Maryland had a total of 105 yards against Michigan...
- Thread starter Vididiot
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we are getting thinner at some positions due to
injuries/and to the suspension. Just have to wait
to see who is available at time of that game.
injuries/and to the suspension. Just have to wait
to see who is available at time of that game.
UMs defense looks awesome. They did to UM what they've done to all their opponents. They started ruff but look out...they are for real. Don't judge Maryland harsely quite yet. They week before they looked good.
They had an even worse loss the week before (45-6 against WVU).
They looked just "ok" against a terrible USF 2 weeks ago.
They have 3 of the 5 worst losses in the conference so far this year. This is a very bad team.
Maryland had 326 yards against West Virginia.
Michigan held Maryland to 105 yards, which is the exact same number they held BYU to.
People just saw that first loss and thought it's the same UM but they lost on the road at Utah team that looks to be contending for a CFP position. Legit squad and to that, they still limited that high power offense. UM is one of the best D's if not the best D in the nation. Each week they are getting better and better. We'll see how things play out but the OSU vs UM game is going to be much more important than the OSU vs MSU game.
I don't think IU can afford to take any team for granted, including Maryland at their place. To do so is to invite defeat.
I don't IU can take any team for granted either, but if IU plays like it has for the past 2 weeks and Maryland plays like it has for the past 2 weeks, IU wins the game by 2-3 TDs.
That's one HUGE "if". IU hasn't played two good games back to back since Cameron. That is their #1 bogeyman. Beat Missouri, SEC champ, then lose to Rutgers. Consistent play is the issue. Havent done it yet under Wilson. Maybe Saturday?
We haven't played 2 great games back to back, but we just played our 3rd "good" game in a row. Now, WKU and Wake weren't great games, but they were definitely good, and both those teams are better than Maryland.
Play like we did against WKU and Wake, we beat Maryland by 7-10 points.
Play like we did against OSU, we beat Maryland by 20+
Play like we did against FIU and its close
Play like we did against SIU and we lose, but that game right now is looking like an aberration
Fact is the OSU game is the first game this season, all three phases of team played well at the same time. We came close but had not yet played as a whole. That's one...takes three to be a trend. That has not happened. Show three efforts in a row like Saturday, and it might mean more than a fluke. As a long time fan, I've seen us 4-0 many times, play OSU tough and blow the remainder of the schedule. Until we repeat Saturdays performance a couple more times in the Big Ten, those early games won't mean nuts.
We've only been 4-0 (and competitive in the 5th) 3 times in the last 70 years, and went to bowl games in each year.
We've been 3-0 or 3-1 a couple of times and blew the season, but in those years, we typically beat several terrible MAC teams (terrible even by MAC standards and much worse than WKU/Wake) to get there and/or got absolutely demolished our first conference game.
Yes, WKU/Wake weren't complete games, but were close enough to be good. Play like that the rest of the year and we get 7 wins.
Repeat the OSU performance several times and we might do something crazy like 10-2
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Many times was too strong, but Mallory got us to bowls with his preconference patsies and record. All else I said remains the same.
ANY times is too strong. Like I said, we've only ever been 4-1 (and competitive in the loss) 3 times in the last 70 years, went to a bowl each time.
Mallory still needed 3 conference wins to make a bowl and he did that every year between 86-94, and had 5 or 6 conferences wins 4 times during that span. (3 wins gets us to the 7 I'm claiming) In fact, Mallory only ever swept the pastie non-conf three times in his entire tenure, and only twice in his 6 bowl years. The one time that Mallory failed to make a bowl with a good start was his second year and we got stomped by a mediocre OSU in the 5th game of the year.
Next closest years were Lynch's last 2, but we had to play some absolutely TERRIBLE teams (1-11 Akron, 2-10 WKU) to get to 3-1. A 4-8 Ark St team was the best that we beat in those 2 seasons - I'd classify FIU as a better win. And in both years, we were beat badly in our 5th game of the year.
And while we haven't played murderer's row this year, and as sad as it might be to say, after Missouri last year, Oregon in 2004, and a few of our Kentucky wins, WKU and Wake are easily 2 of our best non-conf wins in decades. Basically, in some of our "decent-looking" starts, we weren't beating the level of teams we have this year.
Could we fall completely flat with the remaining schedule? SURE, but if you are trying to use IU's history to suggest that, it just doesn't work out.
Disagree....three times in times in the last half of his tenure is a better reference, setting a higher expectation.. Beware reading too much into those stats. History is IUs only evidence of the future. Your speculating on the future by trying to compare past teams to present. Youd have to look at not just who we played but what kind of season those teams went on to have. WKU and Wake are not good teams. Where do you get that?... The point is that preconference games don't indicate much of anything about the way the B10 will go. Neither does playing OSU well...unless we follow it with an equally good game which we've not done in a couple of decades. Nothing in those stats changes that. I understand what your trying to do...but beware building a house of cards from assumptions. Now, having said that I would like to see us beat history and do what its been trying to do seemly forever...play well, win or lose, in every B10 game. I've havent seen it happen since Corso..but hey I've only been watching for 36 yrs. Good debate here...I like your style.
You were the one that brought up IUs history, and I was just saying that even history doesn't support what you were suggesting.
Also, WKU is a good team, Wake isn't "good" but isn't terrible and is still better than 3 remaining teams on our schedule.
Yes, we have typically played poorly after our best performances, but if we can maintain at least the Wake performance level, we will win 3 more games this year. Will we maintain it? I don't know, but I feel like we have a good shot to do it
