largely set us up to fail every year.

Best games are almost always on the road, there are lots of them, and they are front loaded which means we usually don’t have time to figure things out before rallying 2-3 losses.

Alternatively, when we do get through September unscathed (2014), we are so banged up from the experience that we drop games we otherwise wouldn’t lose in October and November.

Finally, the “just win” excuse misses one fundamental flaw of Independence: there is very little margin for error. You have to be undefeated to achieve anything noteworthy, otherwise you are 10-2 and you end up in the Poinsettia Bowl.