[NU Sports] Polls

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Roy,

I think that it is a combination of Fitz's confidence in our defense and recognition of the fact that our QB throws a lot of picks.

In the fourth quarter of games that we are winning, the opposition has to pass.  In those circumstances we're getting pressure even when we rush three.  I think that is where Fitz's confidence comes from.  

That said, I agree that this particular offense seems to come alive when we throw the ball downfield.  Perhaps we'll see a little more of that next week.

Jeff


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From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Roy Lamberton
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 7:30 AM
To: 'Mike Nolan'; WildElk2 at aol.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Polls

Scary isn't it....

My primary concern is that when we get towards the end of a game with a lead we go into extreme conservative mode - it's like we're afraid to lose, rather than desire to win. 

You don't see teams hold back on scoring opportunities against us, yet when we have a lead we're happy to stop throwing completely, and just run, run and run again. Most other teams that I've watched this year continue to play the same offense, maybe the passing is a little more careful, but they continue to try to score. 

To me it appears we don't.

Not that I don't think C.J. Bacher can't run effectively. I think he's more careful about when he takes off and is more ready to give the ball away to a better runner, but when we're trying to burn up the clock, NU seems to lack the power running game that can grind 10 or 12 minutes off the clock in the
4 quarter.

It's the same on defense - the Cats swarm the QB early, with pass coverage that allows some blitzes and lots of pressure on the backfield. We get a lead in the 4th and suddenly we're in prevent [as Walker used to say "prevent you from winning"] and the other suddenly QB has all the time in the world to pick our secondary apart because we're not blitzing any more.

Michigan threw a lot of passes at the end of the game, fortunately most were dropped. The Wolves catch a few more passes and we might be cursing the day we went to the Big House in 2008.

dOSU kept so much pressure on Juice last Saturday (I watched parts of that game too) that Ron Zook put in the 2nd string QB, who didn't fare any better. Pam & Co. kept hinting that Michigan might put their backup in to try to jump start their offense, but we appeared to back off and they left him in the game.

Now, a win is a win is a win and I was fired up about Wisconsin knocking off Minny, and dOSU's win over the Ill-whine-I, but I wish we didn't go into conservative mode at the end of the game.

I know Fitz doesn't believe in running up the score, but I really like to see us make a drive for the goal line at the end of game we're winning by less than 7.

Go Cats
Irradicate the IllwhineI

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate & Unix Guru.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
--------------- Also --------------------------- Retired Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician [R] Commissioner Delaware American Legion Baseball Northwestern University - Sp 1974 ==========  Go Cats -  Beat 'em All  =========== "The American Experiment will succeed until the masses realize they can vote themselves largesse from the public purse." -- attributed to Adam DeToqueville - 18th cent. 
=============[How True, How True]===============


-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Mike Nolan
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 11:52 PM
To: WildElk2 at aol.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Polls

> 24th in ESPN/Coaches Poll; 27th in AP, unranked in BCS.   A win vs.
Illinois 
> and we'll be ranked going into our bowl.

Have we won a game this season when we've been ranked in any of those polls?
It seems like that's been the kiss of death for us.
--
Mike Nolan

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