[NU Sports] RE: Ingalls Leaves for Saints

[Jonathan Hodges]

The OL did a respectable job given their level of experience (3 redshirt
freshmen, 1 DL convert, and 1 guy with limited playing time coming in),
although their deficiencies were masked early on and things degraded as the
season progressed.

In the pass blocking department, the "sacks allowed" number is a bit
deceiving as CJ routinely got off quick throws in order to avoid the pass
rush.  Many complained about McCall's play calling during the year, keeping
to the short passing game, which may very well have been an attempt to keep
the pass rush at bay by getting the ball out of Bacher's hands quickly.

In the run blocking department, on the year NU's running game gained 3.7
yards/carry (note that that number includes sacks).  Sutton gained a
respectable 4.8 yards/carry, and everyone else dipped down to 3.1
yards/carry.  The eventual starter at RB, Simmons, only gained 2.7
yards/carry.  The zone run blocking scheme definitely began to break down
later in the year and only produced significant runs (3+ yards) on occasion
- most of those coming in the Alamo Bowl thanks to Sutton's second and third
efforts.  The run blocking scheme must be addressed next year, and
thankfully there's an entire offseason to work on that (although they won't
have the luxury of an experienced RB in the backfield).

In any case, while the offensive line wasn't great, they were better than
what could be expected from a group of mostly first-time starters, IMHO -
and this trial by fire should begin to pay off next year as they gain more
experience and also have a group of talented recruits (who will be redshirt
freshmen) breathing down their necks.

Jonathan

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 4:00 PM, Chris and Lori Patterson <
cp2m at enterprisesw.com> wrote:

> I'm not sure what the season stats were on sacks and yards per carry. Can
> someone report on that?
>
> My impressions are we were better than most of the Big Ten on protecting
> the
> quarterback.
>
> And considering that we had a very young front line (how many red shirt
> freshman?), I would say the OL did exceptionally well -- which probably why
> Ingalls is off to a NFL job.
>
> It would be nice to see these guys create some bigger holes for our running
> backs next year.
>
> Go CATS!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
> Behalf Of cherron604 at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:25 PM
> To: jonathanwhodges at gmail.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Ingalls Leaves for Saints
>
> As a group, what have we thought of the offensive line play ?
>
> Chuck Herron?? Tech '85
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Hodges <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>
> To: NU Sports Listserv <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
> Sent: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:04 pm
> Subject: [NU Sports] Ingalls Leaves for Saints
>
>
>
>
> http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-2-1091/Northwestern-s-Ingalls-leaves-for
> -Saints.html<http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-2-1091/Northwestern-s-Ingalls-leaves-for-Saints.html>
>
> NU OL coach Ingalls is leaving for the Saints (he's been with NU for 3
> seasons, this is his first NFL coaching job).  Fitz is expected to announce
> a replacement soon.
>
> Jonathan
> _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>
> _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>