It is definitely beginning to be ‘football weather’ on Saturdays. The morning air was rather crisp – okay, it was downright freezy butt cold when the sun first came up and the wind started blowing. The parking lot Nazi’s were out in full force. They didn’t allow anyone into the bottom lot (the big one) until the very last parade participant had finished the parade – despite the fact that the lot was empty by 9:20 they didn’t let anyone in for at least an hour after that. It is like they are trying to ruin the game day atmosphere. I really don’t get it. There have been rumors about charging to park next year – not sure how they are going to manage that logistically. What would be nice is if they would sell parking locations – for example, I pay $100 and I am guaranteed my specific location to tailgate in. That way I don’t have to show up at 6am to get my spot, just to sit there until 4 hours before kickoff to start tailgating.
Last Week’s Recap:
Well, it wasn’t the most fun game to watch, but I will take a 36 point win any day of the week. As I was walking out of the stadium, I was walking by the visitors’ locker room entrance. There were some MoSo coaches standing there and one of their significant others came up to them and was consoling them for their loss. The coach’s response: “Well that’s Northwest for you, they kick people’s asses.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I’ve heard people complain about Bolles – going as far as saying he was terrible. That’s simply not true. He wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad either. It seemed like the offense never really got into a rhythm. I think that there were several contributing factors to that. Brady was nervous – it was his first collegiate start and I think the boogy man kind of got to him a little bit. The WR’s dropped some balls that hit them on their hands. The coaches pulling Brady every time that there was a QB run. None of those things help a rhythm to get established. That being said, Brady still completed 65% of his throws, had over 9.6 yards per attempt, and had an efficiency rating of 152. Not too shabby for a sophomore in his first start. If you take out the three balls that the WR’s dropped after hitting their hands, it is even better. I don’t think anyone expected him to be perfect. In fact, most of us that have been wanting to see Bolles start have said that he needs the game experience to get better, to get these types of things out of the way. That’s why I wanted him to start in the FH, UNK, NSU, UCO stretch of games. I believe I was even quoted as saying that he’s young and is going to have some bad games and some WTF plays – but I would like to see those bad games and WTF plays happen against poor competition rather than against good teams. As one of my friends said – I would rather win by 40 against bad teams and beat good teams, than beat the bad teams by 70 and lose to good teams. Pretty much sums it up all right there. But enough about the QB for today – there are other fish to fry. The wide receivers have to stop dropping the ball! Thomas dropped two in a row – one that would have gone for a lot of yards after catch. And then later Utter dropped a nice jump ball – reminded me of a Blake to Jake fade away. NW went on to score that series so it wasn’t detrimental, but it sure would have been nice to see and may get the juices flowing on O. I wonder if Bobby Burton will ever unseat Billy Creason as the starting RB. I doubt it since Creason is the senior and NW is oh so very loyal to seniors, despite the fact that Burton consistently out gains Creason. Don’t get me wrong, Billy is the embodiment of NW football – dedication, good work ethic, etc. but he’s not the best back. But the two seem to be splitting carries pretty well and Burton’s number of carries has increased as the season has gone on. I imagine that would probably continue as he continues to shine. The coaches seem to always go to Phil Jackson on 3-1 or 4-1. He is definitely the power back, and I think as soon as he learns the offense better, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the MIAA.
I’m not sure I could sing any more praises of this NW defense than I have in the past weeks. The defense did pretty much what I thought that they would do, and the MoSo offense did what I thought they would do also. The Lions did manage to get 221 yards on the ground – but had zero, yes I said ZERO passing yards. They only to throw three times, one completion for 0 yards, 1 was batted down by the Dline, and the other should have been intercepted but wasn’t. Those 221 yards came on a total of 55 plays – which is like 4.0 yards per carry, but one long run of 41 yards really skew that stat. If you take out that one play, the D held them to 3.3 yards per carry on 54 plays. Not too shabby at all. And I will take the blame for that long run. That run happened right as I was walking onto the sidelines. I think that it was the leftover jinx from last year coming out. Needless to say, I don’t think that I will be going back onto the sideline this year – just to be safe. The Dline continues to impress – the tag team of Bevins and Yost is soo much fun to watch. It’s amazing how much having good Defensive Tackles affects the overall defense. They each command a double team otherwise it will result in a sack or a QBH, which leaves the DE’s the ability to harass the QB – which then messes up everything. NW has really been lacking at DT since Shayne Shade graduated. The LB’s are what we’ve come to expect – great. Gnader and Reimer continue to impress, and I’ve noticed that Matthewson has really come on the past couple of weeks – seems like he is involved in more and more key plays. I know that he was the closest thing to a starter that was on the field during the MoSo scoring drive. I think he was involved in almost every tackle that drive – including a horse-collar tackle – but if he hadn’t of gotten the runner, the guy probably would have taken it to the house; I will gladly take a 15 yard penalty vs. a score.
Special teams – they are a mixed bag. In every aspect except kicking field goals (and extra points too now) Special teams are kicking butt. But something needs to be done about the place kicker. Not sure what exactly that is, but missing back to back extra points cannot continue to happen.
Next Week's Preview
I have spent the past couple of days pouring over the stat sheets of Washburn since I haven’t actually seen them play this year. And what have I come up with… nothing. They are almost identical stat wise with Northwest. The difference is who they have played. Who have they played, you are probably asking yourself; the answer is nobody. So far this year there schedule looks like this: UNK, Hays, NSU, OCU, SWB, Lincoln, Fort Valley St, Lindenwood. Their closest games have come against UCO and Lindenwood where they beat both of those teams by only 9 points. So the stats are pretty meaningless – and without actually seeing them play, this is going to be like shooting into the darkness, but I’m going to do my best.
On offense I expect Adams to start – simply because it’s Senior Day. From what I understand, he is still pretty banged up and could risk more injury if he takes a big hit. So I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him take the first couple of snaps and then call it a day. I am hoping to see a much crisper Bolles in action than what we saw last week. I truly believe that the more meaningful experience that he gets the more potent this offense is going to be. There are a lot tendencies that QB’s have to learn about their WR’s, and vise versa. They only learn those things in game situations, practice definitely helps, but under the lights is a different animal. I would hope that the coaches don’t pull Bolles every time there is a designed QB run. That kills any kind of rhythm and makes it blatantly obvious what the play is going to be. I don’t mind seeing Bolles running some – but not 18 times a game like Arrowhead. The WR’s are going to have to step up their game and stop dropping so many balls that bounce off of their hands. There again, having a different QB who puts a lot more zip on the ball has probably affected them as well. This is going to be a true test for the NW OLine. The Washburn D has 19 sacks, second only to NW in the MIAA. And they are only allowing an average of 2.3 yards per carry – which sounds impressive, but remember who they have played. So if the OL can give the QB some time to throw the ball, and open up some holes for the RB’s to run threw, could be a lot of fun to watch this team come together.
On defense, I really don’t know what to expect. I do know that Vershon Moore will be making the trip to Maryville. You remember Verson – he was an All American RB who a few years ago a few weeks before fall camp started decided it would be a good idea to rob a bank. Well after spending two years in the clink he has served his time and Washburn was quick to let him back on to the team. Moore previously couldn’t leave the state of Kansas, but apparently has now gotten the okay to travel with the team. So far this year, Vershon has been a shell of himself – this is the guy who put up 99 yards in a little over one half before he got hurt the last time he played NW. Moore went out of the game last week do to a helmet to the ankle. So he probably won’t be at 100% on Saturday. The Ichabods leading receiver is their TE Tore Hurst. We all know how NW’s D has a history of being beaten by a good TE. If Hurst has a good day, it will be a long day for the Bearcats. DaJuan Beard joined the Icky’s last week after being out several weeks due to injury. If NW can shut down the WU run game and make them one dimensional – I don’t think QB Mitch Buhler is going to have much fun against NW’s secondary. Buhler has already been picked off 8 times this year.
I am looking for Special Teams to come up big again this week. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a blocked punt or two. Something I don’t want to see is another mixed extra point. I can understand missing FG’s, but no excuse for extra points!
With the exception of the past two years, Washburn has always been a very difficult game for NW. They always seem to match up very well against Bearcats. My head says that this game is going to be a 7-10 point spread game, but my gut says that WU isn’t that much better than they were last year. I’m going with my gut: NW 42 WU 17
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