Yup, Saturday sucked.  An epic fail that closely mirrored what NIU went through 364 days prior.

And at about 7:00pm on October 15th, this team was 4-3, and nearly everyone was ready to go base jumping without a chute because the season was on a downward spiral.

Then the team tore off five in a row to make it to the title game for the third time in six years.  Not all stellar performances in that run, but collectively a body of work that was pretty damn good...something of which to be proud, all of us.

Before last Friday, most in our collective Ohio fandom was simply hoping for a game that would be close; secretly thought we were destined to lose to a team that appeared on the surface to be superior; were then maniacally giddy at the half at what we had witnessed; then depressively devastated at the final gun.  Curious, but if we had been down 20-0 at the half and had a valiant run to a 20-20 tie and then lost by a field goal at the gun, we likely would all have felt significantly better at the result despite an identical final score. 

I had the "good" fortune to see this team in the locker room on Saturday night, and to say they were devastated would be a collossal under exaggeration.  Team, coaches, staff, administration; all simply incapable of grasping what had just transpired.  And we were there with them.

But now, we are about to face a team in Utah State that is thrilled to be in this game and wants to kick our a$$.  They aren't feeling sorry for themselves about a lackluster performance to an inferior opponent in their season finale and pissing and moaning about their bowl assignment.  They want to win their first bowl game in 14 years and would be happy for it to be at our expense.

If on September 3rd, someone would have said "hey, I'll give you ten wins and a bowl victory", we all would have taken it.  And fellas, it's less than two weeks away.

So, team, staff, administration...and fan base: let's shut up and nut up, and get this postseason monkey off our back.  That is all.

Sorry, but this is the Tater Bowl, not the Nut Bowl.  Maybe we can chip up. 

I think Dave should be invited to the locker room for big games at halftime instead of postgame.

Im not going sit around and act like this season has been a success....There is no reason we should have lost any more than 2 games with this schedule...We bye far had the easiest schedule coming into the season and all we have to show for it is an appearance in the "Famous" Idaho potato bowl....wow.

This team has a lot of talent on it and I believe they greatly underachieved this season.There is no way we should have lost some of the games that we did. I dont care about the past....Top/middle tier teams win the games we lost.

Don't get me wrong Hocking, I have shared in some disappointment, as had the remainder of Bobcat Nation.  My halftime post on FB was: "Fing right boys, keep pouring it on!", and, ahem, we didn't exactly do that.

But at this point, I think there is a game in eleven days and would like this team to be able to focus on winning that game.  Would you rather the team just pass on a postseason spot earned and just stew in the bitter disappointment of what happened last week?

If they don't win or they passed on a spot earned, do you think anyone here will feel better about how the season ended?  Whereas a ten win season and the first postseason/bowl win ever will go a long ways to salving a bitter December 2nd.

I agree with whats being said...Im just a little frustrated. We cant go back, we need to just focus on what we can control, and that is beating Utah State.