[NU Sports] We're not very good ...

Thu Oct 22 05:56:11 CDT 2009

I think some level of penalties should be expected and that there is a
fine line between good aggressive play and bone-headed, out of control
play and the zebras have to err on the side of caution and may flag a
good aggressive play if it's borderline. It just seems like this year we
take them at inopportune times (after a stop on 3rd, after converting a
1st down on O, etc)

Heck, some of the players who are considered top defenders from this
program have teetered on that brink their whole career.  Kevin Bentley
was one who would be known for late hits, etc and yet he is regarded as
a great example of an NU defender - aggressive, strong play, good
tackler, etc.  Heck, DA2 was considered a great player and was twice
flagged in his career for offensive face mask....

The penalties that tick me off to no end are the focus related ones:
False Starts (especially when 10 guys move and the center still has the
ball since we've had 2 of these this season or when we have one right
after a possession change or time out)
Illegal formation (5 guys in the backfield - huh?  Can't you ask the LJ
where you are supposed to line up?)
Illegal shift
Illegal participation
Retaliation penalties
Unsportsmanlike (celebration or taunting - act like you've been there
before, as GB told the boys before they won in South Bend)

The things that tick me off more than focus related penalties are:
Missed tackles (or arm tackles on a guy who is 30 pounds heavier than
you and already running downhill AT you - get him around the waist and
pile drive him into the ground!)
Missed blocking assignments (you heard me, OL)
Poorly run routes/mis-run routes (especially those that result in an INT
- don't hold up, run, dang it!)
Fumbles once you get in traffic (two hands on the ball, all star)
Drops on perfectly catchable balls (we have such a slim margin for
error)
Trying to run between the tackles once we get inside the 10 (come on -
we've never been able to do this since we started running the spread.  I
mean NEVER.  I used to groan when RW would bring in the jumbo package
(three SBs, RB, and QB) because it NEVER EVER worked.)
Not playing to your strengths (I think the best example of a game where
we played to our strengths offensively was the 04 OSU game where Baz
rolled out on every throw beyond the quick out no step drop because our
OC knew that our OL couldn't block the NFL DL/LBs OSU brought our way.
Baz was incredibly accurate that night, the guards pulled time and time
again, and there were NO sacks ---- Coach McCall, this is a hint!).  
Not using our personnel effectively or having loyalty to an
upperclassman when there is clearly someone with more talent/drive
playing behind him.

So, one of the things that occurred to me is to play a "2QB" system -
Kafka at QB and Persa at RB (who can also throw).  It would get Persa
some much needed game experience and make it less obvious that we were
running the QB when he is in the game.  Len Williams played RB for a
season on the scout team...

Anyway, my $2 to the discussion on penalties and my irritations....

Maureen
-----Original Message-----
From: mlinhardt at netzero.com [mailto:mlinhardt at netzero.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 5:02 PM
To: Maureen Linhardt
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] We're not very good ...

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Jonathan Hodges <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>
To: "Beamsley, Jeff" <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
Cc: bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com, cherron604 at aol.com,
Alan.Abrahamson at nbcsports.com,        nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] We're not very good ...
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:27:40 -0500

Regarding the penalty assertion, you are right to some degree, here's
how
Walker & Fitz stack up in penalties:

*Walker / Fitzgerald*

Seasons: 7 / 3 & change
Games: 83 / 44
Winning %: .446 / .523

Average penalty yards/game: 59.1 / 41.7
Average penalty yards/game national rank (lowest to highest): 66.5 /
23.8

Average penalties/game: 7.1 / 4.7
Average penalties/game national rank (lowest to highest): 64.8 / 17.3

Note that in Fitzgerald's first year, Northwestern was #1 nationally in
both
fewest penalties/game (3.3) and fewest penalty yards/game (28.0).
Meanwhile, in Walker's Big Ten co-Championship 2000 season, NU was #108
in
yardage/game (83.1) and #109 in penalties/game (9.6).

I've looked at the NU season by season data and there is really no
correlation between penalties and winning percentage.  I'm not sure how
this
looks at a national level, but I suspect that penalties are somewhat of
a
red herring in terms of actually winning games.

The key, as others have mentioned, is the "killer instinct" type
mentality
and the ability to come up big when needed (and to avoid big mistakes
when
they would be bad).

Examples would be this year and last year - last year, NU came up with
big
plays at a lot of key points and avoided killer mistakes.  This year, NU
has
had costly turnovers (like on potential game-winning drives vs. Syracuse
and
Minnesota) along with costly penalties that have put NU behind the
chains
when the 'Cats have needed to score.

Anyways, just thought I'd share my findings.

Jonathan

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Beamsley, Jeff
<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>wrote:

> RW's teams were some of the most penalized in the league.  As I
recall, he
> viewed it as evidence of effort.
>
> Jeff
>
>
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> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of cherron604 at aol.com
> Sent: Tue 10/20/2009 2:27 PM
> To: Alan.Abrahamson at nbcsports.com; bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com;
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] We're not very good ...
>
>
>
>
> After a lot of years watching our guys (since 79), from very bad to
pretty
> good, I always hoped that the intangibles - avoiding stupid penalties,
> avoiding stupid mistakes, understanding complicated offenses/defenses,
> winning the 'close ones' - were more a property of well coached NU
teams -
> while we might not always out-talent or out-speed an opponent, we
could
> always outwork, outprepare, outlift, outwit, etc.  And we seemed to
have
> those intangibles that could often turn a close game into a victory.
>
>
>
> My problem this year is that I see bad penalties, mistakes, cases
where we
> should have known better, etc. and I wonder - on paper, the current
> recruiting classes definitely grade higher than the classes in the
> Barnett/early Walker era, but I am not altogether sure that those
higher
> 'grades' are translating into guys who are less prone to silly
penalties,
> mistakes, poor judgements and the like.  We also seem to be losing
'the
> close ones' lately.
>
>
>
> I have heard said that Football, like all sports is more a game of
reflex
> and instinct than thoughtful consideration (because thoughtful
consideration
> takes too long in most of us).  A pure athlete has to see a situation
and
> act instinctively.
>
>
>
> Are our guys now more instinctual, but also more subject to actions
that
> are not always as beneficial to the team ?  Why do our recruits grade
out
> better, but play in a way that is different from some earlier teams
that did
> not grade out as well ?  Or does this just prove that recruit grading
is a
> (very) inexact science ?
>
>
>
> The kind of mind wandering that takes place on a Tuesday after a
loss...
>
>
>
> Chuck Herron   Tech '85
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Abrahamson, Alan (NBC Universal) <Alan.Abrahamson at nbcsports.com>
> To: bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Sent: Tue, Oct 20, 2009 12:34 pm
> Subject: RE: [NU Sports] We're not very good ...
>
>
>
>
> I agree with this, too -- and to echo what I wrote the other day,
> nfortunately.
> I had thought going into the season that we would be really, really
> ood. Defense wins, and I thought the defensive showing in 2008
signaled
> he same or better from the defense in 2009.
> Whether injury or whatever, that hasn't happened.
> Even so, and this is of course a dramatic change from Wildcat teams of
> rior generations, we are not getting blown out. Which I acknowledge is
>  backhanded compliment, and I don't mean it in that sense at all. What
>  mean is the corollary to what Brad said below -- that is, this team
is
> n every game. But as Brad points out, it hasn't been able to win the
> lose ones.
> That's because the Wildcat margin for error is so thin that one
mistake
> - and the three he lists below are spot on -- has proven the
difference
> etween W and L.
> The solution, of course, is to clean up the mistakes.
> Easier said than done, right?
>
> ----Original Message-----
> rom: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> n Behalf Of bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com
> ent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 10:15 AM
> o: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> ubject: [NU Sports] We're not very good ...
> But the case could be made we're three plays away from being 7-0:
> 1) Kafka's pick against Syracuse
> ) The Kafka-Stewart sure-TD bomb non-hookup against Minnesota
> ) Dunsmore fumble at MSU
> This team, unlike many NU teams of recent vintage, isn't able to win
the
> lose ones. That is a shame, because the games are there to be won, but
> hat's the way it is.
> Brad Wilson
> ent on the Sprint(r) Now Network from my BlackBerry(r)
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