ESPN power predictions 2-2 record...

[RedCannon]

8/23/17 Predictions-----------------Day before game predictions-----UNLV Result---Score
HOW 1.2% @ UNLV 98.8%-------HOW 1.2% @ UNLV 98.8%-------------L--------------43-40
UNLV 47.4% @ IDHO 52.6%-----UNLV 32.8% @ IDHO 67.2%-----------W-------------44-16
UNLV 0.5% @ OSU 99.5%--------UNLV 0.5% @ OSU 99.5%--------------L--------------54-21
SJSU 40.4% @ UNLV 59.6%-----SJSU 15.6% @ UNLV 84.4%-----------W-------------41-13
SDSU 75.3% @ UNLV 24.7%----SDSU 75.9% @ UNLV 24.1%----------

GEEN -prediction was correct RED - incorrect prediction

Not much movement at all with this game from the pre-season prediction. This game means so much more than numbers... and numbers can't account for the emotion that will be played with.

 

[RebelBuzz]

We keep getting further and further away from that Howard game, but it seems to eat at me more and more...

Take away any of these plays, and we are almost certainly sitting at 3-1:

- CWilliams Fumble returned for TD
- Fumbled KO return giving short field

And you could argue that any one these ones could have flipped it to:

- Tjechman fumble late in the game
- Double missed tackle on Newton in Howard's first drive
- Fumbled snap after Boyd catch took us to the 1-yard line
- False starts on 3 plays inside the 10-yard line
- Make one of our 2 missed FG

Oh well.

 

[mvvsmith]

I agree. But we can't measure how that loss affected the team and coaches. It very well could have charted the course for the rest of the season. In a very positive way. Call it pride, embarrassment, whatever.

 

[j. spilotro]

I agree. But we can't measure how that loss affected the team and coaches. It very well could have charted the course for the rest of the season. In a very positive way. Call it pride, embarrassment, whatever.

It could be. But I can't help but think that just about every time we've had a "really bad loss", we've hoped what you state, but it doesn't turn out to be the turning point we hope for. It ends up being a characteristic of the team. We haven't had a lot of stern "turning points" in our major sports, something you can point and and say "this was the wake up call". Greg popping up after a jaw was certainly the fuel that propelled a very good team to a championship run. I think the 44 point loss at Utah in 2000 shook some things up and turned that season. But they seem to be few and far between. Our setbacks are typically a sign of reality.