I said this in the other thread but I don't read too much into these bowl games, the teams aren't always what you saw in the regular season. The long layoff is one thing and the fact that players sit or leave and coaches leave is another big thing. I didn't see the game but UK's qb Levis and rb Rodriguez didn't play in preparation for the draft. Same kind of stuff happened in many of the bowl games.
As far as us, the schedule is the schedule. I've said before during the season (and the results of the season don't change my mind), OSU is out in front by a lot IMO but everyone else can be challenged in any given year. Michigan has kicked it up a notch these last couple years but even last year we played them close on their field. Illinois and Maryland played them close this year. Before these last couple years, they were more mortal. PSU is similar, they have good years and downish years. Even in this up year for PSU, Purdue took it to them early this year. IIRC IU had a string of about 3 years where they played PSU in one score games and won one of them.
People think getting rid of the divisions will help and it may a little but not as much as you might think of first blush. Someone here posted we're winless against 4 or 5 teams in the west. What worries me more is that the B10 as a whole is taking a slight step over towards being more offense oriented. USC is definitely in that direction with Riley. UCLA has its moments. WIsconsin with Longo is in that direction. IMO, that's a demonstration of what Fickell thinks is needed for them to take the next step. Purdue with Harrell will still likely try to stay in the same kind of mold as Brohm. If the B10, takes a turn like the SEC has in these last years, we have to be able to match on offense.
I've said it for many years, offense is the avenue with the most potential (not a guarantee) to overperform your status on the landscape. Productive offense and at least a mediocre defense and you give yourself a decent chance.
More often when you see these lower status teams making a run in any given year, it's because of productive offense vs top quality defense. It can happen the other way too but I think the frequency is more with offense.
TCU this year is kind of an ideal imo. Ironically despite the fact I want offense, I've always said a defensive HC with flexibility to allow an OC to create an open offense is my kind of ideal because you get the productive offense but hopefully not a charmin soft team that has somewhat of an element of physicality. It won't be the most physical but can be physical enough, specifically when needed. Offensive HCs often lack that element on their team.
I posted an article here about how Dykes wanted to make a point of that this year with TCU. You don't always see that with offensive coaches. Their defense isn't top notch. They're ranked 60s and 70s for total and scoring defense and yards/play. Their total offense is 13 and scoring offense is 3. As I said above, productive offense and mediocre defense. Sometimes teams get away without even the mediocre defense. The thing that Dykes has done this year, is they have an element of physicality both on offense and on defense. It won't be the toughest hard nosed team you'll see but there's enough of it there. I saw their Texas game, it was tough game and they held down two big productive NFL backs in Robinson and Johnson. They did similar yesterday to Michigan's run game. They also can run the ball themselves. (many of these "air raids" can and do) It won't be the most physical team you see but they're capable enough and that's all you need IMO if you have that productive offense.
It doesn't mean every year will be a playoff run for TCU or whomever but a team built like that can compete in the B10 and be respectable and then maybe have the occasional magical playoff (12 teams in the future) season like TCU is this year. I'm interested to see how Longo does these next few years. If some of that Fickell physicality mentality rubs off on him, he could be a potentially solid HC in the future if needed.
