I agree. I remained guarded at 6-0 for those same reasons. Moreover, the fact that at 6-0 the much tougher half of our scheduled remained.
There was push back when at 6-0 how some of us posters pointed that out (just as the national media pondered) our schedule to that point had been quite advantageous. Not to mention one of those wins was against a very bad UVA team that literally took a last second FG to escape in the Dome with. And, the win against Purdue where they totally self-imploded after the go ahead TD with those 30 yards of unsportsmanship/misconduct penalties that set up the final stages.
Additionally, heading into the NCST game we, for all intents and purposes, had 3 weeks to prepare for them (Wagner game being a glorified scrimmage and then the bye week) whereas they were preoccupied dealing with Clemson on the road, proceeded by a home encounter with FSU. Furthermore, as fate would have it, State loses their highly regarded starting QB for the season after the FSU game leading into our game with them.
It's easy and convenient to suggest that our downward spiral since 6-0 is due to injuries, but that is nothing more than contributing factors, as the proximate cause and main underlying issues are, and have been, coaching. Just as it has been throughout Dino's tenure (sans the Dungey's senior year) come the perennial late October/November swoons where Dino's record/results clearly speak (scream for that matter) for itself.
Same deal on the hoops side. The sanctions were contributing factors to our downward slide there, but the broader more proximate cause of it has to do with the leadership, etc. at the head coach level, and, all that that implies.