I think it's too early to make the call on Chizik's success, but all the comparisons of UNLV/Nevada & Iowa/NW have made it apparent that we should be disappointed in Chizik's results so far.
Mac got fired for going 4-8. I expected to go at least 4-8 or 5-7 in Chizik's first year considering he returned a lot of talent including an experienced senior QB, one of the Big 12's top receivers, and a decent defense including Tuba & Bowen. Instead we regressed from 4-8 to 3-9 with a 'signature' win over an Iowa team that turned out to be horrible. All the talk about how Northwestern hasn't played a good team yet got me thinking -- it's true, but the schedule is what it is, and they're 5-0...maybe they aren't great wins, but they're all wins. Meanwhile we haven't played a good team either, and we're 2-2. And our losses are to teams that have proven themselves to be pretty poor in subsequent weeks. We beat UNLV with Mac, in fact ISU had never lost to UNLV until Chizik did it. So where exactly is Chizik headed with this program? I didn't expect a bowl game in his first or second year, but I expected 4-5 wins last year and 5-6 wins this year. Instead, we got 3 wins last year and are headed to 3 or 4 wins this year. And if we don't get a lot better next year, it may be too late. Even if the team improves in year 4 we have Texas Tech, @ Oklahoma, and @ Texas on the schedule which is like starting out 0-3 with 9 remaining games. And with Utah it might be like 0-4 with 8 remaining games. We were told we couldn't compete with top teams and go to bowl games until we coughed up big money for tickets, seating, and donations. Well, Pollard got us to cough up big time and as much as I hate to say it, not only are we not better than we were under Mac, we're worse. And if there's no bowl game in 2007, 2008, or 2009, which I expect will be the case, how long is this fan base going to support Chizik & Pollard?
Mac got fired for going 4-8. I expected to go at least 4-8 or 5-7 in Chizik's first year considering he returned a lot of talent including an experienced senior QB, one of the Big 12's top receivers, and a decent defense including Tuba & Bowen. Instead we regressed from 4-8 to 3-9 with a 'signature' win over an Iowa team that turned out to be horrible. All the talk about how Northwestern hasn't played a good team yet got me thinking -- it's true, but the schedule is what it is, and they're 5-0...maybe they aren't great wins, but they're all wins. Meanwhile we haven't played a good team either, and we're 2-2. And our losses are to teams that have proven themselves to be pretty poor in subsequent weeks. We beat UNLV with Mac, in fact ISU had never lost to UNLV until Chizik did it. So where exactly is Chizik headed with this program? I didn't expect a bowl game in his first or second year, but I expected 4-5 wins last year and 5-6 wins this year. Instead, we got 3 wins last year and are headed to 3 or 4 wins this year. And if we don't get a lot better next year, it may be too late. Even if the team improves in year 4 we have Texas Tech, @ Oklahoma, and @ Texas on the schedule which is like starting out 0-3 with 9 remaining games. And with Utah it might be like 0-4 with 8 remaining games. We were told we couldn't compete with top teams and go to bowl games until we coughed up big money for tickets, seating, and donations. Well, Pollard got us to cough up big time and as much as I hate to say it, not only are we not better than we were under Mac, we're worse. And if there's no bowl game in 2007, 2008, or 2009, which I expect will be the case, how long is this fan base going to support Chizik & Pollard?
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