Undone

Agreed, it does seem pretty unlikely (working off of only what we think we know right now). If we beat Wisconsin and Michigan but lose two other conference games (probably to Ohio State and Michigan State), let's then say that Wisconsin loses to Michigan and Penn State. We win the tiebreaker obviously in that scenario as we both have two conference losses but have the head-to-head advantage. Do I think either thing plays out that way even if we beat Michigan? Very possible, but the odds seem considerably less than 50%.

I'm back to the topic now. I have a serious question for you that I'd like you to actually answer honestly. Would you rather have Bo or Frosty coaching this team right now in 2018? ...and now you've taken me back off topic! That might need to be my new avatar. So good!

Can't it be both?

Agreed. It is funny...

I get it. You don't have a sense of humor. That's forgivable.

Let's append something to the bolded sentence and make this revision: Bo was a hard coach and coached with fire that was given seven years and showed he constantly choked in the moments it mattered to get this team to championship level football.

There is essentially no chance that's true. Please do tell, who said this. Frost said two hours ago that he's a game time decision for this Saturday.

I hope everyone realizes that it's an "Ironic Bo." It's Bo in a typical Bo moment. It's not pro-Bo. LOL.

Anyway... It's fun to hear Dr. Tom's analysis of the offensive line and the defense's intensity. I wasn't worried about our offensive line at all headed into this season. But I was very worried about both defensive scheme and defensive effort. Our game against Colorado pretty much eradicated those concerns for me. The way our linebackers are being used by Chinander and the way they played in that game should give this team a chance to win some games we weren't expected to win coming into the season.

Oh, for sure. It's fun for me, too. I didn't mean that it's pointless to even talk about Bo in general. What I meant by "pointless" specifically is that if Bo had won a conference title in 2015, for example, he might have been given some leeway to stay on longer than he did. But when I compare what I believe to be his ceiling and Frost's ceiling, my opinion is that Frost's ceiling is much higher. So for that reason, Bo's success during that stretch might have actually not allowed Frost to come in. And since I don't believe Bo would have ever been capable of winning a National Championship (whereas I believe Frost is), I'm glad things played out the way they did.

2015 was an interesting year, schedule-wise, because the only teams we played from the East were Michigan State and Rutgers. Also, Wisconsin probably had its worst team of the past five seasons. So schedule-wise it was about as good a year as any for Bo to have finally broken the conference title drought. Michigan State bested Ohio State to get to Indy. Bo had matched up well against Michigan State. It would have been cool to have finally broken the conference title drought that year, but I wouldn't trade any of those hypotheticals for bringing Frost in this season. And that's why discussing Bo at this point seems so especially pointless.

Assuming that Martinez winds up at the end of this season relatively healthy and we reload pretty well from graduating Foster, Farmer, and Conrad, this offense is going to crush teams. And this defense is going to crush teams. Next year is the year.

... The outcome of the fourth quarter against Colorado doesn't change my mind one way or the other about where I think we're at for this season. If we had won 35-27 instead of losing 33-28 it wouldn't make me feel any different about where I think we'll wind up. But next season, we'll go 10-2 and compete strongly for our first conference title in 20 years.

If we beat Michigan do I think we win the West? I still say "no," based on the fact that our remaining scheduling when compared to Wisconsin's remaining schedule favors Wisconsin having fewer conference losses by the end of the regular season. But if we beat Michigan, this program will have built a huge head of steam that will launch this thing into high gear in general.

Nice, thank you. Looking forward to reading through that.

I'm very upset that you beat me to this comment. But I +1'd you anyway.

Is he maybe not as fast as fans had hoped? Who knows? If he finds holes really well and picks up first downs constantly but occasionally gets tracked down by a safety, that's probably the last thing I'm worried about for this season.

You might not be making the point you think you're making. The results of both games were pretty much identical - giving up what should have been a sealed-up win late in the fourth quarter. But the trajectory of the two teams after both of their first games look very different. *Edit* Specifically, in 2015 you had a QB that (I'm really sorry to say) had already reached his potential. You had a staff that had no interest in pushing the players as well as possible in the realm of strength & conditioning. And you had a head coach that really didn't have that competitive drive to be the best there is. And I'm not just saying that in hindsight; I'm talking about the attitude towards winning games that Riley had going into that first season. At any rate...that's all water under the bridge at this point. Shame on me for talking about past coaches.

Yes, Hop Cat is one of the best places out of the newer scene options. Definitely recommend it.

Exactly. Then you factor in an 18 year old, true Freshman QB that hasn't played in a live game environment in two years who throws for a 75% completion percentage and rushes for 117 yards. The mind boggles at how good this team could be. I feel like a lot of the above was incorrectly shoved aside by a good portion of the fan base because of how the last possession by each team went down. It honestly shouldn't.

Mildly curious about which nuts will be cut and how.

It's unfortunately still there. By the way, those stiletto heel boots in your profile picture look like the perfect footwear for walking to that fridge in the background, grabbing three Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, pouring them all into a different, empty stilleto heel boot, and pounding them as fast as possible.

I told you that I could get you those amphetamines, Moiraine...

Here's another play I loved seeing in the first quarter - an oddly-paced motioning set into a sort of diamond formation where it's a designed pitch to Lindsey. Should play from the right point. Watch Farniok look for his assignment and seal the block: