Yes it is! Although I was not very happy with bowl game performance. I thought they should have put a better fight with a month of preparation.
Third string QB with very little game experience. Freshman wide receivers. Three guys on the O-line in the bowl who didn’t start any other games due to injury or other problems. 10 new starters on defense. Projected starting RB injured and out for the year.
Youngest team in the conference by experience.
8-4 or 9-3 in the regular season was about the expected projection, and that was with Speight, the first-string QB who got hurt, and with Tarik Black, their best new wideout, who also got hurt.
I think they showed a lot of grit getting to 8-5, given what happened to their starting QB early in the year against Purdue. I’m not worried about next year.
Go Blue!