I consider myself a man of faith. I realize bad things happen, no one (least of all myself) is perfect, and sometimes we need to just grit our teeth and bear it.
Not a ton could’ve prepared me for this football season.
In retrospect, watching my team lose by one to the best mid-major team in the country this year is, in and of itself, not a terrible thing. Combined with the Illinois State loss the following week, it looks really, really shitty. But watching Northwestern bounce back to 6-6 (5-4), giving Pat Fitzgerald his second consecutive and 5th career (in 11 seasons) winning record in the Big Ten was cool.
On the macro level, though, I take little good away from this. I likely won’t be able to go to a bowl game in New York or San Francisco, thus missing my first bowl game since I became a Northwestern student. Besides beating Iowa, Northwestern remained solidly mediocre in a mediocre Big Ten West.
To top it all off, I watch the most insufferable fanbase in the West get another crack at the Big Ten title, and there’s not even the best team in the East (or the second-best!) waiting to stop them. Neither fanbase handles success particularly well and it’s always a treat to spend nine months listening to that.
Fuck.
Let’s just get this over with.
wisconsin (-3) plays penn state
some time || probably tv, too. maybe fox?
candystripes for breakfast: Look, Penn State did a really impressive thing by beating Ohio State. That's great. They're gonna get ROFLstomped by the Badgers, and it's gonna be hilarious when it happens.
zing!
lincolnparkwildcat: I also think Wisconsin is going to steamroller Penn State.
cutting!
bigredtwice: I hope Wisconsin wins. I think they should. But because 2016 has been such an absolute stinker of a year, I assume Wisky will forget how to play football and PSU will win by 30.
I hope a meteor strikes the stadium or there’s a sewage line break but they play the game anyways, but you do you.
87townie: Lol @brt You a hater!
The level of analysis we can expect in the off-season.
——some talk about ag schools and Navy vs. Western Michigan vs. Temple for the playoff occurred, including the participation of two people who, despite being in the predictions thread, could not be bothered to actually make predictions.——
thomas speth: So I realized something. Wisconsin put up almost 200 more yards than Penn State on the team that's their signature win. Wisconsin's special teams aren't spectacular but Wisconsin also hasn't gifted anyone points. I can't see Penn State doing a ton against this defense considering no one's put up more than 23 in regulation on it. Houston's gonna do good things by not doing dumb things. Wisconsin 27 Penn State 13
I had actually expected worse, so this wasn’t bad.
nate peterson: This year is objectively the worst. Nobody wins this game. No matter the outcome. Not gonna watch it. You can't make me.
Nate and I will be snuggling and watching re-runs of Walker: Texas Ranger on Hallmark during the Big Ten Championship game.