Was playing this game better than playing a cupcake?

[michigancat]

Why or why not?

[chum1]

It was certainly more exciting to look forward to.  I was more satified watching us play a top ten team fairly well (and much better than expected) and lose than I would have been watching us rout a cupcake.  For example, I think our defense is much better after watching today's game than I would have if they had shut out a cupcake.  (There was something to be learned, afterall, IMO.)  And there's always the common observation that this game should help us be better prepared for the speed and athleticism of the top conference teams. 

[Kat Kid]

Yes.  I think this game was better than playing a cupcake because it gave both the coaches and players an entire games worth of experience at an entirely different level of play.  It is cute/nice to see what works against F_U but it is much more important to see how you match up against a team that is without a doubt better than you.  I think strategically this game was helpful to our team and probably more so than a cupcake.

Emotionally I think this game has to be a positive for our D.  Our defense played out of its mind.  Marcus Watts is an absolute deity and on film everyone is going to be skeeting themselves at his performance.  He probably BY HIMSELF saved us anywhere from 6-14 points (interception in RZ/slapping ball out of bounds on blocked FG).  That is a Pontiac game changer biatches!

From a Rankings/National Perspective standpoint this was a practically a Win/Win situation.  Not going into halftime within one score notwithstanding, we played UL hard, we played them well.  If we had won we would've been catapaulted back onto the national scene.  As of right now, we are exactly where we thought we'd be, we didn't get blown out completely and this loss has had ZERO effect on any of our realistic goals for this team.

From a fan perspective this was great!  The town was buzzing for the whole week, we got a little regional/national play and we became relevant for a second on SportsCenter.  We pay good money for seats, give us some good competition.

[michigancat]

What if we end up 5-7?

Was this game worth an extra B12 win?

[Kat Kid]

What if we end up 5-7?

Was this game worth an extra B12 win?

We got 3 wins in OOC.  I truly mean this when I say that if we can't get 3 conference wins when we draw Baylor/oSu from the South then we don't deserve/I wouldn't want to see that bowl game.

[chum1]

I also won't be disappointed if we don't make the Ft. Worth Bowl.   

[fatty fat fat]

What if we end up 5-7?

Was this game worth an extra B12 win?

We got 3 wins in OOC.  I truly mean this when I say that if we can't get 3 conference wins when we draw Baylor/oSu from the South then we don't deserve/I wouldn't want to see that bowl game.

my thoughts exactly. This loss to Louisville should not decide if we go to a bowl game.

[waks]

What if we end up 5-7?

Was this game worth an extra B12 win?

We got 3 wins in OOC.  I truly mean this when I say that if we can't get 3 conference wins when we draw Baylor/oSu from the South then we don't deserve/I wouldn't want to see that bowl game.

We should get seven wins. We are better than ISU, CU, and ku. We are also better than OSU, TAMU, and Baylor. It is a toss up between us and Mizzou and NU is a little bit better than us. If our offense somehow got it's crap together and turned into a top 50 offense then I would say we win the North.

[Kat Kid]

Rusty: You almost sound like you're endorsing Jim Wooldridge philosophies on post-season play.

[Skycat]

I mostly agree, but...

I hate not going to bowl games.

 

[mjrod]

Yes.  I think this game was better than playing a cupcake because it gave both the coaches and players an entire games worth of experience at an entirely different level of play.  It is cute/nice to see what works against F_U but it is much more important to see how you match up against a team that is without a doubt better than you.  I think strategically this game was helpful to our team and probably more so than a cupcake.

Emotionally I think this game has to be a positive for our D.  Our defense played out of its mind.  Marcus Watts is an absolute deity and on film everyone is going to be skeeting themselves at his performance.  He probably BY HIMSELF saved us anywhere from 6-14 points (interception in RZ/slapping ball out of bounds on blocked FG).  That is a Pontiac game changer biatches!

From a Rankings/National Perspective standpoint this was a practically a Win/Win situation.  Not going into halftime within one score notwithstanding, we played UL hard, we played them well.  If we had won we would've been catapaulted back onto the national scene.  As of right now, we are exactly where we thought we'd be, we didn't get blown out completely and this loss has had ZERO effect on any of our realistic goals for this team.

From a fan perspective this was great!  The town was buzzing for the whole week, we got a little regional/national play and we became relevant for a second on SportsCenter.  We pay good money for seats, give us some good competition.

Post of the month.

[catsfan20012002]

We're going to a bowl game. This game was worth it because we found out that, although we didn't win, we can play with a legit Top 10 team.

[catzacker]

I'm all for playing this type of game in year 2 of the Prince era, after we've gone to a bowl game for the first time since 2003.  For the people that say that "if we can't win 3 conference games, then we don't deserve to go to a bowl"..."deserves" got nothing to do with it.  In order to be bowl eligible, we're going to have to use a win over a D-1AA opponent to get to 6 wins (if we do)...so does that make it "deserving" if we win 3 conference games? 

If we end up 5-7 and teams like NU, MU, ISU, and maybe even ku all go to bowl games, what does Ron Prince and Co. have to sell to recruits or how does Ron Prince and Co. retain the current top rated recruits?  A bowl game in December is more important and more beneficial than a September game against a top rated opponent given the past two years of KSU football.  And this game was so "special" that 45K fans showed up to fill a 50K seat stadium. 

[michigancat]

Rusty: You almost sound like you're endorsing Jim Wooldridge philosophies on post-season play.

No...I pretty much agree with you.  Just playing Devil's advocate.

[Kat Kid]

Rusty: You almost sound like you're endorsing Jim Wooldridge philosophies on post-season play.

No...I pretty much agree with you.  Just playing Devil's advocate.

Anytime I post with this guy: it's all good baby.

Halla if ya hear me!

[FBWillie]

The confidence our D built yesterday was a hell of a lot more realistic than the Fake confidence built by beating the sh1t out of F_U.  It's hard to justify to an 18 year old kid that there are areas where improvement can be made when you blank someone 45-0; even if they are 1-AA or the worst 1-A in the nation.  Yesterday smacked some guys in the face and made the statement that Louisville is where we want to be... You didn't match up with them today... Get there.

[waks]

I'm all for playing this type of game in year 2 of the Prince era, after we've gone to a bowl game for the first time since 2003.  For the people that say that "if we can't win 3 conference games, then we don't deserve to go to a bowl"..."deserves" got nothing to do with it.  In order to be bowl eligible, we're going to have to use a win over a D-1AA opponent to get to 6 wins (if we do)...so does that make it "deserving" if we win 3 conference games? 

If we end up 5-7 and teams like NU, MU, ISU, and maybe even ku all go to bowl games, what does Ron Prince and Co. have to sell to recruits or how does Ron Prince and Co. retain the current top rated recruits?  A bowl game in December is more important and more beneficial than a September game against a top rated opponent given the past two years of KSU football.  And this game was so "special" that 45K fans showed up to fill a 50K seat stadium. 

How are we getting the recruits now then if a bowl game is so important?? How did ku get that strong of a defense when they still haven't had consecutive bowl games?? We will be okay, the L'Ville game benefitted us even more with the recruiting aspect because recruits want to play in big time games like that. They want to play on TV and get a chance to be ranked. Recruits are more impressed with us after the L'Ville game. And we have already talked about why we don't sell out our games. It's a mixture of the fans not wanting to leave the house when they can watch it on tv, high prices for crappy seats and I guess some people said lack of marketing ...

[catzacker]

How are we getting the recruits now then if a bowl game is so important?? How did ku get that strong of a defense when they still haven't had consecutive bowl games?? We will be okay, the L'Ville game benefitted us even more with the recruiting aspect because recruits want to play in big time games like that. They want to play on TV and get a chance to be ranked. Recruits are more impressed with us after the L'Ville game. And we have already talked about why we don't sell out our games. It's a mixture of the fans not wanting to leave the house when they can watch it on tv, high prices for crappy seats and I guess some people said lack of marketing ...

ku had a strong defense because a majority of that defense had played together, in a scheme, for 2-3 years together.  They didn't have all world talent; none of those guys even sniffed the NFL w/ the exception of Gordon.  When I watch ku now, I don't see an abundance of talent all over the field.  What's more impressive to recruits?  We played UL and went 5-7 or we played some other school and went 7-5 and went to a bowl game?  Again, not against playing this game, just against it being played this year.  How much  more momentum would be created for the program if we went to a bowl game versus being able to say "well, we played UL"? 

[waks]

How are we getting the recruits now then if a bowl game is so important?? How did ku get that strong of a defense when they still haven't had consecutive bowl games?? We will be okay, the L'Ville game benefitted us even more with the recruiting aspect because recruits want to play in big time games like that. They want to play on TV and get a chance to be ranked. Recruits are more impressed with us after the L'Ville game. And we have already talked about why we don't sell out our games. It's a mixture of the fans not wanting to leave the house when they can watch it on tv, high prices for crappy seats and I guess some people said lack of marketing ...

ku had a strong defense because a majority of that defense had played together, in a scheme, for 2-3 years together.  They didn't have all world talent; none of those guys even sniffed the NFL w/ the exception of Gordon.  When I watch ku now, I don't see an abundance of talent all over the field.  What's more impressive to recruits?  We played UL and went 5-7 or we played some other school and went 7-5 and went to a bowl game?  Again, not against playing this game, just against it being played this year.  How much  more momentum would be created for the program if we went to a bowl game versus being able to say "well, we played UL"? 

we will go to a bowl game. and the benefit of the Louisville game is that it gets our name out there. Instead of never being on Sportscenter. We were getting talked about on it and on College Gameday. Recruits watch TV and it just helped to get our name out there for these recruits and future recruits. This game did not hurt us. we need three wins to get to a bowl game. Baylor, OK State, and ku should all be wins. If we keep gradually improving like we have been and our defense keeps kicking ass then we shouldn't have a problem getting six or seven or eight wins.