[NU Sports] may be a long time to break this streak

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Scott,
 
OK
 
I hate losing as much as anyone (ask my wife).
 
Still, this is not the end of the world and it is certainly not Phillips "fault".  His job is to get us into the best bowl game that he can.  It's Fitz's job to win them.  If we continue this streak of qualifying for a bowl game every year, he will win one. 
 
We had a 6-6 team this year.
 
We were 10 point dogs in this game and lost by 11.
 
Mabin and Mafuli on the sidelines really hurt our D and our secondary couldn't hold up when we blitzed.  We played the run well, but didn't tackle well.
 
Bolden got burned a couple of times and that made us more of a passing team which made it much easier for them to blitz.  We have seen that before this season.
 
This was one of those games where we needed to play perfectly to win, and we didn't.
 
It was also one of those games where we needed the refs to be perfect too, and they weren't.
 
All of those things said, we STILL came back and made a game of it.  This game certainly helped our profile and our recruiting.  Who wouldn't want to play for Fitz?  Our kids showed heart and guts.  I hate that darn monkey, but what kid wouldn't buy into being one of the players who gets to tear it apart?
 
As we have read in earlier posts, the admissions department is NOT the enemy.  Fitz recruits kids who have the academic talent to graduate as well as the athletic ability to play Div I football.  I don't know who these prospects are that you reference, but if they didn't have the grades or the exam scores, they are not going to be a good fit.
 
Whenever you graduate a senior QB, it's always a rebuilding year, but Coulter will be fine next year.  There was the same concern when Persa replaced Kafka.  Persa hadn't looked all that great throwing the ball in his backup role to Kafka either, and then turns out to be one of the most accurate QB's in college FB.
 
We also clearly have a running game - that's something that all of us have wished for in years past.  
 
Special teams have improved dramatically from years past.
 
On D, we are playing the run better than we have in the past.  I think that our pass D will improve too, if only because we played a lot of underclassmen this year.  
 
Does that mean that we will be a 10-2 team next year?  I don't think so.  But I think we WILL extend our bowl streak and get another shot at that monkey.  I've got a good feeling that it won't live to see the 2013 season.
 
Jeff
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

________________________________

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Scott Zeller, M.D.
Sent: Sat 12/31/2011 4:05 PM
To: NUSPORTS
Subject: [NU Sports] may be a long time to break this streak



Next year is a major rebuilding project as we lose a lot of seniors, then
our schedule gets really tough for the foreseeable future. Not scheduling
many cupcakes anymore. Add that to our admissions office preventing at
least two four-star recruits from committing to the team recently. We might
not be back to a bowl for a long time, much less win one.

Watched in San Francisco in a bar owned by an NU alum, with more than 100
purple in attendance. I'm sure our fans would have packed AT&T Park today
on a beautiful sunny day on the Bay, for a very winnable game against UCLA.
Thanks a lot Mr Phillips, for doing all you did to "move us up" away from
SF to a very difficult opponent in a much less attractive setting, when we
could have been spanking the Bruins instead and ending this streak. As it
is, there is no evidence of any Illinois presence in town, and none of
their fans care (most of my family are Illini and none have any interest in
the game).
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