Game 5: NW vs NSU

Opening Thoughts:

     I was reminded at the UNK game why I love Division II football. I drove up on Friday evening to take in an 8 man football game. (It was my first 8 man football game – those games move pretty quick – not a lot of defense!) The coach, Joel Miller, is the creator of the Bearcat Report. His team, the Hampton Hawks, goes to NW’s football camp each summer. Apparently each team is assigned a NW player who watches over the players. The Hawks player last summer was Brady Bolles. So the kids were very excited to hear that NW was going to be playing in Kearney and that Brady was going to be playing. The entire team made the trip over to Kearney from Hampton and joined our tailgate before the game. They watched the game and after the game of course they wanted to talk with Brady. I followed them down because I wanted to see the interaction – and I’m glad I did. Brady started off by thanking them all for coming to the game and then started asking them about their team. They admitted that they hadn’t won a game yet. Brady gave them the advice to keep their head up and control the things that they could – their attitude and effort. He assured them that if they did that, the results would follow. He immediately followed that up by asking them about their academics. He wanted to make sure that they were focusing on school first. He reminded them that they are all STUDENT Athletes – students first, athletes second. Academics is the most important thing. Needless to say I was impressed. I have become a major Brady Bolles fan – not just as a football player but as a person.

Last Week’s Recap:

            Well, this game was interesting all the way around.  Starting from the very beginning, when NW kicked off and used a lot of the #2’s on the kick off team, I knew it was going to be one of those games. It just felt like everyone knew it was just a matter of time for UNK to wear down and NW to take over. On D, NW used a lot of the backup guys between the 20’s, not until the Lopers got into the redzone would you see an entire team of starters on the field at the same time. And when NW had the ball, I got the feeling that they were trying a lot of new stuff, new personnel packages, and just basically getting people reps.

Like I mentioned earlier, it seemed like offensively the NW game plan was to wear down UNK… and it worked. I can’t say I was really happy with the offense in the first half. At the half, NW’s offense was only able to produce 6 points – 2 FG’s, a third barely missed off to the left. It looked good to me, but I suppose the ref that was right under the upright probably had a little better view than I did from the opposite 40. There is really not a whole lot to say about the offense – seeing as how weird everything was last week. The play-calling was a little erratic – but like I said, it seemed like they were experimenting more with different things than anything. The one complaint that I do have is on NW’s passing. It seems like the pass is either a deep ball or something within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Whatever happened to that little drag route across the field that has been money forever? I would love to see a pass that was in the 10-15 yard range – NW only threw that one once last week. Once! Crazy.  Once again, NW utilized a 2 QB system. I thought that both Seals and Bolles did a very good job. Seals looks like a gutty leader out there that really wants to win – he threw a great block for Franklin in the second half on a play that was called back. Bolles once again impressed with his athletic prowess. The throw to Shaw down the field was a thing of beauty – he was running to his left and was able to make the deep throw to Shaw in stride. Amazing. Only 3 WR’s had any catches this week – Shaw, Utter, and Flint. I really don’t get it. For the second week in a row, Bolles was the leading rusher in the game. I can see them using him as a wildcat threat when Adams returns. The playcalling yet again has left the most dangerous duo of RB’s without many yards. I really hope that AD & Flohr have something up their sleeve that they are holding back for when NW faces better competition. As it is, NW’s O is about as plain jane as can be – which is so frustrating from seeing what essentially this exact same group of players was able to produce last year.  I think that a lot of the problems basically boil down to the OL. I know that I called them out a few weeks ago – so I’m not going to do it again (too much.) I think talent wise, what NW has on the field is all that they got – they aren’t hiding something in the cupboard for later. I’m sorry, but some of the guys that are out there playing are not up to the standards that NW has come to expect out of their offensive lines. I’m sure that they are really nice kids, and maybe have the best work ethic in the world – but that only gets you so far. I realize that UNK was blitzing a lot last week, as well as chop blocking – but NW lines have traditionally been able to overcome these adversities. There is a lot of unspoken communication that goes on during the game on the Oline – you have to know what each other is going to do before they do it. And with all of the turnover on the line I just don’t think that it is there yet. It’s much better than it was in the first game, but I think it still needs to improve. If anybody can do it, Adam Dorrel can do it.

On defense, NW looked about as weird as they did on offense. Here again, it seemed like they were trying out different stuff throughout the game. A lot of that was due to playing so many of the #2’s. UNK’s ground game was quite impressive actually – considering the fact that they were working with a QB who had been playing WR up until that week. But Matt Berry isn’t just any WR. He was a star QB in high school, where (like most schools in Nebraska) they ran an option style offense. I watched this game with two Nebraska HS football coaches, and both were very familiar with Matt Berry. So it wasn’t a complete surprise that the Lopers had as much success with the option as they did. The option, when ran well is very hard to defend. And they ran it pretty darn well (but like I said most kids in Nebraska grew up playing Option football.) Considering that UNK hadn’t played that style of football previously and NW didn’t have any film on them doing that – it’s not a shocker they got more yards than I had thought that they would. The Lopers scouted NW well, or at least watched the East Central game, and knew that NW was susceptible to the bubble screen. I think a lot of their passing yards came off of those passes. My only complaint with the defense is that it seemed like they took some series off. It looked like the players were content to let them play on some series –  and then on others, you could tell that they really wanted to shut them down – and that is exactly what they did. I know that Rich Wright was not a happy camper after UNK’s first touchdown drive. It’s almost comical to see Wright – who is the nicest little guy in the world – out there chewing these guys butts off.  Needless to say, UNK’s offense didn’t do much again until the end of the game when the win was assured and it was all backups in there playing.

            I think that NW’s biggest unsung hero is coach Ken Gordon. He is the Special Teams/Secondary coach – both of which are the biggest improved this year. Todd Adolf was named the MIAA Special Teams player of the week after hitting 3 of 4 FG’s  (44, 41, & 27 yards)  Punter Kyle Goodburn is currently ranked the #3 punter in the nation – averaging 45.6 yards per punt.

This Week’s Match Up:
     So even though the Riverhawks are currently 0-4, that doesn’t mean that they are a push over by any means. Thru 4 weeks, there opponents have a total of 2 losses. So far this year they’ve played Pitt, MoSouth, Washburn, and Emporia – not exactly lightweights. And it’s not like they’ve been blown out of any of those games. The biggest loss was to PSU in the first game of the year and they lost by 21. NSU is a very physical team, and I expect them to create some matchups that will be difficult for NW. I really think that this will be a good game.
     The NW D will need to be up for this game. They aren’t much of a passing team – well they try, they just aren’t very successful at it. So far this year their QB is completing just 46.5% of his throws (and has 7 interceptions). Their run game hasn’t been a bit more successful – averaging 148 yards per game, 5.1 yards per rush. They do that by having a very good offensive line. They are anchored by 320 lb Senior OK State transfer Michael Bowie at left tackle. They have several transfers on their OL that really help them. They have two backs that are both very good runners. When you throw the ball as much as they do, you can spread the ball around – and they do that pretty well. They currently have 11 players with at least 1 catch on the season. Their primary targets are Jermaine Sherman (27-357/4 TD’s) and Jamai Coleman (16-188). The defense is probably going to have their hands full. Seeing as how the bubble screen has been so effective against NW, my guess is that we will see the Riverhawks go to that play more than once. I would really like to see some of the Dlinemen really step up their game and separate themselves. Its not like any of them are bad by any means – but none of them have gone that extra step that NW fans have become accustomed to having.
     If the Bearcat offense gets hot, they could score a lot. I’ve read that Trevor Adams is expected to start, with Bolles probably playing a backup roll – my guess is probably playing every 3rd series or so. He could also come in and play a wildcat set – he is quite the danger to take off running or throw the ball 50 yards. This could be a game the Oline could really gel with.  NSU has a total of 17 tackles for loss and 3 sacks. NSU has been averaging giving up 212 yards on the ground and 202 yards in the air. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for NW to put up some numbers. With Shaw getting the long ball a few times last week, that is going to make the defenses have to respect that threat, which could very well open up the shorter route. Opening up the passing game – will obviously open up the run game as well. I would love to see either Franklin or Simmons get 100+ yard games. I will definitely be putting Franklin on my bench on my Fantasy Football team, since that usually means that he will put up monster numbers. With TA being the QB, I’m going to be watching his checking down. That was his weakness in the first two games. I really do hope that Adams is back to his old self – and not the TA that we saw in the first 6.5 quarters of the year. If he’s not, AD has to be willing to make the change and put the best QB(s) in the game.
     Overall, this game has the potential to be very close or a blowout. I am hoping for the latter. My guestimate: NW 41 NSU 17

Game 4: NW vs UNK

Opening Thoughts:

Let me first apologize for the late publication of this blog. It has been a crazy week for me and honestly this wasn’t the highest priority of things that needed to be done. What an amazing weekend for football last week was! The weather was absolutely perfect for football – a little brisk in the morning and then warmed up to be a rather nice day. As far as the tailgating goes – it was amazing for our group. We had a southern themed tailgate – complete with Alabama Chicken, Mr Brown’s pulled pork, baked beans, two forms of southern bread pudding, Bearcat Sushi, bacon wrapped meatballs with a special glaze, not to mention the jalapeno poppers, lemon bars, key lime bars, and pecan pie. By far one of the best tailgates I’ve ever participated in.

Last Weeks Recap:

Well, the Northwest offense finally looked like it is supposed to. But I don’t really know what to think about the performance. It’s not like Ft Hays D is of the same caliber as UCM’s. But I do know that the guys at least looked like they were having fun out there. I thought that the play calling was MUCH improved – and a lot of that was due to the injuries on the OL and having to maximize the strengths and diminish the weaknesses. Regardless, I thought that both Tyler Seals and Brady Bolles looked better than TA has all season. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I had heard a rumor that TA looked great in the first few weeks of fall camp, and then all of a sudden it was like a switch turned off, and he was like what we saw in the first two games. If it’s true, obviously it is just something mental – maybe the pressure of be THE MAN was too much for him. Whatever it is, if he is going to be the #1 QB again, he is going to need to fix it. Looking at the QB’s – I think it is obvious which of the current QB’s has the most potential, but potential doesn’t win games. I think that the future of NW football is bright seeing Bolles out there, but I actually thought that Seals performed better. Seals was 12-19 (63%) with 0 interceptions, not too shabby. Bolles was 11-14 (78%) but had 1 interception and should have had another. But both are better than Adams so far (40-76 [52%] and 5 interceptions.) I thought that Seals looked the most confident of all the QB’s and obviously has been around the O longer than Bolles so he knows the offense better. NW has a long history of injury not causing a player to lose their position. I’m okay with that. But with that being said – if there was a change right now I don’t think that it would be because of the injury. I am not advocating replacing TA at this time, but if one or both Seals and Bolles end up performing better than TA by the time that the injury is healed, I think that the only responsible thing would be for one of them to start before TA. I for one hope that TA comes back with a vengeance and plays like we’ve all seen him play. But if he doesn’t, I hope that the coaches have the cajones to make the call to replace him.

I think that the biggest improvement was on the OL. Last week I said: “Unless the NW QB has all day to throw, and they open up holes the size of Moe Dampeer to run thru I wouldn't consider it a win for the OL.” Well, I would have to say that they won the day. The run game that had been averaging 2.3 yards per attempt, was able to get 6.0 yards per attempt. Obviously some of that had to do with the poor defense of Ft Hays, but the OL also did their part as well. I thought that the replacement played very well, and the original starters seemed to step up their game. I hope that they are able to continue the level of play going forward.  I thought that the RB’s did very well this game. Both Simmons and Franklin averaged more than 8.5 yards per carry. A lot of different WR’s got to touch the ball – 10 total counting catches out of the backfield. One of the good things of having 2 QB’s is that that limits having one WR that seems to get all of the attention of the QB. This makes the defenses have to stay honest and fully cover everyone. In the first two games, it seemed like the only two receivers out there were Shaw and Young, and everyone else was just running decoy routes. Well it doesn’t take defenses long to realize that those guys are never getting thrown the ball – kind of like Brian Miller last year. One thing I did notice about the WR’s is that they did a much better job of blocking downfield than they had previously – which helps open up the ground game, which in turn helps them.

What can I say about the defense? Dominating is all that I can say. Any time that you can hold your opponent to less than 225 total yards that is pretty darn good. And only allowing 4 or14 3^rd down conversions never hurts. But trying to judge exactly how well the defensive line did we are faced with the same problem as judging the OL. Ft Hays OL was not that good. But the NW DL did exactly what they were supposed to do and pushed them around all day. The Ft Hays had the craziest offense – they ran a hurried up no huddle offense, but then ran the clock down to nothing before they hiked the ball. The LB’s looked good again – the only thing I noticed was that DJ Gnader’s hip must really be hurting him a lot. I’ve noticed that he is not quite as fast has he has been in the past. I’m not sure exactly what is wrong with it, but hopefully it heals as the season progresses. I’ve noticed a trend that when a play breaks down, a lot of times teams have had success getting to the outside. In the past, Gnader was always so darn fast that you never had to worry about that – but not so much this year. For the third week in a row, a Dixon brother has recorded an interception. This time it was Brian Dixon who got the pick. He also got a TD on a botched punt. I noticed on at least one play, both Dixon brothers were playing along with Tyshaan Alleyne out there. I really liked that formation!

I think NW’s Special Teams played really well this game. Todd Adolf was 2 for 2 on FG’s including a 48 yarder. And Goodburn averaged 45 yards per punt.

This Week’s Match up:

Between NW and UNK, they have used 6 QB’s so far this year. We all know what has happened at NW, but at UNK it has not been pretty. Their starter went down during the Emporia game, and last week both of the back up QB’s were injured playing MoWest. That means that this week the Lopers will be starting a WR who played quarterback in highschool. They apparently have a good QB who is a true freshman, but they don’t want to have to pull his red shirt. Needless to say, the injuries have piled up for them at other places. Two of their DLinemen went down last week against MoWest. They are more like the walking wounded at this point, and its only the 4^th game of the year. Talk about a welcome to the MIAA!

NW should be able to win this game easily – and I hope that they do exactly that. But I don’t expect UNK to exactly roll over and die. It is their homecoming after all. My guess is that Seals and Bolles will once again be trading off on signal caller duty. Which I am fine with. NW has proven that they can use a 2 QB system when they need too. I think that works well for NW because the QB’s don’t see it as a competition, but rather that they are both our there to do their job. UNK’s secondary is almost as weak as Ft Hays, so I would expect to see a lot of passing again. I would love to see Tyler Shaw get thrown the deep ball that was bread and butter last year. Overall, I just want to see the offense continue to click and gel as a team. This is kind of the lull in the season. It is important that the team takes advantage of this time to heal up and learn the intricacies of eachother.

I expect the D to destroy the Lopers. Plain and simple. I really got nothing more than that. With as banged up as UNK is, if the D allows them to hang around, I will be quite upset. But I don’t expect them to.

My prediction: NW 56 UNK 0  

Game 3: NW vs Ft Hays

Opening Thoughts:

I’m sorry, but apparently UCM is not capable of putting together a decent game day experience. I want to thank everybody who parked in the visitors parking lot. And I want to thank UCM for allowing that to happen. In case you weren’t there, I’ll explain: somebody decided that it would be a good idea to have some sort of fair type setup in the street next to the stadium. It was several blocks long full of vendors of all kinds. Well, almost all of the vendors decided to park in the parking lot that was supposed to be set up for the visitors. I complained about it to one of the security guards that was strolling around on bikes, he said – don’t worry they will be gone before the game starts. I asked what time the fair ended, he said 12:30. Umm, hello dude the game starts at 1:30. If the fair ends at 12:30 it’s going to take the vendors at least 30 minutes to tear down. And in case you’ve never been into Walton Stadium, the visitors seating is a joke. You need to be in the stadium at least an hour before kickoff if you want any kind of seat that doesn’t totally suck. Oh well, I will get off of my soapbox for now… about that anyway.

Last Weeks Recap: 

Ugly. Disheartening. Frustrating. Disappointing. Those are all words that I could use to describe the game on Saturday, but I’m going to go with hopeful. You may think I’m crazy… and I may very well be. But I’ve decided to be the eternal optimist (for at least this week.) The first two thirds of the game, I was extremely frustrated. But everything changed with about 6 minutes left in the third quarter. But before we get into that – let’s talk about the frustrating stuff. It appeared to me that there were two things going on - the first being the play calling. It felt like they were playing not to lose rather than playing to win. I know that AD has made the statement multiple times that he wants to get NW back to a power run game like they had when XO and LC were there. The problem with that is NW doesn't have that kind of RB on their roster. What they do have is two RB's that can make a very dangerous duo. It seemed by watching the game that Coach AD and OC Charlie Flohr had made the decision that they were going to be able to run against UCM. And it didn't matter what the results showed, their mind was not going to be changed. It just didn't feel right. It felt like I was watching somebody try to shove a square peg in a round hole - it just doesn't work. But we have to realize that this only AD's second season as head coach - there are going to be some growing pains and lessons learned. For example, NW gets the ball back with :54 left in the half, down 17-7. Everybody and their dog knows that Mel Tjeerdsma is going to kneel on the ball and go into halftime down by 10 - no need to take the chance. AD is a bit more of a gambler - and it came back to bite him. Lesson learned, I bet that in the future we will see AD taking the knee in those types of circumstances. The second thing I noticed was that there was absolutely no spark, no motivation by the players. It reminded me of almost every game in 2010 - where the players would just show up and expect to win. The difference is that that year the Bearcats had some crazy offensive weapons in Bolles, Baker, and Soy. This team doesn't have those weapons. Midway thru the 3rd quarter, I saw and heard Tyler Shaw yelling at his teammates to get excited and get motivated. And it helped! I don't know if the first thing I saw caused the second, or vise versa - both things need to change. The coaches can't just blame the kids, and the kids can't blame the coaches.

Now lets talk about the offense a little bit. There were plenty of errors to go around - of course everyone is going to look at the game and say that TA is to blame, and he does carry a large portion of responsibility - but there is no I in team, and no 1 person wins or losses a game. I did see some improvement in him. We all saw what he could do last year, I have no reason to believe that he is not capable of doing it again. It almost seems like he has lost all confidence in his ability to throw the ball since the Pitt St game in the PO's. He is throwing ducks out there at times, and I honestly don't remember him doing that last year. He seems to go to the hot receiver every time, he never checks down. I don't know if that is what he is being told to do (which has been suggested to me) or if that is his own doing. Either way that has got to stop. He is telegraphing (heck more than telegraphing - he's broadcasting it to everyone in the stadium who he's going to be throwing it to. But I did see some smart play out of Adams. One play that caught my eye for no particular reason was a play that had Adams playing out of his own endzone. He was getting pressured and didn't have an open receiver - he made the smart move and threw the ball away. I know what you're saying - woopty doo, that's what he's supposed to do. Yes it is what he is supposed to do - and he did it. I'm not sure that he would have done that the week before. He stood in the pocket and didn't let the pressure phase him. Yes he did have two interceptions this game - and one was bad. But the other was a deflection off of the WR's hand (gotta catch those) and the UCM DB made a nice diving catch for it. Yes it wasn't a greatly thrown ball, but if WR can touch it, they should catch it. I don't blame TA for that one. I've heard a lot of people complaining about JF3, how he is slow and has lost a step. Which is true to some extent - but it doesn't help when his OL isn't being able to open up holes, and the WR's aren't blocking the LB's down field. Neither JF3 or Simmons is the type of back that is going to be able to get you 3 yards and a cloud of dust every play. They just aren't. The sooner everybody realizes that, the better. I think that there were several times where the NW receiver ran the wrong route - I think of one in particular, not sure who the WR was but the play was changed at the line of scrimmage and they ran across the field and turned back to the QB - but TA was expecting him to turn up the field and that is where he threw the ball. If he had done that, there was a lot of space in front of him! I'm not sure why we haven't seen much of the deep ball going to Shaw. They only called that play once - and he got interfered with but of course that wasn't called (another topic for discussion.) Now I haven't wanted to call them out - but the OL has been nothing short of pathetic in both games. NW is averaging 2.8 yards per carry. I'm not sure how the Oline can look at themselves in the mirror knowing that number. That is just not acceptable for a NW offensive line. What happened to Rod "The Wall" Williams? Looks more like Rod "The Folding Screen" Williams - but he's not the only one. They are all not pulling their weight - both literally and figuratively. 

As far as the defense goes - I thought that they did a darn good job. They really only allowed 2 long drives. Other than that, the only scoring drives that they had started at NW's 4 & 22 yard line. Rather difficult to stop a team with that kind of momentum. There was really only one major blown coverage that I saw (unfortunately UCM's QB saw it too) which resulted in a 62 yard TD pass. I thought that they did a really good job against the bubble screens  that burnt them a lot the week before. I will say that the Dline needs some work as well - but not nearly as much as the OL! I am not sure why they aren't able to get the pressure that they need to. They seem to be losing a lot of individual battles along the line. I am more and more impressed with NW's secondary all the time. I think that Brandon Dixon and Brian Dixon combined with Manning at Safety have the potential to be really special for NW.

Football is won or lost in the trenches. In the past, NW has never even had to worry about those battles. So much so that NW's former OL coach is now the Head Coach and the DLine coach is now the Defensive Coordinator. They both still coach those positions respectively. I'm not sure if their new duties in their new roles is too much for them to be focused on the Lines - but they better get those areas of concern turned around otherwise it will be a LONG season!

This Week’s Match up: 

Well, something is going to have to change, and quickly. Northwest now has 4 games of 'lesser' competition so they should be able to work out their kinks. But just because they are 'lesser' competition, to think that NW can't lose is just foolish. Any team in this league can beat any other team on any given Saturday. But the good part is that it gives the OL a chance to gel with all of the replacements due to injuries.

I would not be surprised to see a completely different lineup out there this week. AD needs to go thru and completely re-evaluate his OL and put the best 5 out there. With CJ Keeney breaking his fibula, I would imagine that he is probably done for the season - or at least most of it anyway. Chevalier may be back at center but was listed as a game time decision. I don't care if they put true freshman out there if they can produce some results! I know that AD has said that he's not putting out any depth chart for any position until Friday at the earliest. That leads me to believe that we may be seeing a change at QB. Whether that be due to injury or just not liking what they are seeing out of Adams - at the very least it should serve as a wake up call to Trevor Adams that no spot on the Bearcat team is a given. There are always backups that are trying to surpass you at all times and just might. It almost seems like TA has regressed from some of the great games that we saw him play in last year. No matter who the starting QB is come Saturday - the play MUST be better than it has been! From the receivers, I would love to see another WR step up to play along with Shaw and Young - or maybe I should say I would like to see another WR be given the opportunity to step up. The WR's are also going to need to do a better job of blocking down field - they have to do this to give the RB's a fighting chance! The RB's are going to need to do a better job of blocking for the QB to give him the time needed - in those situations. Overall the offense is going to need to be much better than they have been - and heaven forbid we see some emotion out of them! NW should be able to pass against Ft Hays - so far this year they have given up 672 yards thru the air (and 427 on the ground.) So NW should be able to move the ball and get some confidence! I would love to see the offense pick up where they left off in Warrensburg.

On Defense I would be happy with just more of the same. The Ft Hays offense is pretty balanced - they have run 69 rushing plays and 62 passing plays so far this year. They do a good job of spreading the ball around - they have 11 players with at least 1 catch and none with more than 5. When they are running the ball, their RB is a true freshman out of Denver - Addie Brown. I really don't have anything to say about what the defense needs to do - just keep kicking butt! I will be interested to see who all plays on the Dline. Hopefully Wright is able to find a couple of guys who are able to kick it into high gear!

Overall, NW should win this one. And the OL and the DL will probably look vastly improved. That doesn't mean that they are. Unless the NW QB has all day to throw, and they open up holes the size of Moe Dampeer to run thru I wouldn't consider it a win for the OL. And on the opposite side of the ball, unless the DL is able to get some pressure without the assistance of the LB's - I think that that would be considered a fail as well.

At the end of the day NW should win this one handily. It should be a blow out, and I hope that it is - but I'm not going to be able to predict it: NW 45 Ft Hays 20


 

Game 2: NW vs UCM

Opening Thoughts:

What a great day for football! It was great to be able to see a lot of the same football friends that I haven't seen since last football season. It was a little warm - but compared to how this summer has gone, it was a beautiful day! The tailgate atmosphere was great as well, I wasn't able to get there quite as early as I had planned, but was still able to partake in the festivities.


Last Weeks Recap: 

In my years of watching NW football I've learned that I can't really take a whole lot from the first game. First and foremost, I want to give ECU their props - they had scouted NW very well. They new exactly what NW was going to do on every play (but then again so did I and probably most everybody else who has watched enough Bearcat football). On offense - ECU read NW D like a book and took advantage of that. On D - their Dline was impressive - not really physically impressive but doing the fundamentals correctly. And the Tiger D knew how to wrap up and tackle - something NW could learn from. The Tiger D was getting a lot of pressure on Adams which I am sure accounted for a lot of bad judgement - which was a lot. But in his defense his Oline didn't really help him out that much. He was hurried a lot sacked twice. NW operated a lot with the QB under center - unlike last year where they ran the pistol primarily. If the Oline doesn't improve, we may see a move back to the pistol which gives the QB a little more time to see the field.
But its really hard to judge the NW Oline because I'm not sure exactly how good the ECU Dline is. I know that AD said that he wasn't real happy with the Oline in the post game interview - but he thought that may have just been because it was the first game that Dafft and Scarbo started in and just had jitters. Lets hope that was the case. I honestly think a lot of the piss poor performance on the O was due to the game planning. NW thought that they were going to ram the ball down their throats and that would open up the passing. Well neither one happened. It has been suggested to me, and I would have to agree that part of the reason for ECU's defensive success was that NW was not really opening up the play book. So I could read the offense, I'm sure that a professional D coach could read it. When you know whats coming, its a lot easier to stop it. NW receivers weren't able to get any kind of separation, and when they did by that time Adams was getting hurried. Statistically the RB's really didn't have that bad of numbers - both Franklin and Simmons averaged just under 4 ypc. Adams was 12-27 with 3 interceptions - but one of those interceptions was on a hail mary and shouldn't really be counted. And not all of those incompletes where Adams fault - there were a lot of dropped balls out there. I will always believe that even if the ball isn't perfect, if it hits off the receivers hands and he drops it, that's not the QB's fault. Five of the completions were to players out of the backfield. It will definitely be interesting to see how the playbook changes for next week!

The Dline... uff da. Why is it that the entire DLine looks like LB's? Seriously! Where is the Shane Shayde's of the world? Somebody get those boys some weight gainer or something! Is it so much to ask for to have a big DT to take up space? I was not impressed with Meyer at all - Yost looked good, but still a little young at times. Hopefully that improves as the season goes along. Longacre and Chappelear looked good too at times. I really don't have a problem having to send a LB in to get pressure on the QB since it seems that NW has a good enough secondary to hold their own. I thought that Manning looked real good at safety. The Dixon brothers... if Brandon says that his brother is better than he is - all I can say is watch out! I don't want to get too excited and over hype them, but wow - I haven't seen a CB play like that since I've been watching NW football. The closest to it I would say was Ryan Jones. If Brian is just as good as Brandon once he learns the D, I will be a happy camper. If he's better - OMG!

I know that its cliche, but it's true - there is more improvement between the first game and the second than at any other time of the year. I spoke with several players last night - and it seemed to me like it was almost a comedy of errors. They couldn't do anything right last night and they were all dreading watching film and seeing everything that they did wrong. They knew it - and they knew that they could do better. And that gives me hope. If they had done their best - and still put on that performance... then I would be worried. As it is - it is like a lot of us expected going in to the game. The team would be rusty in the first half, but at the end of the day NW would win by 28-31; and that is exactly what happened.

This Week’s Match up: 

Well, its that time of year again. Time to make the annual trip to Warrensburg. I believe that this is about the 103rd time in a row that NW has played there. But hey, NW has beaten them every time so that is a good thing!

After reading about the UCM vs MoWest game, I'm really not sure what to think about the Mules this year. Initially when I heard that MoWest was up 28-0 at one point and Michael Hill had ran for 169 yards - I thought, well looks like the same UCM team as last year - no run defense. But after reading the box scores, I'm really not all that sure what to think. Facts can only tell you so much without actually seeing the game - and the MIAA.com season pass for AmericaOne is not in the budget - unless somebody wants to become the official sponsor of the Bearcat Report! Anyway, back to the report - the Mules were down 28-0 in the second quarter when they pulled there starting quarterback. The replacement was able to lead UCM to 26 points and the Mules defense stepped it up and only allowed 10 more points the entire game. It wasn't enough to beat the Griffons, but a valiant attempt it was. I'm not sure if MoWest just kinda went into prevent D or just lost their intensity, or if UCM was able to really step up their game. My guess is that it is probably a combination of both. UCM's replacement QB was 20-28 for 250 yards, compared to starter Mike Peterson who was 11-18 for 80 yards and had 2 interceptions. Despite losing, Central amassed 432 yards of total offense - most of that (330) coming thru the air.

 It is going to be imperative that the NW D have as good a game this week as they had last week. Any Jim Svoboda/Josh Lamberson team is going to be able to put up impressive numbers. The D will need to be able to limit that. Last week, UCM's star TE (David Cannon) did not play, I've been told that he will be playing in this game. That guy is very good is always a threat. But I think that NW has a good enough corps of CB's to cover their WR's and some excellent LB's that will be able to limit his production. UCM's RB - LaVance Taylor was able to put up 109 yards against MoWest's defense. But since its the first game, I'm not sure if that says more about - him or the Griffon D. The NW line will definitely need to shut him down and force UCM to be one dimensional. And if I can take a moment to say - hey Bailey, learn how to properly wear your helmet. There is no reason for it to come off 3 times in the game, and with the new rules that means that you had sit out 3 plays!

The NW offense is going to have to be much improved in this game from the last for the Bearcats to have a shot. Last year UCM was so determined to shut down NW's pass that they left the run open, and NW took advantage of that to the tune of 308 yards on 55 attempts. NW's RB duo of Simmons and JF3 hopefully will be more productive this week. Last week JF3 appeared to have maybe lost a step from last year. I know that he wasn't able to stay in Maryville and workout with the team this summer - maybe that is just it and it will take a few weeks for him to get back into tip top shape. I'm still going to be playing him in my Fantasy Football league, so I haven't lost faith in him - hopefully he puts up big numbers this week! I was impressed with the WR's last week, and hopefully they will continue to improve. The biggest improvement I hope comes from Trevor Adams. He is going to have to settle down and be the leader out there. I know that he has taken a lot of flak this week - and rightfully so, I still believe that he has it in him to be a really good QB at Northwest. Statistically he was one of the best QB's in the nation last year, and I think that once he gets a good series or two under his belt, he will be back to normal. At least I hope so, because these bad throws to the #1 receiver without checking down needs to STOP! ECU didn't have the offense to take advantage of those things, but teams in the MIAA do. No need to give them any help!

I see this game going one of two ways. The first - and less likely but I really hope that it is true - the lightbulb goes on for the offense and everything starts to click for them (kinda like the NW D did in 2008) and Northwest becomes a fierce powerhouse with a potent offense and stingy defense. Let's hope.The second and most likely is that it will be a battle royale full of highs and lows for both teams with NW coming out on top NW 44 - UCM 35

Quotes from last week:
"That was the closest 30 point win I've ever seen"