You seriously think our head coach is trying to lose, just not by a lot?
Or maybe he's doing exactly what he has said he wants to do. Stay in the game against elite teams in the fourth quarter to give us a chance to win.
We don't have an explosive offense. We don't have a single all conference player on offense besides Monangai. We have a very good defense. Turnovers are killers especially against elite teams. He wants to minimize them and use his running game to tire out opposing defenses. This is how Iowa and Wisconsin have been top 25 teams for years despite not recruiting at elite levels.
Absolutely! With the rule changes on the clock this year and possessions already being limited. He knows his Defense numbers will look better all be it inflated because of these rules changes and his unwillingness to ever try to be aggressive. Bleeding the clock does keep them in games for a bit but ultimately not trying to score is a losing philosophy. Sure it will look close for a bit but you truly never had or gave yourself a shot to win.
All this chatter about improving is ppl not understanding context. Who did we play , when did we play them and what is contributing to this “improvement “
Schedule
Lack of head coaches - 2 missing- yes NW playing better but we got them for his first game
D2 school win : who cares
Horrific big ten west (embarrassing and don’t come with Iowa because they are just beating bad big ten west teams ).
Clock and rule changes - allows for less possessions and contributes to defense numbers being up across all college football. 2 less possessions year over year. Add those back in and are we really much better? Especially since they would be late in games when are D is tired and getting gashed
Bleed the clock to keep scores close limiting point differential