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"