[NU Sports] hank must go?

[Alan Abrahamson]

Nobody's getting fired, and nobody deserves to get fired. Please, people. I
understand the frustration but let's get real.

I admire everyone's passion. That's the sign of a real program. Good.

That said:

We were down to our second- and third-string quarterbacks, and we were on
the road against a freaky offense.

Moreover, our second-string quarterback is a true sophomore making his
fourth start, and his shoulder may or may not be hurt.

Here's the key:

Our offense is predicated on ball-control. For all the fast tempo plays, the
spread sets and the four-receiver options, it's really a ball-control
offense.

That's why we got killed last year the last three games. We kept going
three-and-out (plus, in those games, we kept making turnovers --
unsurprisingly, given who we were starting at quarterback). When we go
three-and-out, it puts undue pressure on our defense.

That's what happened to us Saturday at West Point as well -- which is
exactly what Fitz had warned about beforehand. He had said that if our
defense was on the field for 40 minutes, we were in trouble. Guess what? We
were in trouble.

Generally speaking, we have to control the ball on offense -- that's the
Persa advantage, at least when he's healthy, as it was with Kafka and the
others in the NU quarterback line before him. It's pretty elemental, really.

Three-play drives that led to 62-yard Jeremy Ebert touchdown receptions are
good for Wildcat fan stress relief (for sure, mine). But they're not -- as
was proven -- a recipe for winning Northwestern football.

As fans, we can for sure quibble over some play-calling -- our repeated
tendency to send the running back, whoever it may be, into the line on first
down, necessitating what seem like endless third-and-seven conversion
attempts -- but, again, we run a ball-control offense. We have to be able to
sustain 10-, 12, 15-, even 17- or 18-play drives. That's the winning Wildcat
way.














On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 2:39 PM, Mike Nolan <nolan at tssi.com> wrote:

> Realistically, what 'accountability' is possible mid-season?
>
> I didn't hear the postgame show, but Fitz has been pretty quick to
> pin the blame for losses on himself in the past rather than point fingers
> at players, assistant coaches, or even officiating.  I can think of
> more than a few head coaches who have NEVER accepted responsibiity for
> any of their losses, not even after being fired!  (Bill Callahan at
> Nebraska comes to mind.)
>
> Coaches do, eventually, get fired if their teams do not perform well
> over time, though usually they get one shot at replacing their assistants
> before they get dumped, unless, of course, the AD or university president
> already hates the coach's guts.
>
> One loss should not be enough to trigger either of those, even at N*D*
> and certainly not at Northwestern, where 'loyalty' is a virtue worth
> touting, but only when it doesn't apply to stadium names, I guess.
> --
> Mike Nolan
>
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