[NU Sports] Thompson and Mathews returns

[Roy Lamberton]

On this I agree, all 4 games were winable, but nobody told the guys at Nevada
and New Hampshire they were supposed to lose, so they won instead.
 
when I started researching our opponents, and started tracking them, I got very
worried about New Hampshire because they were rated #1 in I-AA, a level of
football where the kids are better than you might think [Lower tier Div I teams
probably have trouble with some of the top AAA teams, but I digress].NH had a
QB-WR pair that had pro scouts living up there. They had a young O-Line, but
they had a fiery leader in Santos.They had a statement to make, and they did.
 
Nevada was almost the same. They have a very good QB who didn't step it up until
their 3rd game, and they had the misfortune to show their first 2 on TV. 2 games
where they just didn't click.
 
But the week prior to our game with Nevada, there were a whole bunch of articles
about their win on Colorado State -how the O-Line worked, the 5 Linebackers, the
nose and one defensive end. They were the kind of stories reporters write about
teams on the rise, and they all talked about how their QB had taken charge of
the team and how much better they were playing.
 
right now State Penn has all the same problems we do - decent defense with good
Linebackers. Suspect secondary, a D-Line that is improving in its 4-3.
Offensively, they have a very good running back, and a frosh at QB who can be
very inconsistent. There are observers who think the lions could have won last
week had they not had turnovers.
 
I'm not sure how we fare in Happy Valley.
 
I would have liked to start the year with Bacher, the better passer of the
group, and have a slightly better pass game. The Cats are playing without our
best deep threat, and have a Tight End who sometimes lines up in the backfield
and runs the ball. With Abernathy and Thompson back, we suddenly have both a
deep and inside threat. Whoever plays QB this week has more tools.
 
I'm like most coaches, we all like to win. But at some point you evaluate both
team's relative talent and worry.
 
Right now NU is a 2-2 team. If this team wants to be better, they have to
convince themselves that they are, otherwise its going to be a long fall and I
suspect that while many of us expected a better non-conference schedule, we also
had a little fear in our hearts about all 4 of the games.
 
I know I did.
 
rsl
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
Computer Applications & Support Associates
and Publisher of Purple Reign,
The Scout.com Northwestern University Site
(http://www.purplewildcats.com <http://www.purplewildcats.com/> )
AIM Handle: CoachRoy74
======== Go Cats -  Beat 'em All ===========
"You have a Republic Madam --
     If you can keep it" - Benjamin Franklin
============================================ 

-----Original Message-----
From: DPENDERG at aol.com [mailto:DPENDERG at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 6:49 AM
To: rstetson at capps-assoc.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Thompson and Mathews returns



     A very different NU team must show up in Happy Valley or it could get very
ugly on Saturday.