(09-20-2021 02:04 PM)OKIcat Wrote: (09-20-2021 01:57 PM)doss2 Wrote: (09-20-2021 01:52 PM)DownOnRohs Wrote: It's funny how before the season, most of us would have said the worst case scenario for this two game stretch would be losing both games....when, in hindsight, we should have known that the real worst case scenario may be winning both and then having the wins totally discredited by the national media. Too predictable.
Better to be "discredited" than mocked as "G5 cannot beat a good P5".
We can only control what we do.
Keep rolling into P5.
So true. But watching the ESPN replay, after the tide turned in UC's favor the game commentator could no longer play the G5 team inferiority card so he drew another one from the bottom of his well worn deck: how would this G5 team hold up playing a P5 schedule over a full season? That's a ridiculous, hypothetical question. Because if UC were playing a P5 season, it would also have the advantages of P5 recruiting and be energized by the challenge of playing big brands all season rather than a steady diet of ECU or USF or Tulsa.
Yeah, I heard that too... And I was struck by this:
If IU is a "quality" team...one of the "better" teams in the Big Ten (as was the hype last season and coming into this season), Then UC wouldn't "have" to face teams of that quality "week-in" and "week-out." All Conferences have more "bottom feeder" programs than elite programs; "more" of your "weeks" in the B10 are going to be facing Rutgers, Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, and Purdue than Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, and Indiana. It's simple math: the "Top" programs beat up and feast on the "lower" programs.
But, if, IU is a crappy program...one of the "lower" quality B10 teams, then, YES, UC could do quite well facing them "week-in" and "week-out." We won that game in fine fashion and, if IU is a "weak" B10 program then we will face similar to even better quality in our conference games against UCF, Memphis, SMU, etc...
The trouble is, of course, nobody will use this same metric against other B10 teams... Nobody will say, for example, well Iowa's win against IU (Indiana) ought to "count less" because they're a "weak" program. The fact that Iowa gets to face Indiana "week-in and week-out" doesn't get held against Iowa when Indiana sucks. But it gets held against UC whether Indiana sucks or not. If Indiana doesn't suck, we ought to get credit for going in there and winning. If Indiana does suck, then Iowa ought to also get penalized. But Iowa DIDN'T get penalized for beating "Indiana"...they jumped us when they did it. But UC doesn't get ANY credit whatsoever for doing it...because we're not "in the club."
Oh well.