[NU Sports] Aaah, THAT's how we should play in September!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Yes, it coulda and shoulda been a bigger margin ... but a 33-7 trouncing of SIU is how Northwestern SHOULD be winning in September against our nonconference slate!

A couple things stand out from our first two TV games (missed Duke - thankfully) ...

* I think we got a steal with our new DC! Syracuse and SIU moved and scored early on us, but then Hankwitz did what no NU DC seems to have done since Vandy ... he made adjustments! We're still not a great defense and need to get a lot more talent recruited, but Hankwitz is doing a heck of a lot with the hand he was dealt and seems to have a sharp eye to adjust and take away what worked those first few drives. Keep it up!

* I like our focus on special teams this year. Yes, the coverage was weak today, but overall we've won the special teams game against Cuse and the Salukis and that's an aspect of the game we've neglected in recent years.

* It's good to have Peterman and Tyrell back! Peterman bailed out CJ a couple times today (one thanks to a quick snap and no replay:) ) and it was nice to see Sutton rip a few up the middle.

We definitely need to work on red-zone capitalization and a few other things, but it was nice to see NU come out strong today and put someone away. Ohio will be tough next week, but if we play like we did today and score seven instead of three in the red zone, I like our chances.

Around the league ...

Not too much to be impressed about in the early games:

* ILLINOIS struggled big-time with Louisiana ... I'm still not sold on the Illini as a top 25 team and if their offense struggles, they're gonna be in trouble this year.

* IOWA also came back to earth a bit after a nice first two games. Their D's tough, but their O was MIA today. Hopefully that lack of O hangs around for a couple more weeks.

* MINNESOTA is also 3-0 and quietly building some momentum, but they had to sweat it out a bit.

* MSU not only looked so-so, but their loss at Cal looked worse after the Bears got waxed at an ACC school.

But, of course, that's not what matters in Big Ten land today. The midday games should be fun (Purdue just ripped a big play off and despite Oregon's power, I like our chances of an upset here) and PSU should roll Syracuse. As for Michigan-ND, someone's gotta win, right?

And then the evening ... from the talk yesterday and today, you wonder why OSU is even bothering to show up tonight. Hopefully their D finds some heart and represents the Big Ten well. And Wisky has a deathtrap in Fresno, but again, with so many picking the Badgers to fall, hopefully they get fired up and get some Big Ten love.

3-0 ... it's a nice start and lots to like about our pressure on D today - but Ohio's QB looked awfully tough to stop against OSU, so we have our work cut out for us next week.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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