(10-06-2019 06:05 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(10-06-2019 05:31 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(10-06-2019 04:22 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(10-06-2019 08:58 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  It's execution. Finishing drives. timely mistakes. It's not talent.

Does talent not beget each of those things you mentioned? Good players execute, find the end-zone, and avoid mistakes. Coaching plays a role as well obviously, but only to a point. People keep hanging their hat on last years team winning the MACC as some kind of metric about why they should still be good, but the MAC was really bad last year. Look back at the games, we struggled to edge by some atrocious teams by a margin of a touchdown or less. I would say that its a case of we didn't have a good team, our opposition was just really bad.

Great talent lets you overcome mistakes. Im not saying NIU has great talent. They have upper half Mac talent and should have no physical issue with other MAC teams.

I agree with you when NIU plays a top 20 P5 team. They are over matched physically and have to press. I expect the penalties to be at least 2 to 1 in favor of the P5 teams. Not 18-0 like Utah and Nebraska. But yes, they will hold and cheat a tad to offset the talent gap.

The Bears game today was a PERFECT example. That game was 100% decided by penalties and mistakes. Every mistake changed the momentum. Down to the running into the punter call that cost the Bears the win. You don't question the Bears talent. But they played like NIU for most of the game and looked talentless.

Look at the 2017 WMU Broncos. 6-6 after going 13-1 in 2016. There was the same talent level on that team except at QB and 1 wr. (both were huge. But now you're saying talent level is determined by just great players which we know is just luck at Mac recruiting level). But with the new coach and system the team collapsed. It's not talent. It's execution.

Well there's your answer right there, QB play is absolutely critical in the MAC so when Zach Terrell left it created a talent void and they took a step back.

I don't follow the bears very closely, but I did watch some of the game. For all we know the game being played in London affected their performance. They did make stupid mental errors, but on a general note they seemed to get man-handled at the LOS as well. Some might argue there is a talent issue there (Kyle Long?).

I would also agree we have better talent than other MAC teams, but this talent advantage seems to have waned the past few years. At this point I think the difference still exists but is now small, such that really any game is going to be a battle even against the middle of the pack teams and bottom feeders. I don't think we'd be blowing the doors off anybody, regardless of who is coaching right now.

This philosophy should then apply to the post Harnish/Lynch era for NIU. Just maybe the Huskies never had greater talent. Maybe those QBs just made it look like they did?

Oakland’s O line pimp slapped Chicago’s front 7. And the Bears front 7 is generally considered the most talented in the NFL. You can blame the travel but then you blame the coach. Gruden took his team out earlier in the week to acclimate while the bears went later in the week.