[NU Sports] Happy Homecoming!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Nice to have a blowout every once and awhile.:)

Not a perfect game, but probably our best overall of the season.

OFFENSE: Good job opening it up - throwing downfield more, mixing in the run and pass and RUNNING CONTEH NORTH-SOUTH! Bacher settled down nicely after the early pick and spread the ball around and we looked good. We still need to work on scoring TDs in the red zone, though. Too many dumb penalties in the hurry up as well - but we overcame them, which is a nice sign of maturity.

DEFENSE: Again, nice job overall. We gave up a few big plays and a long drive early, but again made the good adjustments. The stepped-up pressure is really noticable from last year to this one - nice job with the sacks, and even better all the hurries and knockdowns of the QB -- we got in Painter's face and it forced some turnovers.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Again, a sour spot. We improved on field position/punts and returns, but the missed gimme field goal again shows inconsistency and a couple kickoffs at the end went out of bounds (also the onside and the bloop/onside by Purdue earlier were poorly read by NU).

But overall a nice win and one we needed after last week. We could have moped around early after the INT, but the D held to a field goal and it was only 6-0. Another key point, IMO, was capitalizing on Purdue's mistakes with the TD before half and the points off of their turnovers in the second half to keep it from getting close.

Purdue's offense may have been a mess this year, but their D is pretty solid and turned in strong efforts against PSU, OSU, Oregon and ND. So scoring 48 points on them is no small feat.

So we're at that six-win mark again - congrats to Fitz and the Cats. Now let's not leave it up to the bowl selection committees -- we need more wins! Starting with Indiana next week. With no real "gimmes" left and IU's explosive offense, we need to show up from the first snap against the Hoosiers.

Around the league ...

* IOWA is looking better and better each week. Glad we got them early. Still probably won't make a difference to the bowls if we're tied in the standings.:(

* OSU-MSU is already a hard-hitting affair and should be fun to watch.

* PSU better rout Michigan or else they may never exorcise those maize and blue demons in Happy Valley.

* ILLINOIS-INDIANA should be a fun shootout tonight - the Illini are almost digging a Badger-like hole to get out of, and can't afford another loss before taking on the wounded Badgers and Hawkeyes next.

Sad that I couldn't make it to Evanston, but proud to watch the purple pile it on from home!:)

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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

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