https://x.com/BigGameBoomer/status/17295...40965?s=20

It’s wild because we won 4 of 6 to end the year, and had a 3 win improvement from 2023 but no absolutely was a disappointing year still

Met my expectations. .500 season. Didn't play well initially, but showed improvement. Still need to figure out how to put teams away.

Ummm, no.

We should be bowling as 7-5 or 8-4 team.

We should have taken care of an FCS opponent at home.

(11-28-2023 03:46 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Ummm, no.

We should be bowling as 7-5 or 8-4 team.

We should have taken care of an FCS opponent at home.

Yep. Disappointing year.

(11-28-2023 03:46 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Ummm, no.

We should be bowling as 7-5 or 8-4 team.

We should have taken care of an FCS opponent at home.

Without a doubt. If we had more resources, Hammock would be gone. But given our limitations, bowling is the bare minimum of expectations.

We were highly critical of the guy who knocked off low level P5 teams and competed for the MAC year in and out. Applying that same logic to Hammock, we have to be incredibly critical of what we are seeing.

Never expected Rocky to digress so greatly coming back from an injury. He was a liability in those losses with his turnovers. Had he been his old self we could’ve/should’ve won 10 games…

Defense exceeded expectations. Offense, no. We had an experienced online, QB, RB, TE. WR was only ??? As Rutk was proven but Rudolph coming back from injuries. Expected more.

The defense considerably exceeded my expectations while the offense fell fairly well short of my expectations, so...

Maybe slightly under performed my expectations.

I was going to post most of this on a different thread yesterday, didn't. My browser was still open though.

Is 6 wins exceding? No. Acceptable? Yes. Are we are going to say 1 win difference is a failure? 6-6 gets you fired?


Should we say a yearly expectation is 5-7 wins and accept it?(Thar was from other thread) No. Should we want a competitive team in almost every MAC game? Yes. At least a .500 MAC record, or not be under .500 for 2,3 seasons? Yes. Should we expect a MACC appearance, win every few years? I would say yes. Win fn bowl game more than once a decade? Yes! A boneyard win every few years, yes.

But you won't have these things every year. It's a fact, reality, There is no magic coach, AD that is going to deliver MACC every year, 2/3. A magic way to make attendance back to 20k, let alone 15k. It's great to have ideas, donate and feel you should be listened to because you donate and when you don't get what you want, say you aren't listened to because your are looked down upon. We all love to feel we are the best team in IL, MAC every year. But we are not. For a time, yes. As I have said before, appreciate those times. If they come again, great. Hope for it in your lifetime again. It is not the norm for NIU, and nearly every P5 school less about 6.

Hammock has a long leash. Frazier is running free in the field. If next year there is no QB, they go back to 19 or even 22, then there is a problem. Short of 3-4 wins or less, blowouts, he is going nowhere, nor should he. Not in this climate. There is not pattern of sustained losing sorry to say for some. I know there is no participation trophy, award for 3rd or whatever in MAC. But realize there are teams in this lousy conference that would be happy to have our record the last 3 years. I am pretty sure 1/2 the MAC would like our record.

And then today we see transfers, namely Rudolph. The record is on skip. Let's blame Hammock. Let's blame Frazier. Not that it's the climate we are in. Let's bring up Carey too. I mean, it's not like the entire aspect of college sports changed for everyone in last 5 years. The portal and NIL are hurting NIU and the Group of 5 types or whatever we are called as a whole. 8 different schools in MACC 19-22. The parity beyond belief in the MAC but is is also weak.

Expectations are opinion. Record and stats are fact. This team was in every game but one. How many MAC schools can say that? Oh, right. Expected from a team projected for 6 wins. But when they win a MAC West at 150-1, MACC at what, 250-1, we just are to expect it. Chalk it up to luck, winning close games. No one "expected" it. Funny part after 2020, the failure there was nowhere but up. But then came 22-23 failures again.

If anyone thinks the great 2010's are expectations, fire after a 6-6 season maybe Texas A and M is for you. Forget the resources, the NIL money. We should have these lofty expectations that no MAC team ever saw, that NIU 25 years ago never saw possible. To the defense of some, you sound like every other fan base. Ones you mostly condemn and probably laugh out loud if you read their "expectations" for their own programs. Be it Ohio or WMU....OSU or ND.....NW or UI. Complaining how you win, why you won, how you won by only x, who you beat like that the P5 team we beat this year "sucks."

Maybe step back and understand beating your chest in front of others in your red and black because of a great season or win means something. Cherish it. Don't see it as and expectation or something you deserve.

But then again, I think no matter what we there will always be didn't accomplish x,y or z.

(11-28-2023 06:11 PM)badmoonrising13 Wrote:  Never expected Rocky to digress so greatly coming back from an injury. He was a liability in those losses with his turnovers. Had he been his old self we could’ve/should’ve won 10 games…

Agree 100%.

No. Was expecting 9 or 10 win season with how the schedule lined up with rocky coming back. At worst figured 8, but never imagined this bad.

(11-28-2023 09:02 PM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  I was going to post most of this on a different thread yesterday, didn't. My browser was still open though.

Is 6 wins exceding? No. Acceptable? Yes. Are we are going to say 1 win difference is a failure? 6-6 gets you fired?


Should we say a yearly expectation is 5-7 wins and accept it?(Thar was from other thread) No. Should we want a competitive team in almost every MAC game? Yes. At least a .500 MAC record, or not be under .500 for 2,3 seasons? Yes. Should we expect a MACC appearance, win every few years? I would say yes. Win fn bowl game more than once a decade? Yes! A boneyard win every few years, yes.

But you won't have these things every year. It's a fact, reality, There is no magic coach, AD that is going to deliver MACC every year, 2/3. A magic way to make attendance back to 20k, let alone 15k. It's great to have ideas, donate and feel you should be listened to because you donate and when you don't get what you want, say you aren't listened to because your are looked down upon. We all love to feel we are the best team in IL, MAC every year. But we are not. For a time, yes. As I have said before, appreciate those times. If they come again, great. Hope for it in your lifetime again. It is not the norm for NIU, and nearly every P5 school less about 6.

Hammock has a long leash. Frazier is running free in the field. If next year there is no QB, they go back to 19 or even 22, then there is a problem. Short of 3-4 wins or less, blowouts, he is going nowhere, nor should he. Not in this climate. There is not pattern of sustained losing sorry to say for some. I know there is no participation trophy, award for 3rd or whatever in MAC. But realize there are teams in this lousy conference that would be happy to have our record the last 3 years. I am pretty sure 1/2 the MAC would like our record.

And then today we see transfers, namely Rudolph. The record is on skip. Let's blame Hammock. Let's blame Frazier. Not that it's the climate we are in. Let's bring up Carey too. I mean, it's not like the entire aspect of college sports changed for everyone in last 5 years. The portal and NIL are hurting NIU and the Group of 5 types or whatever we are called as a whole. 8 different schools in MACC 19-22. The parity beyond belief in the MAC but is is also weak.

Expectations are opinion. Record and stats are fact. This team was in every game but one. How many MAC schools can say that? Oh, right. Expected from a team projected for 6 wins. But when they win a MAC West at 150-1, MACC at what, 250-1, we just are to expect it. Chalk it up to luck, winning close games. No one "expected" it. Funny part after 2020, the failure there was nowhere but up. But then came 22-23 failures again.

If anyone thinks the great 2010's are expectations, fire after a 6-6 season maybe Texas A and M is for you. Forget the resources, the NIL money. We should have these lofty expectations that no MAC team ever saw, that NIU 25 years ago never saw possible. To the defense of some, you sound like every other fan base. Ones you mostly condemn and probably laugh out loud if you read their "expectations" for their own programs. Be it Ohio or WMU....OSU or ND.....NW or UI. Complaining how you win, why you won, how you won by only x, who you beat like that the P5 team we beat this year "sucks."

Maybe step back and understand beating your chest in front of others in your red and black because of a great season or win means something. Cherish it. Don't see it as and expectation or something you deserve.

But then again, I think no matter what we there will always be didn't accomplish x,y or z.

That all impacts most other schools too, not just NIU, so it should be a wash.

If you don't like people talking about expectations, try a different message board. We don't need a lecture.

(11-28-2023 06:11 PM)badmoonrising13 Wrote:  Never expected Rocky to digress so greatly coming back from an injury. He was a liability in those losses with his turnovers. Had he been his old self we could’ve/should’ve won 10 games…

I was expecting 8-4 /9-3. 2-2 non-conference and 6,7 wins in the MAC. Rocky just dropped the ball too may times and gave away the Ball St game, no way in hell was this team going to win a snow storm at CMU SIU or Tulsa one of which we should have a won.

We finished 6-6 and damn if it didn't feel like a 3-8 pi**er of a season.

I was thinking MAC championship and Rocky player of the year. No more prediction making for me.

(11-29-2023 01:18 PM)mustangfootball2004 Wrote:  I was thinking MAC championship and Rocky player of the year. No more prediction making for me.

That should pretty much go for the board. Year after year, I read all of the practice recaps and opinions and evaluations here with season predictions and they are almost never on target. Good or bad. All season. It's kind of funny.

And I don't want to discourage those who go to the practices and give reports. I find them interesting and worth the read. But I always take them with a grain of salt because I've read too many times about our depth or skill at this position or the next and come October...none of that matters.

I have no idea how to check our predictions but I bet we, as a community, are so far off it's laughable.

But that doesn't stop us from crapping on the "national" pundits who don't know anything about NIU/MAC/G5/whatever!!!

As bad as the MAC is, there’s no reason for us not to compete for the conference championship every year. There was a time not that long ago, where I would automatically reserve the first weekend in December to travel to Detroit for the championship game. We shouldn’t settle for anything less. The bar shouldn’t be lowered just because finances are tough. Every MAC team lives with that.
I don’t expect us to contend for the G5 title anytime in the near future but we have to be better than an also-ran in the worst FBS conference.

(11-28-2023 09:08 PM)huskie87fan Wrote:  

(11-28-2023 06:11 PM)badmoonrising13 Wrote:  Never expected Rocky to digress so greatly coming back from an injury. He was a liability in those losses with his turnovers. Had he been his old self we could’ve/should’ve won 10 games…

Agree 100%.

Yep. Love Rocky, hope he's a loyal Huskie after graduation, but likely could have been 7-5 with one of the other quarterbacks playing safe and responsible with less key turnovers.