the TCU game? Too lazy to look it up...disagreeing the game took a physical toll or that TCU is physical. They are fast. They are skilled and play at a higher level offensively than we do but I don't see them as physical. The toll was losing the game...we did not intend to lose the game.
I agree about not scheduling North Carolina. For the reason you stated for sure, but because losing a non conference game puts more pressure on becoming bowl eligible which in turn creates more injuries because just the feel is different...the pressure to win... Recruiting is going to suffer big time if a team is not bowl eligible. Just some thoughts...agree with your ideas mostly.
