Huskies need to step it up next Saturday.....post a win and get some mojo going

Yeah, if you lose that one (which, who knows how'll they'll come out next week), you can forget about winning the division and start to worry about the bowl situation.

I cannot see any hope of niu winning the west and I doubt we get bowl eligibility. I have watched 12 quarters of bad bad football. Must win? I'm over that

I wonder if losing the OSU and BC games hurt the confidence of the team going into conference play. NIU is usually able to take down at least one P5 opponent each season before taking on the MAC, and I think it helps pump the players up. Granted last year they beat Northwestern and still lost to CMU, but I don't think the performance was quite as abysmal that time. Its almost like dejavu, though. Lose to CMU, then we have Miami, EMU, and Balls Tate lined up to play.

Boy I miss Stingily too. He really wore down defenses in the second half of games. You could almost always count on him punching it in at the goal line, now I'm always betting on us getting stuffed and having to kick a field goal. We just don't have anyone we can really depend on to come through for us. No one stands out.

Better not rain.

(10-04-2015 12:11 AM)SiegInc Wrote:  I wonder if losing the OSU and BC games hurt the confidence of the team going into conference play. NIU is usually able to take down at least one P5 opponent each season before taking on the MAC, and I think it helps pump the players up.

I don't know if it is losing those games, but instead how they lost those games. I am not sure the players were really given a chance to win the OSU and BC games. NIU went away from what it does best, and I think you see now everyone's confidence sunk. That makes sense to me because essentially your subliminal message from the coaching staff is "We do not think you guys and what we do is good enough to get the job done". That has to be demoralizing.

I absolutely love Maxwell, and he has been such a great Huskie, I just feel like he is some actor right now that was casted for the wrong role that does not support his strengths. This team really misses guys like Semisch and Eakes.

This loss is not as devastating to me because I hit the panic button last weekend, my drinking night and season over realization came one week earlier. I really do not know how the wheels came off this thing so fast. I fear this could be kind of a dark period for NIU football going forward, and by dark I mean a couple of .500 seasons. In some ways I do think finally we may start to see the effects of being out-recruited by teams like Toledo and WMU. And the coaching situation, it will be a mess to figure out how to approach that, I have no idea what you would do at this point.

(10-04-2015 01:02 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  In some ways I do think finally we may start to see the effects of being out-recruited by teams like Toledo and WMU. And the coaching situation, it will be a mess to figure out how to approach that, I have no idea what you would do at this point.

That's one thing I've yet to be able to wrap my head around. We beat these teams year in and year out, win MACC's, and even make a BCS bowl appearance, yet you could argue the caliber of athletes coming to NIU is not as proportional to our success as it could be. Case in point, why has CMU handed our asses to us 2 years in a row? Sub-par coaching aside, its still possible for a team to win by a shear talent gap, one that I would expect to be greater between these two teams given their recent track records. I just don't get it.

5 wins out of 7 we will likely go Bowling. 4/7 with luck.
Win out and and NIU can win the MAC. Seems unlikely at present, however a team with 5 straight Detroit appearances cannot be counted out yet.
Can NIU snap correctly? Can Hagan make all his kicks within 35 yards? Can NIU stop fumbling turnovers?
If NIU cannot correct these mistakes then this will be the shortest season within the past 5 maybe 6 years.
The good news is that we may get to keep our coach.

(10-03-2015 11:55 PM)houstonhuskie Wrote:  I cannot see any hope of niu winning the west and I doubt we get bowl eligibility. I have watched 12 quarters of bad bad football. Must win? I'm over that

Totally agree. I thought CMU was a "must win".

Every Ball State game is a must win. Nothing worse then seeing those bastards celebrating a win on our field. Always have hated losing to them. Especially when you have a friend from Indianapolis coming in for the game. Step it up, Huskies.

Ahhh...The "Bronze Stalk" Trophy. If that doesn't rally the troops........

It will be interesting to see how this team plays at home. Its been 4 road games in row, that is playing into this as well. Playing at home might/could spark our boys...

(10-04-2015 10:36 AM)MileHighHuskie Wrote:  It will be interesting to see how this team plays at home. Its been 4 road games in row, that is playing into this as well. Playing at home might/could spark our boys...

I missed the game in Murray Kentucky, or was it at the Ft Campbell campus? Three in a row is tough enough.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a must win, it's a who cares if it's a win or a loss, the season is over.

(10-04-2015 10:48 AM)1eyed_jack Wrote:  It's not a must win, it's a who cares if it's a win or a loss, the season is over.

Do you remember NIU FB in the mid 1990's?

Someone should go back and compare these comments to last years...they are the exact same...and they're the exact same as any MAC lost in the last 5 years. It's just funny.

Look, this team has problems, and I'm worried, but it's not a place we haven't been before.

(10-04-2015 12:03 PM)17Huskies Wrote:  Someone should go back and compare these comments to last years...they are the exact same...and they're the exact same as any MAC lost in the last 5 years. It's just funny.

Look, this team has problems, and I'm worried, but it's not a place we haven't been before.

+1. If we want to win the MAC west, every game is a must win. CMU isn't that good and should lose 2 games at least. Turnovers and penalties killed us.

(10-04-2015 12:03 PM)17Huskies Wrote:  Someone should go back and compare these comments to last years...they are the exact same...and they're the exact same as any MAC lost in the last 5 years. It's just funny.

Look, this team has problems, and I'm worried, but it's not a place we haven't been before.

+2

(10-04-2015 10:53 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 10:48 AM)1eyed_jack Wrote:  It's not a must win, it's a who cares if it's a win or a loss, the season is over.

Do you remember NIU FB in the mid 1990's?

I don't. How is that relevant?

(10-04-2015 04:46 PM)1eyed_jack Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 10:53 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 10:48 AM)1eyed_jack Wrote:  It's not a must win, it's a who cares if it's a win or a loss, the season is over.

Do you remember NIU FB in the mid 1990's?

I don't. How is that relevant?

One gets a very strong appreciation for how far NIU FB has progressed.

We were the bottom of the FBS for 2 straight years.
The 2003 turn around felt incredible. We went 10-2 (2-2 against ranked teams) and were denied a Bowl game.

Since then we went Bowling in 2004, Detroit 2005, 2006, 2008-2014 and have gone to Detroit 2010-2014.

What is relevant is that despite NIU FB progressing so far so quickly, our coaches are still routinely paid rock bottom salaries relative to other div 1a coaches.

How would you feel if you were earning close to the bottom of your competition, when you were producing near the top third( making 250% to 400% more then you were earning) after two years?
How would you further feel if your supervisor was on your case, constantly comparing you to the top 10 percent( who were earning ten to twenty times your base salary?