(05-29-2017 08:34 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  

(05-29-2017 08:10 AM)MiamiHuskie Wrote:  

(05-29-2017 12:34 AM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  

(05-28-2017 02:06 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Chirp! Chirp!

Well, it's a bad football team on the decline, and a lot of the hot button topics from the past few years have kind of played themselves out.

There is no point debating Big 12 inclusion any longer - that ship has sailed. Everyone has finally accepted that Coach Carey is an awful head coach, so those arguments have curtailed. P.J. Fleck has moved on to bigger and better things, so we won't see WMU threads any longer. The Huskies couldn't even muster a bowl appearance last season, so we had no bowl talk or controversies to engage us.

A quarterback controversy is typically fodder for some good posting; yet when all of the potential candidates make us cringe, it kind of brings a collective yawn. Finally, NIU is lacking star power going into this season. Big profile players excite the ranks. We have no high wattage guys to intrigue us.

All in all, it's depressing as we move into the fall season. The Huskie program that we all have been very proud of for the past fifteen years has regressed dramatically.

Sadly, there is not that much to talk about.

I don't think things are quite that bad. We've been injury plagued at the QB position which was obviously a setback.

Carey may not be the greatest coach, but it seems that his recruiting has stepped up. 24/7 sports has us at #1 in the MAC and 46th overall.

I don't think that the outsiders perception of the program is as negative as the fans. We got used to winning and being in the national spotlight;
a couple of bad years may be a setback but not an indication of the future of the program.

The Orlando Sentinel rankings are down to 88 (out of 130) and we haven't been mentioned yet. I expect us to be in the high 70's, which is not bad considering the last two years.

Of more concern is the overall state of NIU. A declining enrollment in a state that is losing population and can't pass a budget does not bode well.

Sadly, the guy who doesn't even live in this crooked state could not be more correct.

I keep up on Illinois events. I grew up there, have family there, and am a proud alumnus of NIU.

I wish only the best for the state, but it doesn't look good. Of all the Rust Belt states. it would seem that Illinois would be poised to thrive, but the politics and, as you said, the corruption, is holding the state back.