John Beilein, genius, prophet

Submitted by gpsimms not to… on

"Second seasons are like this," -John Beilein, while making a roller-coaster motion during the Duke post-game presser.

He warned the fans that there will be times when everything clicks, and runs smoothly, and looks like a team full of veterans. But he also warned that there will be times when the team showed its youth.

He said this before disasters like:

* Home collapse v. Wisconsin early in B10 season.

* Spotting worst-team-in-the-history-of-IU 20 in the first half.

* Spotting worst-team-in-the-history-of-ever Savannah State 20 in the first half.

* Collapsing down the stretch against a bad Iowa team, and losing in OT [with our best player benched for making poor decisions (which, in hindsight, what a great decision we played awesome in the following weeks. Does not everything Beilein touches turn to gold?)].

*etc.

My point is simply, be wary of statements like "IU, PU, DSU, and EMU are in the bag." I don't see us losing any of those, but I do doubt that we play all of our games at the same level we played this past Saturday. I think probably some of those games will be uggg-lyyy.

Like Beilein with hoops, we are incredibly lucky to have such a good football coach and I have no doubt we are going in the right direction. But I believe our football team is exactly one year behind our bball team: look for us to be a fringe top 25 team and go to a respectable bowl, and make an exciting game in our post-season.

And, like the basketball team, look for us to be a pre-season top 10/legit contender the following year.

Yostal

September 15th, 2009 at 10:24 PM ^

If we learned nothing from 2007 and 2008, it that it should be to never take ANY opponent for granted and see no game as a "functional" bye. Appreciate the wins as they come and take them one at a time.

MaizeNBlue

September 15th, 2009 at 10:28 PM ^

I like the metaphor but I don't think it's 100% correct. It's much easier for the talent gap in basketball to be overcome if the team is having a big game because only five guys need to be on the court at a time, and there are probably ten active players on a team that game. In football, with 11 players on the field at a time, the chances that they outplay a more talented team at every position seem far less.

That said, if we overlook EMU and IU, I will be pissed.

Njia

September 15th, 2009 at 10:35 PM ^

They looked really good against Oregon on the road, a team some predicted would be a dark horse for the BCSNC. Sure, they couldn't get it done in the end, but no one (to my knowledge) even had them making a game of it. They came within a two-point conversion of making fois gras out of the Ducks.

MH20

September 15th, 2009 at 11:13 PM ^

Last season Purdue should have beaten the Ducks in West Lafayette. They gave that game away, and I was expecting them to play Oregon somewhat close in this one, too.

Before the season I figured PU would be a shoo-in W the likes of EMU/IU. I still think it's a win, but not of the "fuhgeddaboudit" nature.

goblueritzy92

September 15th, 2009 at 10:41 PM ^

I agree, I for one, am scared to death for this Saturday, because it seems everybody is looking forward 2 weeks with all these "7-0?" threads and I don't think I could live with a loss to any of these 4 teams

Tater

September 15th, 2009 at 10:51 PM ^

Beilein took over a program that has suffered from ten years of scandal and neglect, while RR took over a program that had plenty of talent, but too much of it a year too young to play in the Big Ten. And, of course, he didn't have a bona fide major college QB.

No game is ever "in the bag," but they really shouldn't lose more than about three or four at the most if they keep playing with passion and stay healthy at crucial positions. Beilein pulled off a coach of the year job to get the talent he was working with into the NCAA's. RR is a great coach, and has enough talent to win 9 or 10 this year, which would qualify them somewhere in the teens in the last poll of the season.

You can rebuild a basketball team quicker, but it is a lot easier to recruit blue chippers for the football team in Ann Arbor than the basketball team.

Thunder71

September 15th, 2009 at 11:02 PM ^

I see the comparison, but our football team is much, much more talented then our basketball team. We had a 6'5 white guy starting at PF and walk-ons rotating at PG. Any team can fall asleep one week, but having more talent makes the weeks you do fall asleep less of a consequence.

Meeechigan Dan

September 15th, 2009 at 11:07 PM ^

I think last year and Toledo remove the risk that an opponent will be taken lightly or that the coaches won't have the attention of the team. WVU had a history of simply torching inferior teams and I expect RR will continue this tradition. That said, the tougher rivalry games could be nasty.

NoHeartAnthony

September 16th, 2009 at 2:24 AM ^

It's not about overlooking teams. At the peak of his WVU basketball tenure in 05/06, I think they lost to Marshall both years. The way his teams play, you're just going to have bad shooting nights, which affect his teams more than others.

J. Lichty

September 16th, 2009 at 5:37 AM ^

I dont think this team is likely to let up against EMU, IU or Del State. RR teams have no history of that and this team is espacially motivated to get back to a bowl.

gpsimms not to…

September 16th, 2009 at 7:02 AM ^

I'm not warning against "letting up." I'm certain they have been coached to play every game with intensity. They just won't execute as well as they did against Notre Dame throughout the whole season.

If we play some ugly games, I certainly don't think it will be because lack of effort or "looking ahead." I'm just saying a young team is prone to wild swings in efficiency.

MGoBlue22

September 16th, 2009 at 11:02 AM ^

Coach Rod will keep his players in check. They will dominate this Saturday and next. The 2008 Toledo game made for a great learning opportunity for many of the players.