(02-23-2023 05:06 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(02-23-2023 04:10 PM)Klake1987 Wrote:  

(02-23-2023 03:11 PM)NIU05 Wrote:  

(02-23-2023 01:28 PM)Klake1987 Wrote:  After last season and transfer porta defections, I have low expectations. I thought last year was going to be great. Very disappointed.

You have to get over last season, its over and there is nothing we can do about it.

This year because of the portal, we have a better D combined with Rocky returning we are back in the game. Need the Oline to be coached up (from a decent base) and some production from the WRs. We definitely need more production from the TEs and I am banking on that.

I am a life long Cubs fan. Hand wringing is in my DNA

If you wanna lemonade 2022 look at it like this - With that terrible defense, even with Rocky our chances of winning the West were 50%. That crap D was something we didn't see coming. At least not that crappy. That stupid-ass scheme and Pugh having nothing left. With Rocky going down our chances dropped to about 20%. And personally I still don't believe Rocky was ever 100% last year. He never ran. He wore that brace. Injured on a non-contact play. If his knee was bad coming into the season he probably wasn't 100% in a lot of areas including conditioning. Add Rudolph going down and our odds dropped to maybe 5%.

If Rocky and Rudolph are 100% healthy the offense is immeasurably better. Rudolph & Rutkieweicz are a great 1-2. On paper the TE position has been upgraded athletically. O-line solid. Rb's are gonna RB under Hammock. Defense? Not even going to predict other than it can't be worse. ** Isn't Hammock due to even just dumb luck his way into a stud D recruit? 4 classes so far, no difference makers. Year 5 you think someone has to pop.**


Last year was a disaster with big issues exposed in several places. Things were so sketchy that just one single disaster would have ruined the season. We had a few. So go ahead and get as many disasters out of the way as possible. Im not optimistic 2023 will be great, but I am optimistic that it can't be a disaster again.

I thought the O was fine…the defense was as bad as I have seen an NIU defense. That scheme was misguided. I was trying to find info on this, but the research was boring. Did any of the defensive coaches last season have experience in a 4-2-5?