I share your opinion.
The good part about this is that most of the severe bloodletting can be reversed during this season if basic fundamantals are given a priority. But that does not mean it will immediately translate into a lot of wins, considering the conference we are in. But things will get better and be moving in the right direction. It is a building process.
Let's face it, there is only so much time that can be spent with student athletes during a season on top of their class load. But it does not make much sense to be significantly expanding the playbook time-wise if your receivers can't catch balls that are placed near their hands or between the numbers because they are mentally undiciplined and your defenders can't stop ball-carriers that are within their reach.
It will take an expanded playbook and the more versatile coaching that will make possible, to beat ranked teams. But it will take mastery of the basics first in order for any of that to matter. A common mistake is to try and primarly focus on macro adjustments in roster and play calling in order to achieve short term improvement when the problem is more basic and systemic. Personally, I would be very happy just to see an end to horrible play and utter collapse for halves of games due to our players' regular inability to execute the basic components of winning football. Losing ball games is one thing, but being made fools of due to a horrible execution of football fundamentals is another.
Let's face it, Oklahoma lost today too, and although that loss does not make Oklahoma fans happy, I am sure, the team played a whale of a game and it was an awesome game to watch on both sides of the ball, as a fan of the sport. Even in the shadow of a bitter loss to a close rival, Sooner fans should be immensely proud of how their team played. Similarly, it is my hope that the Cyclones can play a solid enough game in the overall, to make, win-or-lose, the future meet-ups with the well coached groups of gifted athletes in our conference worth remembering.
As a Cyclones fan, of course I want to see wins, but I want to see more consistantly better play, even more. That, and only that will pave the way for a team with real, diverse, capabilities to regularly achieve victory in the conference in the future.