Game thread?
- Thread starter NU Houston
- Start date
Yeah, narrow path to bowling and have to beat Minnesota or Wisconsin most likely to get there, but still it's great to see us play at this level.
Looked like the team from the 2nd half of the Duke game again.
If we play like this another 3 or 4 times, I think we have a solid shot at going bowling.
D was tight. Fitz needs to give the other FG kicker a shot. Like I said earlier, an unreliable kicker really hampers your game plan and leaves points off the board. No excuse to have the punter on for a fg that should be made by an average FG kicker.
If we play like we did today, we can compete in every one of our remaining games. I see Iowa and Michigan as clearly our two toughest games left but the rest are all very winnable.
Yeah I agree with that, I mean if we played Nebraska today, we might beat them. Don't know how a week can change so much, but clearly it did.
Was Fitz a lot more involved in the defensive coaching this past week?
Either way, the team just looks like it can play at the level needed to challenge anybody on our schedule*, and given Michigan/Iowa can be offensively shaky at times, they're beatable too.
Not sure about Minnesota being very winnable. That is a toss up at best. Purdue and Illinois are the best bets for a V. Wisconsin will be interesting.
Minny at home and they've been somewhat up and down, though they are solid this year and likely to be favored.
Next 4 games will be interesting, if we turned a corner on defense and our offense keeps improving, we can win a game or two out of these next 4.
Michigan's offense can stall at times (almost inexplicably), that's how Rutgers/Nebraska were able to hang on so long with them, both teams pushed them.
We have to have a quantum leap on both sides of the ball to beat Michigan and Iowa. Both Athlon's and Lindy's had us with only one loss at this point in the season. Both predicted the losses would mount beginning with Michigan. We have played crap opponents and still don't have a rhythm on offense. Michigan and Iowa are not really in play. They are complete teams that are loaded. Minnesota is a coin toss. Wisconsin, Purdue, and Illinois are the ones that are beatable if we improve week by week.
Don't know if I completely agree with that; Michigan is good but has been sort of hit or miss at times offensively. They let both Rutgers and Nebraska stage big comebacks against them and almost lost to both.
Their second half against Rutgers they had absolutely nothing offensively and almost gave the game away.
Could that happen against us? Maybe, maybe not.
I think we have a shot against them though if we played like we do today.
A toss up game is a very winnable game in my book. Most of our games the rest of the way will be toss ups. I think Minnesota is a very comparable team to NU. Wisconsin may be slightly better than both but not by much largely because I think Mertz is not very good. With a better QB Wisconsin would probably be a long shot for us.
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Outside of Michigan and Iowa, anything can happen. Those programs are running smoothly for the most part. Our offense to me is rather disjointed/ inconsistent. We have some nice weapons to work with finally. We are improving, but not in a groove yet. If we can improve every week we have a shot at a 7 win season. That capped off with a bowl win will be very nice!!!
The Wildcat offense needs to be retired, except *maybe* around the goal line if our OL is doing well on that drive. None of our three guys are Cam Porter. Keep the ball in Hilinski’s hands.
probably right but I also don’t think Iowa and Michigan are world beaters. If we catch them on the right day, we could beat them as well. No one on our remaining schedule scares me just as I am sure no one is scared of playing NU even after today.
If we get the same Michigan that Rutgers and Nebraska got, that's a coin flip game. Dunno what happens next week, but I'm really looking forward to that game.
Their offense is just not consistent. Not sure what other word to use but they seem to just stall out at times, and if our defense plays like it did today, we can force them into a close game.
That is why I said the Whiskey game would be interesting. We have a real shot at turning it around, and making a bowl, but the offense really needs to be more consistent. Baj needs to get it running nice and smooth.
I’ll tell you what, Purdue’s QB, O’Connell, looks pretty good. Unfortunately he is another Chicagoland QB who got no interest from NU and had to walk on at Purdue.
Played fast, like he's supposed to. Same with Bergin. So nice to see.
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Yup. Mitchell was off in the first half today. Good thing that happened against Rutgers... hopefully he got humbled a little and will go to work to get better before facing the better receivers he's about to see.
He got fooled and turned the wrong way.
EDIT: talking about the first toast play. The touchdown, I'm not sure what happened there.
And the three DPI/muggings that were not called in the 2nd half were a real gift to Rutgers. Intolerable officiating by the back judge and field judge. As a fellow official, I don't like Fitz's high-drama histrionics, but how could he not go crazy?
I saw it. Early in the play. Grabbed him, impeded his route. Holding would have been the proper call, not DPI.
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The really depressing thing about it is, thats one of the two or three trick plays (also the flea flicker) they worked on all week, expecting to use them today, and expecting to fool Rutgers. Puhleeze. Looked like they practiced it in the locker room for the first time 15 minutes before kickoff.
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It was pass interference. Why wasn't it called? My guess is, the two officials closest to the play and who would ordinarily call it, the field judge and the line judge, had tough angles. The play was right on the sideline, and they were both on the sideline either 15 yards up field, or 10 yards downfield. At full speed, thats a pretty tough look. The back judge (free safety) has a better angle, but is hesitant to throw his flag in their areas.
Just my guess. They definitely missed it.
This is the inscrutable thing about NU's recruiting. Is their focus too narrow? Are they missing the obvious? Are they not aiming high enough? Is NU admission hobbling them? Early in Fitz's career our recruits were largely two to three star, (and getting the most from them was the secret sauce) and now largely three star, but this is after 16 years. With the success Fitz and program have had, why have they not been able to break the four star barrier (considering that stars are not everything) and bring in truly impactful players. Barnett did it in just a couple years. Something is clearly missing here. Combined with selections of new OC and DC recently, one does have to wonder about evaluation skills. And whether help is on the way?