[NU Sports] aloha indeed

[Brad Wilson]

Well ... on the plus side, just think of all the money
we'll be saving on air fares and hotel rooms and
country-music CDs and Tennessee whiskey. 

To me, this debacle highlights all the factors that
make Walker's 'Cats so exasperating at times.

1) Bad kick coverage, which more or less erased our
two TDs on special teams. Is is that hard to cover a
kick? Should more starters be on the coverage units? 

2) Penalties. Pickens' personal foul on Chang
essentially got Hawaii's engines started and we kept
them going with stupid penalties throughout. 116 yards
in penalties, esp. a week after 113 vs. Illinois
pointed out a problem that needed to be corrected and
was not?? I don't understand this. Aren't we supposed
to be the smart team around here?

3) Inability of the offense to punch the ball in. We
got no points from McGarigle's early pick,
first-and-goal from the 5 and the last drive that
reached the 31, and we settled for field goals twice.
Those six chances produced six points. If we get 28
points (four TDs), say, I suspect we win. Though one
never knows, because ...

4) The defense's stretches of complete catalepsy.
We're losing 14-13 at Michigan and suddenly it's
42-13. We're buried at Wisconsin and TCU early, and
given the way we finished those games one or two
defensive stands may well have made a difference.
We're in the Minnesota game and then suddenly the
defense disappears.

And now we have Hawaii's 28-point second quarter, a
complete disgrace, esp. the last touchdown -- 65 yards
in 19 seconds? Why even bother to take the field on
defense? The coaches' game plan was obviously
effective at first, but we had no answers for whatever
Jones cooked up after the first quarter. And our
d-backs, well, less said the better. The biggest
upgrade we need is in the defensive backfield; would
anyone disagree?

5) Running game. Should have been more dominant,
though of course when we're down in the second half it
goes by the boards.

And so it goes. I find it hard to call a season with
fourth-place Big Ten finish (ahead of Minny, OSU,
Perdont, Sparty, and Joe), wins over Ohio State and
Purdue and only the fourth non-losing season since
1971 a failure; remember without the Hawaii game we'd
have been bowling for sure. Frankly any season with a
win over the Illini qualifies as a partial success to
me.

But it could have been so much more.

You wonder -- and I am not an habiutal Walker-basher,
either -- if 2000, 2003, 2004 show us the best we're
going to be with him: exciting as hell, with some
exhilarating wins, but teams prone to inexplicable
flops (Iowa in 2000, Air Force in 2003, TCU/Hawaii
2004) because of inconsistent special teams, bushles
of penalties, an offense that, while often
spectacular, struggles to domninate at the line of
scrimmage, and a defense that is prone to utter
ineffectiveness for long stretches and is clueless
against wide-open shoot-out teams (maybe we should
stop scheduling this kind of team, frankly). 

If that's the best Walker's going to give us -- and I
am not sure it is, but a pattern seems to be
developing -- then what you have to decide is this: do
we live with that and enjoy the excitement and thrills
and occasional huge wins while understanding the
problem spots will remain. Certainly the Walker years
are vastly better than the 1972-1994 Dark Ages, and if
Randy leaving means we go back to 1988, say, then I am
all for him staying. 

But could we do better? Do you try and go in another
direction, hoping for a team that can continue to do
what Walker's teams do well without the problems he
doesn't seem to be to able to fix and go from 6-6 to
9-3, realizing that one misstep (hiring a Cam
Cameron/Don Morton type) and the Dark Ages may be back
(shudder)?

Myself, I give Walker one more year and see what
happens. We have a lot back and the non-league
schedule is a tad easier (aside: do we need to
Mason-ize the non-league slate?)

Lastly (long post, my apologies): I am so sorry for
our seniors; they deserved a bowl game. They have
given us a lot of great moments the last two years --
heck, I'll always love 'em for ending all kinds of
streaks (OSU, PU, at PSU) and the two Illinois wins of
2003 and 2004 will warm my heart for the long winter
ahead -- and I will be so sad to seem them go. Thanks,
guys, for making us so proud of you so many times. I
just wish you'd had the chance to make it one more
time.

Time to find the Scotch.

Brad Wilson


 
 









=====
"Life is more delectable/When it's disrespectable." -- Lorenz Hart 

"Quis ipsos custodes custodiet?" -- Juvenal

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