Let’s be honest - the injury card doesn’t fly because NU had just as many out as we did. They are on their fourth string QB. Both teams were banged up.
So, that out of the way, this was an absolute clinic by Fitz on Lovie. Took him to the woodshed. They did exactly what we should have done, run the ball (especially north/south), load the box and stop the run, and control TOP. We executed very poorly, looked poorly prepped and poorly coached.
With the season in the rear view, I think you have to look at the body of work. We win two games were we led a combined total of 5 seconds. That’s good fortune. We lost to EMU. The weather gods helped immensely against Purdue. And more than anything, our midseason success was predicated on takeaways. I’m not sure that is something you can build a successful program on. A lot of that is fortunate bounces and luck.
At the end of the day, our defensive scheme is still an issue. Cover two is an outdated defense and doesn’t hold up well vs. running qb’s. Our offense is still wildly inconsistent. I don’t think in year four this is where we’d really like to be, a bowl trip to Detroit not withstanding.