I don't think that anyone is saying that any wins are guaranteed. But you may recall a UND team from last season that finished with a 1-2 non-conference schedule, had a more difficult conference schedule than what we will see this season, and just barely missed the playoffs. To say they are out of the playoff discussion after two slim, non- conference losses is asinine.
I hate moral victories, and whether we lost by 1 or by 50, they look the same in the win/loss column. That being said, you still have to look at the game for more takeaways, and how you want those takeaways to impact your entire season. UND needs to find a way to come out hot on offense, we have started extremely slow the last two weeks, but have showed consistent improvement throughout the game. Not sure why Keaton has had such a touch start to the season, but he must turn it around this week.
I think next week will be tough, but is certainly winnable. Especially at home. Can't discount that our losses were on the road, not an excuse for losing the games, but it is a contributing factor. We can't kid ourselves into thinking that we have such a home field advantage at the Alerus, but that other teams don't in their stadiums.
I think we have seen two of the tough defenses on our schedule already, which does bode well for our run game and our offense as a whole. It was nice to see some flashes from Santiago in the second half yesterday, and hopefully next weekend he can really break free.
I'm not jumping ship on this team yet. Once they get a win (next Saturday), I think they will continue to build momentum.