[NU Sports] Where do we go from here?

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

The very disappointing loss on Saturday only exposed again the chronic  
weakness in the secondary which has plagued the Cats for the last five years.  When 
our top defensive back (Cole) gets burned twice by -- in my view -- a very  
mediocre Penn State quarterback, then we cannot hide from the fact that the  
talent level back there is at best suspect and poor at worst.  
 
I know some think our defensive preparation and schemes (courtesy of  
Colby/Brown) are responsible, but I still return always to the recruiting.   We just 
don't have the horses.  While Walker does a good job  recruiting QBs, WRs and 
RBs, why hasn't there been more focus on CBs  and safeties, especially since 
that has been our most glaring weakness? 
 
It might be observed that the top DBs are often weak academically and  simply 
cannot qualify for Northwestern.  If we accept that proposition,  however, we 
permanently handicap ourselves and will continue see wide open  receivers 
wandering around our secondary with predictable results.  Perhaps  this is 
heresy, but the University may have to look at those academic standards  if we want 
to play consistently well.  Let's face it.  The CBs at  Notre Dame, Michigan, 
Virginia or other fairly "selective" schools probably  would not be admitted 
without their football credentials, but they are.   D-IA football is a 
business, period, and if we're going to compete, then I  really believe we cannot hide 
behind sanctimonious pretensions of academic  purity.  Unless we get some 
highly skilled DBs (and admittedly there are  fewer of them than RBs or WRs, 
which makes recruiting tougher), we will continue  to see the horrific displays we 
have seen the last two weeks.