Dan Lanning's is going to need every bit of his sports psychologist's abilities to keep this team engaged and motivated now that we have nothing to play for other than a bowl game.

No more "We still have all of our goals in front of us" to remind the team to get back on the horse.

Every person on this roster that stuck around an extra year to win a Natty is going to have to dig deep realizing that at the very least they are still playing to save their draft stock.

Perhaps the silver lining will be checking sports media seeing that nobody is covering us anymore now that we are irrelevant. No more rat poison at least.

I've read that the last three games are the worst three game offensive stretch since the glorious Bermeister era. I predict that distinction will be surpassed in the next three games (Northwestern, Ohio St, Michigan).

32 minutes ago, Solar said:

...nobody is covering us anymore now that we are irrelevant.

To the contrary....we are an incredible story to follow, and all publicity is good--even if negative....right?

If Akili Smith Sr steps in to mentor the QB room and guides his son to victory at Ohio St, that would be a story to follow!

1 hour ago, Solar said:

Perhaps the silver lining will be checking sports media seeing that nobody is covering us anymore now that we are irrelevant.

I'm not so sure about that, Solar. If we continue losing, which at this point looks more likely than not, we are unfortunately going to turn into an incredibly fascinating story and tremendous cautionary tale.

There are so many interesting angles with the team, beginning with the many 'experts' predicting that we would win the national championship this year, all the flash, marketing, tremendous amounts of money, NIL impact, ego, Nike, etc, etc.

I'm a bit afraid we may have the makings of a new, upcoming, Michael Lewis best seller.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by Desert Duck

8 hours ago, Desert Duck said:

I'm not so sure about that, Solar. If we continue losing, which at this point looks more likely than not, we are unfortunately going to turn into an incredibly fascinating story and tremendous cautionary tale.

There are so many interesting angles with the team, beginning with the many 'experts' predicting that we would win the national championship this year, all the flash, marketing, tremendous amounts of money, NIL impact, ego, Nike, etc, etc.

I'm a bit afraid we may have the makings of a new, upcoming, Michael Lewis best seller.

Well in that case it ain't rat poison either, but it's unpredictable how players will handle it. Some will resent being on this team and be on the way out of they aren't NFL bound next year. Some will take advantage of the opportunity to make name for themselves with the upheaval, but they will probably use that to jump ship here.

I'm struggling to be positive here, but this damage is like an ACL tear. We are out for the season and hoping to make full recovery by next year.

I believe nothing to play for is an interesting statement. You play to win football games. And there are still 5 on the schedule.

This will definitely show the culture Dan has built. It's easy to buy in and be a tam player when you win 80+% of your games. Now we see what happens when that is not the case.

Do players leave for greener pastures when things are sideways. Or stay and be part of the solution. Time will tell.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Fitnessczar

Nothing to play for... really only applies to us fans.

Players want to play. This is their whole life right now. What they have to play for is to win games. That is enough.

But if the offensive side of the ball still continues to be a non-factor, then the team could give up and feel that it has all become useless. This is why they need to make changes now. This should have been done after the Ok ST game.

What is getting under my skin now is that mediocre teams are celebrating beating the Ducks. They did not come up to our level, we went down to there's.

13 hours ago, Solar said:

Well in that case it ain't rat poison either, but it's unpredictable how players will handle it. Some will resent being on this team and be on the way out of they aren't NFL bound next year. Some will take advantage of the opportunity to make name for themselves with the upheaval, but they will probably use that to jump ship here.

I'm struggling to be positive here, but this damage is like an ACL tear. We are out for the season and hoping to make full recovery by next year.

If Dante returns, I think we win some more games. Heck... we might even be very surprised by the response and outcome we see from this group of kids.

However, I also really fear for Dante. This concussion stuff (aka. brain damage) is serious business.

I'm hoping our boys can provide him with the protection needed, and I'm hoping that the psychological impact of that hit doesn't carry over onto the field.

I have to remind myself that we still have the pieces required to play some really good ball.