I think that the drive to and from western Kansas drained me of any gumption to write this report. I want to start out this report by talking about sportsmanship. My nephew plays football at a small school in Minnesota, and they are having a pretty good season, this was posted by one of the parents of the opposing team on Facebook after my nephew’s team beat them 49-21: "Was anyone else besides me impressed by Royalton's sportsmanship last night? They put us through the ringer, and there was hardly any celebration when they got touchdowns, interceptions or hard hits. And when one of our guys went down, they immediately got together quietly, took a knee, and faced the man down. Hats off to them and their coaching staff." This is something that we see a lot at NW and frankly we’ve become rather used to seeing it. There isn’t a lot of ‘hot doggin’ or excessive celebration going on. They act like they’ve been there before and done that. There are other teams in the conference that aren’t so sportsmanlike – to see them celebrate when they get a TD you would think they just won the Super Bowl. My hat goes off to all the players and the coaches and staff that instill those values in the players.
If you’ve never been to Hays stadium, I would recommend it. It is actually a nice small stadium. They were having their tailgate extravaganza in the lot next to the stadium, which provided a very nice game day experience. The worst part about the experience, is getting to Hays Kansas. From Kansas City, it was only like 3:30-4 hours, but it felt like approximately 16 hours each direction. The drive back was a little better, just because it was dark and you couldn’t see the fact that there wasn’t anything to look at. The most impressive thing about the entire trip was the giant wind farm that stretched on and on. Kinda sad. It was a long and boring trip, but I was glad to get to scratch Lewis Field Stadium off my list of unseen MIAA stadiums.
Last Week’s Recap:
That was perhaps the worst officiated football game I have ever seen. I am pretty sure it was the white hat’s first game, as he did not seem comfortable out there in his role. He never once came over and talked to AD about any of the calls made or not made. The refs apparently forgot that they have whistles, and are supposed to blow them. On multiple plays a whistle was never blown, in fact I am still waiting for the whistle on the last play of the game. Their complete lack of knowledge on some calls and missed calls was staggering – the ones that stand out to me were when Jared Fox was blocked into a punted ball on the ground, and when the Hays QB intentionally grounded the ball to avoid a sack by throwing the ball out of bounds but it didn’t cross the line of scrimmage. These aren’t obscure rules – yet somehow these officials didn’t know them or worse they knew them and chose to not enforce them.
As far as the actual playing of the game goes – what a snoozefest. It was exactly what I expected – Fort Hays was really bad, and NW really did pretty much anything that they wanted to do (in the first half.) The second half was a different story, but that was because the vast majority of the starters never saw the field. The players that were playing it was completely different personnel packages than normal, and players were playing out of position. Not to mention that the play calling was kind of weird – it was like they were just throwing stuff against the wall and seeing if anything would stick. Which I guess is okay in those circumstances. But we did get to see some fresh faces that we haven’t seen before. Phil Jackson saw his first action – gaining 40 yards on 5 carries – not too shaby. We also got to see the premier of Haden Bryant – the walkon freshman WR. He only had 1 reception for -2 yards – but that was on one of the many Jet Sweeps that have yet to work this year. One player I did want to mention was Clint Utter – he had some nice catches, but the thing that really caught my eye was his down field blocking. He had some great blocks this game and its not something WR’s get recognized for, but it’s a vital part of the game. My biggest concern for the NW offense, is who was the starting QB. I am kind of amazed the AD stuck with TA despite his poor performance in 2 out of the last 3 games coming into this game – and Bolles great performance getting NW out of the hole TA dug. Bolles is obviously the future of NW, but apparently not the present. Sad but I think that this sets a very dangerous precedent. What motivation do players have to get better and be the best at their position, when the coach is just going to start the more senior player anyways? #freeBolles
As far as the defense goes – what can you say about a team that only gave up 14 points? About the only thing that I can complain about it the DL play. So far this season the D only has 4 sacks and 8 QB hurries. That needs to improve. Zach Williams going down at DT isn’t going to help – although I suspect that will cause Bevins to get moved to DT. Which I think that he should be playing there anyway – not fast enough to be a DE but a big strong guy. Don’t think he will start now, but I could see him in the future. The Tigers were able to move the chains on the ground, as they were averaging 5.6 yards per carry. In fact on the season, NW is averaging giving up 4.1 yards per carry – and NW hasn’t faced any really good running teams, but mobile QB’s have given NW fits: which isn’t a good thing when facing Bronson Marsh this week. But overall, the NW D did a decent job – hard to get too excited when you beat the opponent by 35! I do want to give a shout out to Eric Reimer – he is quickly becoming an LB to be reckoned with! The D will definitely need to work on tackling this week. There were a lot of missed tackled because they failed to wrap up. You can bet they will work on that!
This Week’s Game:
UNK is not a terrible team. They are a much better team than Fort Hays and they are getting better every week and much better than they were last year. I think that UNK is going to be a really good program one day, they aren’t there yet, but on their way. They have shown a dedication to their athletic department the past few years, and earlier this year they announced an $11.6 million donation to their athletic department which will go a long ways in endowing scholarships and improving facilities.
Right now, UNK is a dangerous team. They have nothing to lose, and a lot gain. If the Bearcats aren’t ready this game could be close. The thing with UNK is that you don’t really know what you are going to get. In their first three games, they’ve been everything from conservative to very aggressive on both sides of the ball. In their first two games, they hardly blitzed at all, but last week they blitzed almost every down against MoWest. Their secondary doesn’t scare me at all as they only have 2 interceptions this year, and are averaging giving up 308 yards per game. TA and/or Bolles could have a field day. Rushing they are giving up an average of 193 yards per game (4.3 yards per carry.) They are giving up 41 points per game. This will be a good test for the Oline, as I’m sure that they are going to be getting a lot of pressure. But if they can open some holes and give the QB some time to find the receiver – the offense should be able to pick apart the Loper defense.
Offensively, UNK scares me a little bit. Like I said previously – they are a dangerous team, in that you don’t know what they are going to do. They are an option team. Last year, NW was susceptible to giving up a lot of yards to option teams – not a lot of points, but definitely a lot of yards. And the UNK offensive line is very good. They have only given up 3 sacks this year. NW Dline is going to have their hands full – this may be the best Oline that they’ve faced this year, that is something considering SVSU’s Oline. The key to the Loper offense is their QB: Bronson Marsh. Marsh is a good QB – he spent two years at Nebraska before transferring. In highschool he set the Nebraska passing career record – breaking Scott Frost’s record. So he can obviously pass the ball, but he can run too. Against MoWest last week, Marsh threw for 241 yards and ran for 194 as well. He could give the defense a work out. I would not be surprised to see NW give up a lot of yards this week. It will be interesting to see what kind of game plan Rich Wright puts together to minimize Marsh.
UNK has been outscored 79-19 in the first half this year. I can see that happening again this week, with NW jumping out to a lead and the Lopers playing catch up. In the end, they don’t get close: NW 48 UNK 28.
No comments:
Post a Comment