[NU Sports] Bummer for us

[Jonathan Hodges]

What the NU defense needs to do is play straight up, stay in their lanes,
and take away as much of the running game as possible.  Sure, Juice had 4
TDs against OSU, but the fact is that he's still not a great passer and his
strength is running the ball.  OSU's biggest issue is that they let Illinois
take a lead then the OSU D "pressed" too much (I know NU has heard a lot of
that word, especially in its 4th quarter meltdowns) - e.g. the defenders
were trying too hard to become "heroes" and do it all at once with a big
stop.  Meanwhile, Illinois took advantage of that with a lot of fake
handoffs (which OSU seemed to bite on every time) leaving guys out of
position and holes to run through.  Northwestern needs to contain this by
not overpursing and having someone in position to take care of business - I
was surprised that NU was so effective at containing Lewis this past week,
who had under 40 yards on the ground (along with being sacked 3 times).
Once again the key to the game for the 'Cats will be getting pressure on
Williams and containing him so he can't make things happen with his feet
while closing off their running game.

It's definitely a "win-able" game for Northwestern, but they will have to
reduce their mistakes.  3 score-less trips to the end zone like against
Indiana will cost NU even more against a stronger Illinois team.  But, I
fully expect this week's game to be a close, hard-fought battle.

Jonathan

On Nov 12, 2007 6:55 AM, Abrahamson, Alan (NBC Universal) <
Alan.Abrahamson at nbcsports.com> wrote:

>  NYT this a.m., and this is truly a drag since one of the things the Cats
> could benefit from is the possibility the Cheating, er, Fighting Illini
> might fall into a trap game, having waxed the No. 1 Buckeyes only to line up
> next against the 6-5 Wildcats:
>  '... Illinois has a good shot to reach the Fiesta Bowl,' according to BCS
> guru Jerry Palm, 'if the Illini win next week against Northwestern and some
> teams ahead of them lose.'
>  Great.
>  If I were the Zooker, I know how I would game-plan against the Cats.
> Throw deep. A lot. Like Juice Williams did against the Buckeyes.
>  Meanwhile, if I were Fitz, I would assign someone - Kadela? - to spy on
> Williams on every play. The reason the Illini kept that sustained
> fourth-quarter drive going was Williams' ability to run the ball himself.
>
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
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