58-7???? Sunday, Bloody Sunday

I want to reiterate earlier posts that the sole purpose of this blog was the hope that I could disspell the Dark Age hangover myths about our program. Right about now I should be putting up stats about the fact that we're 16-17 in the past five seasons, which is 6th best in the Big Ten - even better than Penn State. But I can't. Watching a solid Ohio State team put up a 45-0 spot in the first half and, even worse, a 28-0 spot in the first nine minutes of the first quarter was unbearable. We looked unprepared, scared and worse of all - unmotivated.

I'm a big fan of Fitz. Love his attitude, his work ethic and his approach. However, today the Cats looked like they had worse talent than the Chucky Robinson era. They looked even less prepared. I'm not a pro talent scout, but allegedly our talent pool is light years ahead of those teams. I don't buy it. Our d-backs continue to be out of position, slow and never turn to defend the ball. Oh - and that was against Duke.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, the Cats may have their most important week of the decade. Another embarassing loss and this team could start to fall apart at the seams. This year's recruiting class is less than stellar and considering today was the only game recruits will see unless they have satellite TV, I don't see it getting any better. We don't even need a win against Michigan (here I go - starting to sound like an old school NU fan) just a competitive game to make the team and its fans have reason to believe.

I'm sure I'll spend the next several days attempting to piece together today's debacle. Perhaps I can start with the fact that OSU spends more on their football budget than NU does on its ENTIRE athletic department (approx $40 million). To do so would defeat the reason I started this post - its an excuse for losing. Feel free to vent here - that is part of the beauty - vent your frustrations and share the elation. Let's hope we can share the elation sometime soon. I'm not sure when we'll be able to do that anytime soon.

The Great
Nothing - unless you're a Buckeye fan. Oh, the analysis by the ESPN broadcast team that Sutton's gametime sulking on the sidelines was a downer on the team and that we looked as though we couldn't handle the news that he wasn't playing. They articulated what we were all thinking.

The Good
Simmons 99-yard Kickoff return for a touchdown. Ironically, another Simmons, Sam, made his mark in a blowout loss at Wisconsin with a meaningless TD catch to end a game. Hopefully this Simmons' career can match Sam's.

The Bad
Coaching Staff - NU was not prepared, not focused and seemed confused. Omar Conteh and CJ Bacher simply didn't gel and were out of sorts.

Defense - What defense? Our d-backs made Boeckmann look like Troy Smith. We were never close on the most effective 14 passes you will ever see.

Offense - What offense? Nothing of note to speak about other than the fact that you can't throw floating screen passes against that defense.

Special Teams - Demos was atrocious.

The Ugly
See above. Did anyone else feel for the first time since the Dark Ages that our players were so overmatched you feared they were going to get hurt. The hit we took on the 1st half punt return was the most vicious hit I've seen since Brian Musso got sucker-hit in the Ohio game in 1998. This one was legal.

Not much to say other than the fact that if anyone knows how to erase short term memory, please show up at the Nicolet Center tomorrow morning and administer immediately.

I'm supposed to spar with MGOblog this week in advance of the Michigan game. What the hell am I supposed to say?

The message boards are littered with the FireFitz url options. Easy everyone. Easy. Right?

Stats
Useless. The only thing that matters is Sutton's return to the Cats. There is nothing of note from the Ohio State game. Not even Simmons' record return.

REVISIONIST HISTORIAN LTP STYLE
I admit it. After today's carnage, I officially changed my preseason 8-4 prediction to 5-7. Sue me.

Big Ten Fearless Picks
LTP went 5-6 on the weekend with the Hoosiers letting me down. Here's my foul mood recap of today's events:

Michigan 14 Penn State 9
Hmmmm....the ESPN telecast of the Cats on ABC in Chicago somehow caused the Michigan Penn State game to be a blackout. Sucks, considering I was trying to find any game to switch to so I couldn't watch the car accident I was witnessing. Glad to say I called it - Michigan will be in the race.

Wisconsin 17 Iowa 13
Nothing like perpetuating the 3 yards and a cloud of dust myth to a national audience. Iowa somehow managed to patchwork a line together in Madtown which was amazing on the heels of their Cyclone disgrace. Iowans won't buy it, but this was a morale victory.

Illinois 27 Indiana 14
Whooooopeeee! The Illini win their first BT opener in 13 years. God this makes me sick. Mendenhal is the real deal. The passing in this game was high school level, but the Illini D was impressive.

Michigan State 31 Notre Dame 14
Dantonio has Sparty Nation going nuts and MSU defended the honor of the conference. Purdue you're on the clock for kicking dirt on the coffin.

Purdue 45 Minnesota 31
Gophers went in their hole for the winter. Painter throws a Big Ten best 338 yards - 151 of which went to LTP fav, Dorien Bryant. I'm still sticking with Purdue as my sleeper.

SALT IN THE WOUND
Did you see Duke blew a big lead over Navy and found a way to lose 46-43?
Northeastern got clobbered by CFB juggernaut, UC Davis 28-10.
Nevada did not play.