[CTcard]

... but clearly the team is quite a bit better now than at the beginning of the year.

Better, I think yes. How much is not so clear.

Over the first half of the season they played teams that finished with a record of 48-26, including tough games vs Bama, Stanford (when we were healthy), and Utah.

Over the second half of the season they played teams that finished with a record of 32-41, including their signature game vs UW where their star LB got carted off the field in the first half and who just a couple of games earlier lost their top pass rusher (Joe Mathis).

[At the end of the first half of the season was their win over Colorado. Maybe that should be lumped into the second half and the "good $C". On the other hand, that was a four point win and not one of the blow-outs they started piling up thereafter - but treat it as you wish.]

I did watch them a fair amount. I would certainly say they got better. In a lot of ways they are like Stanford - when the schedule got easier the team looked a lot better. In both cases there was actual improvement that included players healing. But in both cases the contributions of the opponents should be factored in.

[CTcard]

... but clearly the team is quite a bit better now than at the beginning of the year.

Better, I think yes. How much is not so clear.

Over the first half of the season they played teams that finished with a record of 48-26, including tough games vs Bama, Stanford (when we were healthy), and Utah.

Over the second half of the season they played teams that finished with a record of 32-41, including their signature game vs UW where their star LB got carted off the field in the first half and who just a couple of games earlier lost their top pass rusher (Joe Mathis).

[At the end of the first half of the season was their win over Colorado. Maybe that should be lumped into the second half and the "good $C". On the other hand, that was a four point win and not one of the blow-outs they started piling up thereafter - but treat it as you wish.]

I did watch them a fair amount. I would certainly say they got better. In a lot of ways they are like Stanford - when the schedule got easier the team looked a lot better. In both cases there was actual improvement that included players healing. But in both cases the contributions of the opponents should be factored in.