BIG ERN said:
Gotta give him a lot of credit. Had all the sanctions and players leaving, and his team is still playing solid. At the end of the day we are more talented and the game is at home. I don't see a problem here....McGloin can't scramble.
True...but how many times this season have we played teams that we out-matched and out-classed on paper close? Let's see, we've got:
-UCLA
-Wisconsin
-Northwestern
-Michigan State
All four teams that, on paper, we run circles around. And all four games in which multiple board members went around saying we're going to blow 'em out of the water...
I have a feeling that this week's game against Penn State will be more of the same--we'll shoot ourselves in the foot, and make a spectacular 4th quarter comeback attempt. Problem is, Penn State is resilient and disciplined enough to quell any sort of resurgence by our team...
Do I think we'll win? Yes. But it may be closer than people think, especially in the 4th.
UCLA probably stands but I think it's now pretty obvious that they are better than expected and we weren't as good as we hoped.
Wisconsin got their points after one big play, a fumble on our 23 yard line, a roughing the kicker penalty that kept a drive alive and a fumble on our 13 yard line. Not exactly running up and down the field on our defense - 295 total yards, 1.4 yards per rush.
Northwestern scored after a fumble on our 14 yard line, a shanked punt, one big play, and another drive where they took over near mid-field. 301 total yards - 3.3 yards per pass attempt.
Michigan St. scored on a drive featuring two pass interference penalties, one big play, one really good drive to start the second half where they settled for a field goal, and an INT ran back to our 38 yard line and assisted by a gift late hit. Bell did have 36 carries for 188 yards rushing but it included runs of 3,1,1,3,-1,2,3,1,2,2,1,3,1,0,1,2,-2,1,3,0,3, and 1 yard. That's 22 carries for 31 yards - not exactly gashing us. He had almost half his carries on three runs - 23,40, and 26 yards. If you get 36 carries your bound to break a couple but his other 33 carries netted 99 yards (3.0 ypc). Not a great day but not exactly terrible.
Obviously the defense had a few self-inflicted problems but many of the scores we've given up in those games were when the defense was put in a bad position through no fault of their own. In the last three games you listed (other than UCLA), the defense has given up a total of three TDs where the offense started on their side of their 45 yard line.
As has been stated, we've been our own worst enemy.