What is also interesting is that the last four years, which doesn't count Pat's first year, he is an even .500 in the Big Ten but he's had two seasons of 3-5 and two seasons of 5-3.

Actually, that's probably not that interesting but I can make my board rival Hawkeye Vince look stupid so it was worth it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Somewhere Not Boilermaker Rick silently weeps

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Northwestern is a confusing team. I don't think we're simply a spoiler anymore. Anyone who saw our last three bowl games would attest that Northwestern is no longer a doormat. But as Rick suggested, we don't deserve to be considered a legit conference contender until we can consistently post a better than .500 record in the Big Ten or win a fuckin' bowl game. In the meantime, we'll be content just beating Io_a every year.

Maybe by 2020,Coach "Rah-Rah" will develop a DEFENSE. Last years nightmare in Wrigley was an embarrasment. Every year same shit,exciting offense and swiss cheese defense.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I agree. After losing Persa, the whole team seemed to fizzle. Especially the defense. The Illinois and Wisconsin games were absolutely painful to watch. Horrible way to end the season.

i just do not see the defense ever being that good, damn near every team in the big ten can run at will on the smaller cats. mix in some play action and it is almost impossible to have a good defense with smaller less athletic players.

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Fact check: We are not noticeably smaller than the rest of the Big Ten on defense or offense (someone on Wildcatreport.com did a study on the height/weight for the 2 deep for NU and the rest of the Big 10 a year ago). You can say less athletic (that's subjective)... but I would argue that we just can't tackle that well. The good thing is that tackling can be taught. Our amazing defense of 1995 where we made it to the Rose Bowl (and was one bad snap away from a perfect regular season), was made up of many of the same players from a pitiful 1994 team.

I'm optimistic that things will improve in 2011. And yes, I'm a homer.

Maybe go to a 5-2-4 D against running teams?

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Exactly! We all knew that Illinois was gonna run the ball on us... and they did. Friggin' swiss cheese that day. Even when Purdue lost essentially all of its skill position starters, we couldn't stop the backup QB from scramblin' all day on us.

hard to believe that there is no size difference..take your word for it because i can not find anything that lists average size for each team in the conference.

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I saw a Purdue sweatshirt at Kohls today on the discount rack but I didn't think it would fit over your big head.

I can't claim to have done the research, but I know a guy who saw Ferris pass out at 31 flavors that posted it on a sports messageboard, so it must be true.

Holy cow! High praise from the most unlikely source ever.
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2011/5/11/2165751/northwestern-pat-fitzgerald-iowa-kirk-ferentz

This is my favorite line

"I don’t hate him for coaching jNW, I hate him for enjoying it."