The big goals are done (playoffs, B10 race) - if you're the type that focuses on the current year and nothing more then you're not having a lot of fun this season, and won't for the rest of the season.
Hopefully there are other sports in your life where the teams you root for are still alive for the big goals, and you can still have that angst and stress of trying to achieve that goal.
For the football team, it's now about finishing strong and building toward the next few years. While it's easy to say, let's play young guys, that's probably not a good bet. Younger players will likely lose more games in the present and alienate older guys on the team who are "better" but now you're dumping them to play for future years - that hurts their NFL stock and creates bad chemistry. More losses also makes it more difficult to recruit.
There's a happy medium to be had going forward. Starting with Rutgers, I think there's plenty of room for Brandon Peters and Kareem Walker to get some playing time - ideally O'Korn is able to get us up early on Rutgers and Peters can play the 2nd half. Kareem should get 10-15 carries if he's running well. Think we play both Nico Collins and Oliver Martin. Also think we see Ruiz get some reps on the offensive line - none of these guys will start or play starter snaps, but a heavy rotation should suffice.
As long as the defense returns to top form, we should win by 2 TD's the next few weeks. If Peters plays well, he can play more along the way then you make a decision for Wisconsin. Maybe Speight is back in the fold, and you have 3 options.
If we're standing at 8-2 going to Madison, you're in good shape - the D is playing confident and the offense had likely performed well against lesser teams, but confident. At that point you're playing for a NY6 bowl if you beat both Wisky and OSU, if you beat one, you're playing a decent bowl for a chance at 10 wins.
Losing to Sparty is never fun, and being embarrassed by Penn State stung bad, but a win against OSU or finding a way to 10-3 would keep this program right where the season started, if not a notch higher.
Hopefully there are other sports in your life where the teams you root for are still alive for the big goals, and you can still have that angst and stress of trying to achieve that goal.
For the football team, it's now about finishing strong and building toward the next few years. While it's easy to say, let's play young guys, that's probably not a good bet. Younger players will likely lose more games in the present and alienate older guys on the team who are "better" but now you're dumping them to play for future years - that hurts their NFL stock and creates bad chemistry. More losses also makes it more difficult to recruit.
There's a happy medium to be had going forward. Starting with Rutgers, I think there's plenty of room for Brandon Peters and Kareem Walker to get some playing time - ideally O'Korn is able to get us up early on Rutgers and Peters can play the 2nd half. Kareem should get 10-15 carries if he's running well. Think we play both Nico Collins and Oliver Martin. Also think we see Ruiz get some reps on the offensive line - none of these guys will start or play starter snaps, but a heavy rotation should suffice.
As long as the defense returns to top form, we should win by 2 TD's the next few weeks. If Peters plays well, he can play more along the way then you make a decision for Wisconsin. Maybe Speight is back in the fold, and you have 3 options.
If we're standing at 8-2 going to Madison, you're in good shape - the D is playing confident and the offense had likely performed well against lesser teams, but confident. At that point you're playing for a NY6 bowl if you beat both Wisky and OSU, if you beat one, you're playing a decent bowl for a chance at 10 wins.
Losing to Sparty is never fun, and being embarrassed by Penn State stung bad, but a win against OSU or finding a way to 10-3 would keep this program right where the season started, if not a notch higher.
