[NU Sports] The stick went boom!

[WildElk2 at aol.com]

  I started this post after the Wisconsin game. I didn't get the post done, 
and with work and a long weekend out of town, I missed the Purdue game 
entirely. But I digress...
  Before I forget, nice work from the poster who dug up that we are 10-9 vs. 
Wiskey since 1985.  Why can't we play them every year as one of our designated 
rivals?
   On to business.  Sutton Tyrell; is this guy unbelievable or what?  We all 
saw how he quick he hits the hole, but the last two weeks, he was hit behind 
the line of scrimmage and carried defenders until he got the required yardage 
needed for a first down.
   Matt Hayes of TSN cited him as one of five new, bright stars, but felt as 
the Big Ten season wore on, he would wear down.  That didn't happen yesterday, 
and methinks someone has found a crack in the vaunted Purdue defense; NDU and 
Iowa has torched the daylights out of them on their home field.  They didn't 
seem to be playing with any confidence in either one of those games, and their 
offense stunk as well.  Now I don't follow Purdue too much, but I would be 
willing to bet there is trouble festering in West Lafayette; just like last 
year, let's get while the gettin' good before they get things squared away.
   A critique- Raise your hand if you've had enough of Marquis Coles' 
adventures deciding when or when not to make a fair catch...a suggestion; when the 
punt retrner is standing at his own 10 yard line, maybe Philmore can help out; 
didn't he return punts the past few years?  "Fair Catch Capers" has cost us 
extremely poor field position; that field position has lead to 17 easy points in 
the past 2 games. Our defense needs the help!
10/21/05:  I pegged this team as "Son of 2001," a team that put up bombastic 
numbers on offense, but gave up alarming numbers on defense. Alas, I'm not too 
far off.  But there are some differences; 1) Sutton has been better than hurt 
DA2/breaking in Jason Wright, as was the case in 2001. 2) despite our foibles 
on defense, they get turnovers, and that has been their saving grace. That 
didn't happen in 2001.
   So we're 4-2; most of us were figuring a way to split at Purdue/at Sparty; 
what the hell, let's sweep them both?
   Thought: I've been an NU fan since 1978, so I missed some very good years 
prior, but this is the best offense I've seen in my time, 6 games into the 
season, followed only by 2000 and 2001.  I will suggest only on this list, do we 
have an offense only rivaled by USC?  With all our short-comings on defense, 
will it matter? Are we so in the groove, that we'll put up the 48 points 
neccesary, and finish 9-2?  In the late 1990's, UCLA started 1-2, then got red-hot 
and finished 9-2, but because of their 2 losses, they were nowhere near a bowl 
to challenge for the NC. But, they were so red-hot that no one in their right 
mind would have wanted to face them late in the season.
   Thought: The defense played well in 1st half; we only allowed 22 points, 
as there was a Purdue special teams TD.  Raise your hand if you would like our 
defense to avg. 22 points ppg. the rest of the season!  That equals 9-2.
   I will suggest that tomorrow will separATE THE CONTENDERS from the 
pretenders (for the Big 10 title)  We will either win 49-27 or lose 49-27. I will 
suggest that Sparty will not survive "Onslaugt Evanston", Cats 49; Sparty 27.
   On to business: In September, I suggested a little hootenanny for Cat fans 
within shouting distance of Philadelphia.  There was a decent amount of 
enthusiasm, and I expected atleast 15-20 people to watch the Cats vs. Ohio.  
   However, I had the chance to go to the game (my son's 1st Cats  game) vs. 
Ohio, so I went to the game.  
   The Iowa game is the 1st Saturday in November, so I'm putting out feelers 
for getting together at Winner's Tavern on Rt.3 west of Philadelphia. Lot's of 
TV's and the food is good; also, I spoke to the manager, and ge was very 
enthusiastic about the idea of his facility being "Wildcat east."  
   Please , let me know if there is interest.  I will set it up. I plan to 
leave posts on all NU related sites.  There's alot of Cat fans on the east 
coast; it would be fun to get together.

                    GO CATS!!!                  Eric