[NU Sports] I wonder

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Based on some comments from other posters, I wonder:

> 1. Why Fitz didn't just fire all the assistant
> coaches the day of his hire, immediately get new
> ones in time for training camp, or just coach the
> whole team all by himself.

:) - Well, I think the reason the heat is really
falling on the coordinators is because Fitz made it
clear when he came in that he'd let his OC and DC run
their show. Also, I think everyone realizes the
unenviable position they all were in and wants to give
Fitz some slack. But he will be under pressure to
become more involved if these results continue.

McGee opened up the book this week, tried to fix the
problem and it led to some nice results. We want to
see Colby show he is trying something to fix the D as
well.

> 4. Why do I seem to be the only person (based on
> previous posts on this topic) who recognizes that
> Michigan State fell way behind because they didn't
> give a damn and played like it.  That is why the
> halftime commentators said, "Larry Smith has lost
> his team."  He found them temporarily - until the
> next MSU debacle.

I just don't believe that's the case. MSU may have
"quit" a bit on offense with the dropped passes, but
our big chunks of yardage in the first half were not
because MSU was allowing it. All year, we had been a
player away from exploding on O - the QB position.
Having a QB who can hit the outs, slants and keep a
defense honest made all the difference. The receivers
ran their routes knowing CJ would stay in the pocket
and deliver. The running lanes opened because 9
defenders weren't in the box anymore.

We went away from that in the final quarter and a half
to try and take up more clock. Yeah, it's a bit of a
"prevent offense" but it's the best way to burn clock
with a 35-point lead. Plus, we still had the big run
by Sutton we failed to convert and two 3rd and shorts
that we failed to convert, so it's not like the
conservative play calling killed the O as much as poor
execution (more on the O-line than CJ). By the time we
needed CJ again, he was out of rhythm and cold.

> 6. How come so many refuse to admit the truth that
> our football problems forever have stemmed from a
> paucity of athletic talent.  If we don't play

I think we all know that we don't have the talent of
other teams - it's why we're vulnerable to lose games
against lowly nonconference foes in the same year as
we topple top 20 powers. There are no sure wins for
NU, but we usually overcome that with team play,
coaching and heart. I dunno if I can remember NU being
up by so much in the second half since the 2000
Illinois game -- we just didn't finish and played too
cautiously.

We don't have to play a perfect 60 minutes, but we do
have to play hard FOR a full 60 minutes. We forgot
that on Saturday.

> 7. Why it is that we blow a 35-point lead with only
> 25 minutes of football remaining, and some bring up
> a referee's handling of a punt.  (I'm amazed no one
> mentioned the probably bogus late hit call on Cory
> Wooten even though it made no difference in the

I mentioned it a bit - questionable call for sure. But
that, as you say, really didn't affect the game much
aside for firing up Stanton. The punt was a big
momentum swing, even though we'd been flirting with
punting disasters all day.

I dunno - it's just a frustrating game and even when
the signs started creeping up - the missed FG at the
end of the half, the punt block, the INT after
Sutton's run - I kept thinking that we really couldn't
blow a 35-point lead with a quarter and a half of
football left, could we? Sadly we did.

I agree with the Linhardt's that there was a lot of
positive to take away with CJ and the O's performance
in the first half -- but that just got overshadowed in
the monumental collapse. And I think we all realize
that our only hope to pull of an upset the next three
games is Iowa and that's a slim hope - so we really
wanted this game to give Fitz and the Cats some hope
and close the season on a high note by beating
Illinois. Hopefully we can sit down this week and
shake off that devastation to see those positives and
keep building toward the Illinois win and next year
... but that's going to be a tough task seeing as how
I'm still shaking my head and muttering "35 friggin'
point lead" the morning after. I can only imagine what
the players and coaches are doing.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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