CDAGRIZ said:
PlayerRep said:
CDAGRIZ said:
For the sake of accuracy, last season was better because we went 7-4 with a loss to #7 Washington. This year was 6-5 with Drake.
Okay, but last year UM played 2 other total cupcake teams (Valparaiso and Savannah St), instead of UNI and WI. Big difference. The comparison is not UW to Drake. I say that UNI, WI and Drake (7-3 this year) are tougher than the 3 last year, as a whole.
I can get on board with that. I can get on board with almost anything that tells me we didn't go backwards when the record says we did.
I'm fine with saying UM went backward with the record, but UM went forward in terms of how hard the team played, improvement in tackling, more physical play, the attitude of the team, the improvement at the qb position, defensive scheme (I think), etc. The team is in a much better position to improve next year, and RTD. Some of these things I observed and discussed with others; some I was told by people involved in the program.
Learning to hold 4th quarter leads is correctable. Part of that will come with more experience and confidence. Yesterday, UM started 1 senior on offense (Curran), and had only 2 on the 2-deep (Lee). On D, UM started 3 on the defense (Buss, Shaw, Tilleman). Can't imagine that there is any other playoff or top 25 team with that few seniors.
While a win over the Cats yesterday and a shot at the playoffs would have been awesome, and was oh so close, I was quite pleased with the team/season this year, starting from what I saw the first game.