Didn't practice physical enough, took the punches from Wisconsin but were beat up the rest of the year. Weaknesses probably exposed a bit too but I think we were a shell physically of what we were the beginning of the year.
I completely agree and had that discussion with a friend who used to play for the Big Red back in the early 80's. We both felt a large portion of our season was kind of 'smoke and mirrors', and it would have worked had we not gotten as beaten up. With the Wiscy game (not to mention some key injuries throughout the year), Riley's 'master plan' to improve depth for the next few years and hopefully improving the overall health of the program was put at risk. I think the staff gambled that they could hold things together with duct tape and bailing wire instead of pulling some redshirts. Honestly, it failed, though not as badly as it could have.