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Pat Fitzgerald Comments on IU Football


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9 minutes ago, The Daily Hoosier said:
When he looks at IU, Pat Fitzgerald sees something very familiar. Looking back at him, Northwestern is exactly the kind of team that IU needs to beat consistently to do what Fitzgerald has done.

Great piece.  And I love Pat and would be tickled to death if we could emulate the 'Cats success.

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One crazy thing about Fitzgerald is that he is 1-13 against Michigan and Ohio State.  It annoys me that he's only played them 14 times in 13 season, but it shows that we don't have to be beating the big boys to become a solid team.  If we can consistently beat Rutgers, Maryland, one of the other 4 in the East, and 1 or 2 against the West, that would be a hell of a season for us.  I think that is completely doable.  Then have the occasional year when we beat 2 of the other 4 in the East and 2 or 3 against the West and we're in business.  A win against OSU or Michigan would be awesome, but we can become a really solid program without ever beating those two teams.

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1 hour ago, Leathernecks said:

One crazy thing about Fitzgerald is that he is 1-13 against Michigan and Ohio State.  It annoys me that he's only played them 14 times in 13 season, but it shows that we don't have to be beating the big boys to become a solid team.  If we can consistently beat Rutgers, Maryland, one of the other 4 in the East, and 1 or 2 against the West, that would be a hell of a season for us.  I think that is completely doable.  Then have the occasional year when we beat 2 of the other 4 in the East and 2 or 3 against the West and we're in business.  A win against OSU or Michigan would be awesome, but we can become a really solid program without ever beating those two teams.

How many times against Penn St. and MSU?

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22 hours ago, The Daily Hoosier said:
When he looks at IU, Pat Fitzgerald sees something very familiar. Looking back at him, Northwestern is exactly the kind of team that IU needs to beat consistently to do what Fitzgerald has done.

Always been a Fitzgerald fan. As others have said....would love to emulate what's built. 

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Wow!  Thanks for the info. So, solid against MSU, but 3-19 against the Big 3. MSU to me is about comparable to Wisky. Iowa hasn't been very strong in quite some time.  Nebraska has been pretty bad since joining the B1G.  Those have been the 3 strongest traditionally. 

Really like Fitzgerald. Much respect for what he has built. Everybody has to play the games on the schedule. The West has allowed this process to be much more manageable for Northwestern.

Hopefully we see some balance correction of the division.  It would be better for top, middle, and lower tier conference teams.

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8 minutes ago, Hoosierinbham said:

Wow!  Thanks for the info. So, solid against MSU, but 3-19 against the Big 3. MSU to me is about comparable to Wisky. Iowa hasn't been very strong in quite some time.  Nebraska has been pretty bad since joining the B1G.  Those have been the 3 strongest traditionally. 

Really like Fitzgerald. Much respect for what he has built. Everybody has to play the games on the schedule. The West has allowed this process to be much more manageable for Northwestern.

Hopefully we see some balance correction of the division.  It would be better for top, middle, and lower tier conference teams.

I think part of their success against MSU is that they are so up and down.  MSU hasn't had an 8 or 9 win season since 2008.  They've been over 9 wins 6 times since then, and under 8 wins 4 times.  Three of Fitzgerald's wins against MSU came in seasons when MSU won 7, 3, and 7 games.  They're a team we need to start beating more consistently when they have their down seasons.

Wisconsin has just been really consistent.  They've won 8+ games every year since 2008.

Northwestern does a good job of beating average teams.  They make they're living consistently beating teams that win 7 or less games which is what I hope we can become.  Last year we were 0-3 in conference play against teams that won 6 or 7 games.  If we can consistently beat those 7 or less win teams, we'd probably win 7 or 8 games a year.

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Great points.  MSU can't recruit on the level of the other 3, so they are more susceptible to falloff when guys graduate or leave early for the NFL. They can't automatically reload every year without a dropoff.

Hopefully with a strong defense, better recruiting,  and some program continuity, we can put ourselves in position to win more of those toss up games.  Then we just need the occasional upset of O$U and Mich.

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1 hour ago, Hoosierinbham said:

Wow!  Thanks for the info. So, solid against MSU, but 3-19 against the Big 3. MSU to me is about comparable to Wisky. Iowa hasn't been very strong in quite some time.  Nebraska has been pretty bad since joining the B1G.  Those have been the 3 strongest traditionally. 

Really like Fitzgerald. Much respect for what he has built. Everybody has to play the games on the schedule. The West has allowed this process to be much more manageable for Northwestern.

Hopefully we see some balance correction of the division.  It would be better for top, middle, and lower tier conference teams.

And that stat right there is exhibit A why the Big 10 needs to balance things out. Northwestern (who I like) is viewed as a successful program yet are 3-19 vs the Big 3. 

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1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

And that stat right there is exhibit A why the Big 10 needs to balance things out. Northwestern (who I like) is viewed as a successful program yet are 3-19 vs the Big 3. 

Surprisingly, they're is 4-5 against Wisconsin.

If they would just move one of the big 3 to the west and replace them with Illinois, Purdue, or Minnesota, that would help balance it out.

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3 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

Surprisingly, they're is 4-5 against Wisconsin.

If they would just move one of the big 3 to the west and replace them with Illinois, Purdue, or Minnesota, that would help balance it out.

So who makes that decision. I would assume  the ADs and the conference board. How do you get that conversation started. It really should be addressed! 

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1 hour ago, Bob said:

So who makes that decision. I would assume  the ADs and the conference board. How do you get that conversation started. It really should be addressed! 

It has been addressed for a few years now.  They(in charge) like it the way it is.

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1 hour ago, Bob said:

So who makes that decision. I would assume  the ADs and the conference board. How do you get that conversation started. It really should be addressed! 

After 2 straight years of missing the playoff, I would imagine there are people talking. With the top 3 and 4 of the top 5 teams in one division, it is much more likely that they will beat up on each other and cause teams to miss the playoff. That will be the only thing that will get it changed.

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3 hours ago, Leathernecks said:

Surprisingly, they're is 4-5 against Wisconsin.

If they would just move one of the big 3 to the west and replace them with Illinois, Purdue, or Minnesota, that would help balance it out.

I was(WAS) in favor of re-aligning the divisions...I dont anymore.  Do away with the divisions and rotate the schedule...1st and 2nd place teams at the end of the year play each other for the B1G Championship.  

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31 minutes ago, rico said:

I was(WAS) in favor of re-aligning the divisions...I dont anymore.  Do away with the divisions and rotate the schedule...1st and 2nd place teams at the end of the year play each other for the B1G Championship.  

Anything is better then the way it is right now! My guess is the networks like the top 4 teams in one division. They are sure they will be playing each other. 

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5 minutes ago, Bob said:

Anything is better then the way it is right now! My guess is the networks like the top 4 teams in one division. They are sure they will be playing each other. 

True, but Nebraska needs to pull their weight on the other side...as does Iowa.  That being said, three CFB bluebloods are stacked in the same division.

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