[NU Sports] Despite the loss, why I'm happy tonight (fwd)

[Jonathan Hodges]

Regarding the NU running game, the fact is that the 'Cats committed to the
passing game early and stuck with it.  Although NU did run it from time to
time to try and keep SU honest, NU came into the game knowing that Syracuse
wasn't good against the pass and the best chance was to throw the ball.

Syracuse's nose tackle Arthur Jones is a force in the middle of the field
and proved it by taking up a lot of blocks and still getting into the
backfield.

I would say it was more of a game plan by NU than Syracuse just shutting NU
down.  I believe having the starting RB Simmons out also affected NU's game
plan.  Think of last year at the Minnesota game where NU ran Kafka almost 30
times - with Bacher and Sutton out, NU changed its offensive game plan.  I'd
say the 'Cats did pretty well minus the one ill-advised Kafka throw at the
end and it sure wasn't the offense's fault that NU lost.

Jonathan

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Beamsley, Jeff
<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>wrote:

> We seem to regularly find our team in this position after the non-con
> sched.
>
> As others have said, if you live by the sword of late game heroics, you
> sometimes die by the same sword.
>
> Didn't see the game and only heard the last quarter on WGN driving back
> to Michigan from Indiana.
>
> Sounded like our d was gassed.  Also sounded like we avoided a worse
> fate only because Paulus missed a lot of open receivers.
>
> I defer to those who listened to the whole game, but the fact that we
> only ran the ball for 52 yards says something about the Syracuse game
> plan.  For those who saw the game, was there something about their
> scheme that revealed a weakness in our run game?
>
> But when you wash everything out, this was a story of turnovers. They
> scored on two of the three turnovers we gave them.  We scored on one of
> the turnovers they gave us.
>
> I think it was a great demonstration of character to come back after
> being down three scores.
>
> The disturbing fact from the non-con season, is that the team hasn't yet
> demonstrated that they know to put a team away early when they have a
> big lead, or seal the deal when they get the lead late.  Evidence of the
> former was the way that Michigan shut Eastern out in the second half of
> their game even though Eastern had the ball twice as long as Michigan.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
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> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> On Behalf Of SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
> Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 6:04 PM
> To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Despite the loss, why I'm happy tonight (fwd)
>
> > I would argue that Walker had quite a
> > few signature wins: Wisconsin and
> > Michigan in 2000 (Wisconsin was in the top 5 at the time), and even
> > Ohio State in 2004 (they, too, were in the top 5, although they
>
> Definitely -- all three of those were signature wins. Wisky didn't get
> as much attention, but they were top ten and unbeaten. Michigan was a
> nationwide game that made big-time highlights and OSU was an evening
> game against an unbeaten and top five team
>
> I do agree, though, in that Fitz and Walker teams are similar in the
> majority of their big-time showcase games (see MSU last year) and not
> ready to make that step up in general.
>
> However, Syracuse wasn't a big-time game and we blew it ... as Barnett
> did with Miami and Wake and as Walker did.
>
> We're just never going to be that football factory school that can come
> out against a MAC-like foe, put on the jersey and have a 28-point win.
> We can compete with anyone, and we can lose to anyone. Last night, it
> didn't seem like we came out ready and dug a huge early hole. Granted,
> we dug out of it, but that takes a lot of the energy and we seemed to be
> lacking that late.
>
> Looking at our Big Ten slate, we're capable of beating any team on there
> (we skip OSU, our mental block game where they win by putting on their
> unis, and Michigan who seems to be playing with the most energy now) --
> even PSU because they have momentary lapses of focus as well. However,
> we can lose to any team as well - especially given how Indiana and
> Purdue have shown they can play at times.
>
> I understand the defensive injuries, but the overall defensive game just
> disappointed me. We need them to set the tone early. We need to avoid
> those 17-0 holes. But if anyone knows that league play is a whole new
> slate, it should be NU after the last decade or so. Go get them Gophers!
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
>
>
>
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