[NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers

Sun Nov 6 09:16:31 CST 2011

Dennis,

I just couldn't resist your claim of rarely being wrong.

Bottom line in my opinion, this team just took a while to find themselves.  Whether it was the uncertainty surrounding Persa, or the number of underclassmen that ended up starting, or increased sunspot activity - I can't say.  

What I can say is that the win in Lincoln wasn't a fluke.  NU won an old fashioned smash mouth toe to toe BT football game.  That last seven minute TD drive would have brought a tear to Woody Hayes' eye.  

NU had every opportunity to pack it in, but showed heart and character playing on the road against a top-10 team.  They overcame every obstacle and more importantly every nay sayer who felt that they weren't talented enough or well coached enough to be on the same field with Nebraska. 

Kudo's to Fitz and the coaching staff for taking the blame for past losses.  They kept coaching the team up and finally got them to believe what the coaching staff had been telling them all season - if they play up to their potential they can beat anybody in the league.  Fitz has again set them up for a big November run.  That's what good coaches do.

There is no talent deficit on this team.  

There is no coaching deficit on this team.

They are now officially dangerous and it will be fun to watch them play the rest of the season.  

Jeff

Dennis wrote <snip>

11/1

 I suggest the only chance we have this Saturday is if the Nebraska team bus
is involved in a high-speed head-on with a semi on the way to the stadium.
I will be shocked, albeit happy, if we give up less than 45 points. We
ain't got the horses on D to stop Indiana much less Nebraska, and I doubt
we'll score 46. I'd be happy to be wrong on this one rare occasion.

10/24
I want to see Trevor Siemian in there at QB if Persa can't go.  I am not sold on Kain Colter as a QB. He's not that good a passer, and while he can motor, he certainly does not have Denard Robinson's elusiveness to be principally a running quarterback.  Siemian looks like he can heave the ball with some accuracy.  I'm not certain why Fitz doesn't insert Colter at running back.  He sure couldn't hurt us any, and he's a good deal faster and more elusive than anyone else we have.

AND

RW's defenses were always bad.  Indeed, the 2000 team's defense was about as poor as this year's version.  We won shootouts that year because defenses hadn't yet figured out the spread.  The only chance we have against Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State is if they have a down year.  We have defeated Michigan once in a freakish shootout and PSU and OSU never since the Fitz-at-linebacker years when those three were playing at their expected level.  You've got to defeat the big three if you want to win the Big Ten championship.

Unlike you, I am not happy with no longer being the Big Ten doormat, and that damn well isn't good enough for Pat Fitzgerald.

AND

> I'm sorry.  In my view, NU is not a good team.  On defense  

> especially, they plainly do not have the athleticism and strength to 

> match up  with most Big Ten teams.  Maybe the Cats can beat Indiana 

> and Minnesota  (that is by no means certain), but NU must 

> significantly upgrade its talent to  play four quarters against a 

> Michigan, Iowa or Penn State. "Better  execution" is not the answer.  

> That is an illusion.  "Better players"  are needed and I don't see any 

> on the immediate horizon.

Well said.  Maybe the rest of the list will believe you.

10/23

Our defense is nothing short of terrible.  It's not quite like the dismal days of yore, but they're getting there.  There is no excuse given the number of experienced players in the lineup.  And by the second half, our offense wears down because the offensive line lacks the size and strength to play an entire game against a tough defense.  Please, no excuses about if we'd have done this or that or gotten this break we would have won last night.  We got whooped by a physically superior team just as we did against Michigan and will several more times before the season ends sans bowl game. 

10/16

I don't see doormat in this team because I don't see laughable teams we once fielded.  What I do see is a team that is still short on individual talent, particularly at running back and in both lines, and I also sense some egregious coaching issues.  Our secondary people may not cover well one-on-one, but those playing most of the downs are juniors and seniors, not mint-green freshman.  Yet they look utterly confused, not once in a while, but regularly, and they aren't getting any better. That smacks of coaching problems, as post-game comments from Demetrius Dugar (whose interception indicates that he has skills) would strongly suggest.

10/15

As Iowa scores its 40th point (pending another one of those damn reviews), it must be said that right now Northwestern is a bad football team.  That is shocking given that it is not that different a team from last season.  Our secondary, half of which is very experienced, has played pathetically, our pass rush remains non-existent , we can't stop anyone's running game, we don't have a good running back on the team, and our experienced offensive line can't block very well.  To make matters worse, Persa's foot is obviously not healed (that or he can't yet trust it), forcing us into a two quarterback system that isn't working very well.  Why doesn't Fitz make Colter our featured running back?  Lord knows he can't be anything but better than what we have now.  I don't usually pick on coaches, but one must ask if there aren't some problems on the sideline, especially on the defensive side.

________________________________

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Dennis W. Brandt
Sent: Tue 11/1/2011 1:19 PM
To: Tom Maycock; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers

I suggest the only chance we have this Saturday is if the Nebraska team bus
is involved in a high-speed head-on with a semi on the way to the stadium.
I will be shocked, albeit happy, if we give up less than 45 points.  We
ain't got the horses on D to stop Indiana much less Nebraska, and I doubt
we'll score 46.  I'd be happy to be wrong on this one rare occasion.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Maycock" <tkmaycock at yahoo.com>
To: <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers

> key is continuing to play the way we did in

> Bloomington.

If our offense plays like they did against Indiana, we might have a chance.
The problem is that if our defense plays the way the did against Indiana,
Nebraska will score 70 by the end of the 3rd quarter.

The good news is that Nebraska's offense is not good at long drives, or at
converting 3rd downs. So a decent defense has a chance to force a lot of
punts.

But Nebraska is really good at popping big plays, both in the passing game
and in the running game, and big plays have been the Cats' weakness all
season long. That's scary.

Special teams scare me as well. Our kickoffs seem to have been getting
shorter and shorter as the year goes on, which is not a good thing given
we'll be kicking off to Abdullah. And it's usually Burkhead fielding
punts--that's scary too.

We'll need a better outing by far than we've seen from the D and special
teams all year. I'm actually somewhat optimistic that it might happen, but
the Indiana game sure doesn't give me much confidence along those lines.

I wonder if NU will run its usual tempo on offense, or try to shorten the
game by burning a lot of clock? The latter might be a smart approach.

Nebraska actually runs up-tempo a lot of the time as well, so it could get
pretty crazy if both teams stick to that pace.

Tom
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